John Cleland
Encyclopedia
John Cleland was an English
novelist most famous and infamous as the author of Fanny Hill: or, the Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure
.
John Cleland was the oldest son of William Cleland (1673/4 – 1741) and Lucy Cleland (née DuPass). He was born in Kingston upon Thames
in Surrey
but grew up in London
, where his father was first an officer in the British Army
and then a civil servant
. William Cleland was a friend to Alexander Pope
, and Lucy Cleland was a friend or acquaintance of both Pope, Viscount Bolingbroke
, Chesterfield
, and Horace Walpole. The family possessed wealth and moved among the finest literary and artistic circles of London.
John Cleland entered Westminster School
in 1721, but he left or was expelled in 1723. His departure was not for financial reasons, but whatever misbehaviour or allegation had led to his departure is unknown. Historian J. H. Plumb
speculates that Cleland's puckish and quarrelsome nature was to blame, but, whatever caused Cleland to leave, he entered the British East India Company
after leaving school. He began as a soldier and worked his way up into the civil service of the company and lived in Bombay
from 1728 to 1740. He returned to London when recalled by his father, who was dying. Upon William's death, the estate went to Lucy for administration. She, in turn, did not choose to support John. Meanwhile, Cleland's two brothers had finished their education at Westminster and gone on to support themselves.
in a vain attempt to refound the Portuguese East India Company
. In 1748, Cleland was arrested for an £840 debt (equivalent to a purchasing power of about £100,000 in 2005) and committed to Fleet Prison
, where he remained for over a year. It was while he was in prison that Cleland wrote Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure, which was published in two installments, in November of 1748 and February of 1749. In March of that year, he was released from prison.
In November of 1749, Cleland was arrested, along with the publishers and printer of Fanny Hill. In court, Cleland disavowed the novel and said that he could only "wish, from my Soul," that the book be "buried and forgot" (Sabor). The book was then officially withdrawn. It was never legally published again for over a hundred years. However, it continued to sell well and to be published in pirate editions. The official withdrawal meant that there was little authority over the text, so, when a pirate edition inserted a new, celebratory episode of male homosexuality
, there was little to be done by the author. In March of 1750, Cleland produced a highly bowdlerized version of the book, but it, too, was proscribed. The proscription may have been (as Plumb suggests) for the pirated edition with sodomy
in it, because the prosecution against Cleland was dropped, and the expurgated edition continued to sell legally.
in the Monthly Review
said that he had been granted a government annuity of one hundred pounds to prevent his writing further obscenity for pay. However, no record of this has been found, and it is frankly doubtful. It is more likely that the report was invented by his eulogist. However, Cleland was celebrated for the quality of Fanny Hill, even if the work was no longer for sale in a legal edition in its entirety. Cleland became friends with David Garrick
, and James Boswell
sought out his company.
Regardless of the power and stylistic accomplishment of Fanny Hill, Cleland's other works were poor or journeyman in comparison. After his release from prison and the prosecutions over Fanny Hill, Cleland became a hired author. He attempted two more novels, Memoirs of a Coxcomb (1751), which contains a parody of Mary Wortley Montagu as "Lady Bell Travers" that was much discussed, and The Woman of Honour (1768), as well as a collection of romance tales in The Surprises of Love (1764). None of these was particularly successful, either in literary or popular terms.
He attempted a tragedy, Titus Vespasian, in 1755 and two comedies, The Ladies Subscription (1755) and Tombo-Chiqui, or, The American Savage (1758), for the stage, but neither was ever produced. Cleland publicly accused David Garrick of sabotage. Although the men were reconciled, Cleland was savage in his disappointment.
Cleland also engaged in an idiosyncratic effort to prove that Celtic languages were the Edenic tongue from which all other languages were derived. He was himself of Scottish extraction and was fluent in multiple languages, but his philological
works were nearly devoid of worth. He attempted to show that Hebrew
, Greek
, and Latin
were all derived from Celtic roots. He pursued this endeavour through three books.
