One of the few books I have read more than once voluntarily & one of my favorite guilty pleasure reads. Fanny is a wild ride of a rollicking adventure novel, almost a parody of 18th century novels featuring such memorable characters as Moll Flanders, Tom Jones, and Fanny Hill. Erica Jong injects a feminist sensibility into an irresistibly lusty tale replete with pirates, witches, brothels, and highwaymen. Fanny is abandoned on the doorstep of a country estate in Wiltshire, England and raised by Lord and Lady Bellars. She has ambitions to become the epic poet of the age, but her plans are ruined when she is seduced by her libertine stepfather. Fanny flees to London where she is taught about a life she never knew existed by idealistic witches and highwaymen. She ends up working in a brothel catering to famous authors and embarks on more adventures that teach her what it means to be an independent woman.

Some may say that Fanny’s sensibilities are too modern and feminist to be imposed on the 18th century. Some may say her adventures are too improbable. Some will definitely say there is far too much sex; I say what do you expect from Erica Jong?

one of my fave books OAT like yes periodt feminism in the 1800s

Eirica Jong has been accused by some readers of writing essentially pornographic novels, but my definition of porn is that it's dedicated to stimulating bodily instincts entirely, while I find anything Jong writes appeals to the thoughty as well as the naughty bits. This book, a historical/literary reimagining of the bawdy early English novel Fanny Hill which has found itself hidden in bookshelves and under the mattresses of many a man and boy and maybe as many woman and girl since it was written during the eighteenth century. In one of the early chapters she says the ancient Greek poets and playwrights understood, as did their great ancestor Shakespeare, how tragedy and comedy are intermingled in art as in life. Just so is sexuality. We kid ourselves, as Freud was to remind us, to think sex isn't at the bottom (pun intended) of most everything we think and do. In her writing Jong has always made us think as well as feel, shown how to take pleasure in what happens to us, found the humor in human predicaments which are also often awkward, sometimes anxious and occasionally scary. I'm a cat lover (obvious pin avoided), and have noticed those furry little creatures have what seems to me a special ability to enjoy themselves even when upset. Witness them able to purr when you stroke them as they're twitching their tails in obvious anxiety at the veterinarians office. I believe Erica Jong I believes we humans benefit from such ability to take pleasure when and where we can find it, while all the time not losing sight of the fix we're in and how best to fix it. She's a seductive, funny and wise writer who reveals more of what really motivates us than most of us like to admit. At her best you will have much more than pornography, and at her worst pornography raised to an art form. This novel, Fanny" is a tour de force of writing, research, and a lifetime of well-lived personal experience Enjoy. There is no better recommendation.

Woman power.

Love, Love. Love.

Sassy!!! Need I say more?

What a wild ride. I think if I knew the source material I could see the parallels and maybe enjoy this a bit more. Still, it was an absolute wild ride from start to finish.

Manifesto del femminismo o meno, ho adorato questo romanzo, mi ci sono proprio immersa. Adoro i romanzi storici e le eroine non stereotipate. La Jong ha creato una sorta di feuilleton erotico carico di avventura, e soprattutto di significati e personaggi moderni

What I consider Erica's best novel. Not only does she present an intelligent and dramatic tale, but she conveys it in language appropriate to the 18th century. How she skews male writers that are in the canon is brilliant and hilarious.

I give her points for studying Olde English and trying, but this seems to be an excuse to use medieval words for genitalia.

This book featured Anne Bonney and Robin Hood and I still hated it.

I generally love Erica Jong and would follow her anywhere. Except when she turns too obnoxious and vain. Or when she impersonates a voice that is not hers for the heck of it. Or when she publishes a whole book with that annoying voice.

In all fairness, it’s a feminist book. It has the right attitude that a woman of Fanny’s profession would have in her defense and dignity. And this book, albeit pockmarked with historical and logical distractions (they were called “sea dogs” in those days, not “sharks”), still worked.

It worked as a good story would work. It worked in the way that it stuck with a heroine’s journey, the storyteller’s logic. It worked when it defied societal reservations, and offered crowd-pleasing endings.

It worked so well that I read it through, till the end, because Jong is Jong. She’s still a good and reliable storyteller. One would almost forgive her choice of subject if only….

But the language, man, oh man. That obnoxious language. How do you get over that without speed-reading and skimming through the pages?