John Cleland

author

John Cleland

1709–1789

Best known for the scandalous 18th-century novel Fanny Hill, this English writer led a restless life before producing one of literature’s most notorious books. His work brought both fame and trouble, and it still stands as a landmark in the history of the novel.

2 Audiobooks

Memoirs of Fanny Hill A New and Genuine Edition from the Original Text (London, 1749)

Memoirs of Fanny Hill A New and Genuine Edition from the Original Text (London, 1749)

by John Cleland

L'oeuvre de John Cleland: Mémoires de Fanny Hill, femme de plaisir Introduction, essai bibliographique par Guillaume Apollinaire

L'oeuvre de John Cleland: Mémoires de Fanny Hill, femme de plaisir Introduction, essai bibliographique par Guillaume Apollinaire

by John Cleland

About the author

Born in 1709, John Cleland was an English novelist whose name is closely tied to Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure, better known as Fanny Hill. He was educated at Westminster School and spent part of his early career abroad, including time connected with British service in Smyrna and Bombay.

Cleland wrote Fanny Hill in the late 1740s, and the book quickly became famous for its explicit content. That notoriety also brought serious consequences: the novel was condemned, and Cleland was arrested in connection with its publication.

Although he wrote other works, Fanny Hill remained the book that defined his reputation. Today he is remembered less for the size of his output than for the lasting place of that controversial novel in literary and censorship history.