His only popular work after Fanny Hill was an adaptation of a French
original for Dictionary of Love in 1753. However, he wrote a verse satire entitled "The Times!" (1760
and 1761
), a burlesque of Robert Dodsley
's The Oeconomy of Human Life in the form of The Oeconomy of a Winter's Day (1750), a biography of Madame de Pompadour, the mistress of Louis XV of France
in 1760, and a great deal of translation and review work. He contributed thirty reviews for the Monthly Review and over two hundred letters for the Public Advertiser between 1749 and 1787. In his later years, he also wrote two highly idiosyncratic and overly positive medical works and told Boswell that he knew more about nerves than any doctor in Europe.
that branded him as a heretic. He also accused Laurence Sterne
of "pornography" for Tristram Shandy.
In 1772, he told Boswell that he had written Fanny Hill while in Bombay, that he had written it on a dare, to show a friend of his that it was possible to write about prostitution without using any "vulgar" terms. At the time, Boswell reported that Cleland was a "fine sly malcontent." Later, he would visit Cleland again and discover him living alone, shunned by all, with only an ancient and ugly woman as his sole servant. Josiah Beckwith in 1781 said, after meeting him, that it was "no wonder" that he was supposed a "sodomite." Cleland died unmarried in 1789 and was buried in St. Margaret's churchyard in London.
/Samuel Richardson
battle (with Pamela: or, Virtue Rewarded
on one side and Joseph Andrews
on the other). Furthermore, the novel's geography and topicality make a Bombay composition less likely than a Fleet Prison one. It is possible, of course, that a pornographic
novel without vulgarity was written by Cleland in Bombay and then rewritten in Fleet Prison as a newly engaged and politically sophisticated novel.
Officially, Fanny Hill remained suppressed in an unexpurgated form until 1970 in the United Kingdom
. However, in 1966 it became the subject of a famous U.S. Supreme Court judgment 383 U.S. 413 A Book Named "John Cleland's Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure" v. Attorney General of Massachusetts, holding that under the U.S. Constitution a modicum of merit precluded its condemnation as obscene. In fact, the novel is now regarded as a "stylistic tour de force" (Sabor) and as a participant in the "making legible the bourgeois remapping of certain categories constitutive of 'woman,' and then exposing that remapping as ludicrous" (Gautier x). It has exceptionally lively style, profoundly playful and ironic questions about womanhood, and a satirical exposition of love as commerce and pleasure as wealth.
, author of the pamphlet Ancient and Modern Pederasty Investigated and Exemplify'd (1749), the earliest surviving published defence of homosexuality in English (Gladfelder). The authorized edition of Fanny Hill also contains a scene, (added later and not thought to be written by Cleland), where Fanny comes across two men fornicating.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
novelist most famous and infamous as the author of Fanny Hill: or, the Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure
Fanny Hill
Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure is an erotic novel by John Cleland first published in England in 1748...
.
John Cleland was the oldest son of William Cleland (1673/4 – 1741) and Lucy Cleland (née DuPass). He was born in Kingston upon Thames
Kingston upon Thames
Kingston upon Thames is the principal settlement of the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames in southwest London. It was the ancient market town where Saxon kings were crowned and is now a suburb situated south west of Charing Cross. It is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the...
in Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
but grew up in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, where his father was first an officer in the British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
and then a civil servant
Civil service
The term civil service has two distinct meanings:* A branch of governmental service in which individuals are employed on the basis of professional merit as proven by competitive examinations....
. William Cleland was a friend to Alexander Pope
Alexander Pope
Alexander Pope was an 18th-century English poet, best known for his satirical verse and for his translation of Homer. He is the third-most frequently quoted writer in The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, after Shakespeare and Tennyson...
, and Lucy Cleland was a friend or acquaintance of both Pope, Viscount Bolingbroke
Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke
Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke was an English politician, government official and political philosopher. He was a leader of the Tories, and supported the Church of England politically despite his atheism. In 1715 he supported the Jacobite rebellion of 1715 which sought to overthrow the...
, Chesterfield
Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield
Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield PC KG was a British statesman and man of letters.A Whig, Lord Stanhope, as he was known until his father's death in 1726, was born in London. After being educated at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, he went on the Grand Tour of the continent...
, and Horace Walpole. The family possessed wealth and moved among the finest literary and artistic circles of London.
John Cleland entered Westminster School
Westminster School
The Royal College of St. Peter in Westminster, almost always known as Westminster School, is one of Britain's leading independent schools, with the highest Oxford and Cambridge acceptance rate of any secondary school or college in Britain...
in 1721, but he left or was expelled in 1723. His departure was not for financial reasons, but whatever misbehaviour or allegation had led to his departure is unknown. Historian J. H. Plumb
J. H. Plumb
Sir John Harold Plumb, FBA , known as Jack, was a British historian, known for his books on British 18th century history. He wrote over thirty books.-Biography:...
speculates that Cleland's puckish and quarrelsome nature was to blame, but, whatever caused Cleland to leave, he entered the British East India Company
British East India Company
The East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...
after leaving school. He began as a soldier and worked his way up into the civil service of the company and lived in Bombay
Mumbai
Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...
from 1728 to 1740. He returned to London when recalled by his father, who was dying. Upon William's death, the estate went to Lucy for administration. She, in turn, did not choose to support John. Meanwhile, Cleland's two brothers had finished their education at Westminster and gone on to support themselves.
Publication of Fanny Hill
John Cleland began courting the PortuguesePortugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
in a vain attempt to refound the Portuguese East India Company
Portuguese East India Company
- Background :Portuguese trade with India had been a crown monopoly since the Portuguese captain Vasco da Gama opened the sea route to India in 1497-99. The monopoly had been managed by the Casa da Índia, the royal trading house founded around 1500. The Casa was responsible for the yearly India...
. In 1748, Cleland was arrested for an £840 debt (equivalent to a purchasing power of about £100,000 in 2005) and committed to Fleet Prison
Fleet Prison
Fleet Prison was a notorious London prison by the side of the Fleet River in London. The prison was built in 1197 and was in use until 1844. It was demolished in 1846.- History :...
, where he remained for over a year. It was while he was in prison that Cleland wrote Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure, which was published in two installments, in November of 1748 and February of 1749. In March of that year, he was released from prison.
In November of 1749, Cleland was arrested, along with the publishers and printer of Fanny Hill. In court, Cleland disavowed the novel and said that he could only "wish, from my Soul," that the book be "buried and forgot" (Sabor). The book was then officially withdrawn. It was never legally published again for over a hundred years. However, it continued to sell well and to be published in pirate editions. The official withdrawal meant that there was little authority over the text, so, when a pirate edition inserted a new, celebratory episode of male homosexuality
Homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...
, there was little to be done by the author. In March of 1750, Cleland produced a highly bowdlerized version of the book, but it, too, was proscribed. The proscription may have been (as Plumb suggests) for the pirated edition with sodomy
Sodomy
Sodomy is an anal or other copulation-like act, especially between male persons or between a man and animal, and one who practices sodomy is a "sodomite"...
in it, because the prosecution against Cleland was dropped, and the expurgated edition continued to sell legally.
Later writing
Cleland's obituaryObituary
An obituary is a news article that reports the recent death of a person, typically along with an account of the person's life and information about the upcoming funeral. In large cities and larger newspapers, obituaries are written only for people considered significant...
in the Monthly Review
Monthly Review (London)
The Monthly Review was an English periodical founded by Ralph Griffiths, a Nonconformist bookseller. The first periodical in England to offer reviews, it featured the novelist and poet Oliver Goldsmith as an early contributor. William Kenrick, the "superlative scoundrel", was editor from 1759 to...
said that he had been granted a government annuity of one hundred pounds to prevent his writing further obscenity for pay. However, no record of this has been found, and it is frankly doubtful. It is more likely that the report was invented by his eulogist. However, Cleland was celebrated for the quality of Fanny Hill, even if the work was no longer for sale in a legal edition in its entirety. Cleland became friends with David Garrick
David Garrick
David Garrick was an English actor, playwright, theatre manager and producer who influenced nearly all aspects of theatrical practice throughout the 18th century and was a pupil and friend of Dr Samuel Johnson...
, and James Boswell
James Boswell
James Boswell, 9th Laird of Auchinleck was a lawyer, diarist, and author born in Edinburgh, Scotland; he is best known for the biography he wrote of one of his contemporaries, the English literary figure Samuel Johnson....
sought out his company.
Regardless of the power and stylistic accomplishment of Fanny Hill, Cleland's other works were poor or journeyman in comparison. After his release from prison and the prosecutions over Fanny Hill, Cleland became a hired author. He attempted two more novels, Memoirs of a Coxcomb (1751), which contains a parody of Mary Wortley Montagu as "Lady Bell Travers" that was much discussed, and The Woman of Honour (1768), as well as a collection of romance tales in The Surprises of Love (1764). None of these was particularly successful, either in literary or popular terms.
He attempted a tragedy, Titus Vespasian, in 1755 and two comedies, The Ladies Subscription (1755) and Tombo-Chiqui, or, The American Savage (1758), for the stage, but neither was ever produced. Cleland publicly accused David Garrick of sabotage. Although the men were reconciled, Cleland was savage in his disappointment.
Cleland also engaged in an idiosyncratic effort to prove that Celtic languages were the Edenic tongue from which all other languages were derived. He was himself of Scottish extraction and was fluent in multiple languages, but his philological
Philology
Philology is the study of language in written historical sources; it is a combination of literary studies, history and linguistics.Classical philology is the philology of Greek and Classical Latin...
works were nearly devoid of worth. He attempted to show that Hebrew
Hebrew language
Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
, Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
, and Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
were all derived from Celtic roots. He pursued this endeavour through three books.
His only popular work after Fanny Hill was an adaptation of a French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
original for Dictionary of Love in 1753. However, he wrote a verse satire entitled "The Times!" (1760
1760 in poetry
Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-Events:* With the death of King George II, the era of Augustan poetry and Augustan literature, which started in 1702, is now considered to have ended.-Works published:* James Beattie, Original Poems and...
and 1761
1761 in poetry
Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-Charles Churchill terrorises the London stage:...
), a burlesque of Robert Dodsley
Robert Dodsley
Robert Dodsley was an English bookseller and miscellaneous writer.-Life:He was born near Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, where his father was master of the free school....
's The Oeconomy of Human Life in the form of The Oeconomy of a Winter's Day (1750), a biography of Madame de Pompadour, the mistress of Louis XV of France
Louis XV of France
Louis XV was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and of Navarre from 1 September 1715 until his death. He succeeded his great-grandfather at the age of five, his first cousin Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, served as Regent of the kingdom until Louis's majority in 1723...
in 1760, and a great deal of translation and review work. He contributed thirty reviews for the Monthly Review and over two hundred letters for the Public Advertiser between 1749 and 1787. In his later years, he also wrote two highly idiosyncratic and overly positive medical works and told Boswell that he knew more about nerves than any doctor in Europe.
Later life
None of Cleland's literary works provided him with a comfortable living, and he was typically bitter about this. He publicly denounced his mother before her death in 1763 for not supporting him. Additionally, he exhibited a religious tendency toward DeismDeism
Deism in religious philosophy is the belief that reason and observation of the natural world, without the need for organized religion, can determine that the universe is the product of an all-powerful creator. According to deists, the creator does not intervene in human affairs or suspend the...
that branded him as a heretic. He also accused Laurence Sterne
Laurence Sterne
Laurence Sterne was an Irish novelist and an Anglican clergyman. He is best known for his novels The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, and A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy; but he also published many sermons, wrote memoirs, and was involved in local politics...
of "pornography" for Tristram Shandy.
In 1772, he told Boswell that he had written Fanny Hill while in Bombay, that he had written it on a dare, to show a friend of his that it was possible to write about prostitution without using any "vulgar" terms. At the time, Boswell reported that Cleland was a "fine sly malcontent." Later, he would visit Cleland again and discover him living alone, shunned by all, with only an ancient and ugly woman as his sole servant. Josiah Beckwith in 1781 said, after meeting him, that it was "no wonder" that he was supposed a "sodomite." Cleland died unmarried in 1789 and was buried in St. Margaret's churchyard in London.
Composition of Fanny Hill and later history
Cleland's account of when Fanny Hill was written is somewhat difficult. For one thing, the novel has allusions to other novels that were written and published the same year (including Shamela). Further, it takes part in the general Henry FieldingHenry Fielding
Henry Fielding was an English novelist and dramatist known for his rich earthy humour and satirical prowess, and as the author of the novel Tom Jones....
/Samuel Richardson
Samuel Richardson
Samuel Richardson was an 18th-century English writer and printer. He is best known for his three epistolary novels: Pamela: Or, Virtue Rewarded , Clarissa: Or the History of a Young Lady and The History of Sir Charles Grandison...
battle (with Pamela: or, Virtue Rewarded
Pamela
Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded is an epistolary novel by Samuel Richardson, first published in 1740. It tells the story of a beautiful but poor 15-year old servant-maid named Pamela Andrews whose master, Mr. B, a nobleman, makes unwanted advances towards her after the death of his mother whose maid she...
on one side and Joseph Andrews
Joseph Andrews
Joseph Andrews, or The History of the Adventures of Joseph Andrews and of his Friend Mr. Abraham Adams, was the first published full-length novel of the English author and magistrate Henry Fielding, and indeed among the first novels in the English language...
on the other). Furthermore, the novel's geography and topicality make a Bombay composition less likely than a Fleet Prison one. It is possible, of course, that a pornographic
Pornography
Pornography or porn is the explicit portrayal of sexual subject matter for the purposes of sexual arousal and erotic satisfaction.Pornography may use any of a variety of media, ranging from books, magazines, postcards, photos, sculpture, drawing, painting, animation, sound recording, film, video,...
novel without vulgarity was written by Cleland in Bombay and then rewritten in Fleet Prison as a newly engaged and politically sophisticated novel.
Officially, Fanny Hill remained suppressed in an unexpurgated form until 1970 in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. However, in 1966 it became the subject of a famous U.S. Supreme Court judgment 383 U.S. 413 A Book Named "John Cleland's Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure" v. Attorney General of Massachusetts, holding that under the U.S. Constitution a modicum of merit precluded its condemnation as obscene. In fact, the novel is now regarded as a "stylistic tour de force" (Sabor) and as a participant in the "making legible the bourgeois remapping of certain categories constitutive of 'woman,' and then exposing that remapping as ludicrous" (Gautier x). It has exceptionally lively style, profoundly playful and ironic questions about womanhood, and a satirical exposition of love as commerce and pleasure as wealth.
Fanny Hill and homosexuality
The fact that the passionate descriptions of copulatory acts in Fanny Hill are written by a man from the point of view of a woman, and the fact that Fanny is obsessed by phallic size, have led some critics to suggest it is a homoerotic work. This aspect of the novel, plus Cleland's presumed offence at Westminster School, lack of intimate friends, and his unmarried status have aided conjecture that he was homosexual, as has his bitter falling out with friend Thomas CannonThomas Cannon
Thomas Cannon was an English author of the 18th century. He wrote what may be the earliest published defence of homosexuality in English, Ancient and Modern Pederasty Investigated and Exemplify'd and may also have collaborated with John Cleland, author of Fanny Hill.A son of Robert Cannon, Dean...
, author of the pamphlet Ancient and Modern Pederasty Investigated and Exemplify'd (1749), the earliest surviving published defence of homosexuality in English (Gladfelder). The authorized edition of Fanny Hill also contains a scene, (added later and not thought to be written by Cleland), where Fanny comes across two men fornicating.
External links
- Complete text of Fanny Hill