17th century erotica
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17th century
- 17th century erotica
Three works of erotic fiction, the so-called whore dialogues mark the shift from European erotica from Italy to France. Mythological painting, common in Italy since the 16th century, is introduced in France by Poussin.
In the 17th century, numerous examples of pornographic or erotic literature began to circulate, mostly printed in Amsterdam, and smuggled into European states. These included L'École des filles, a French work printed in 1655 that is considered to be the beginnings of pornography in France. It consists of an illustrated dialogue between two women, a 16-year-old and her more worldly cousin, and their explicit discussions about sex. The author remains anonymous to this day, though a few suspected authors served light prison sentences for supposed authorship of the work. In his famous diary, Samuel Pepys records purchasing a copy for solitary reading and then burning it so that it would not be discovered by his wife; "the idle roguish book, L'escholle de filles; which I have bought in plain binding… because I resolve, as soon as I have read it, to burn it."
France
Precursors to the libertine writers were Théophile de Viau (1590-1626) and Charles de Saint-Evremond (1610-1703), who were inspired by Epicurus and the publication of Petronius.
Les Vies des Dames galantes
- Les Vies des Dames galantes (1665-1666)
Although most of Brantôme's memoirs were written during the previous century, audience could only now read the posthumously published mémoirthe "gallant ladies" of the European courts.
Contes et nouvelles en vers
Contes et nouvelles en vers (1665-66) is a French collection of bawdy short stories by Jean de la Fontaine. Fontaine used the plots of some of the bawdier episodes of Orlando Furioso and Boccaccio as well as other sources. It features stories such as Le Cocu, battu, et content.
Académie des dames ou le meursius francais
Académie des dames ou le meursius francais is an early work of erotic fiction written by Nicolas Chorier, first published in Latin in c.1659 as Aloisiae Sigaeae, Toletanae, Satyra sotadica de arcanis amoris et Veneris.
The book is written in the form of a series of dialogues with Tullia, a twenty-six year-old Italian woman, the wife of Callias, who is charged with the sexual initiation of her young cousin, Ottavia, to whom she declares, "You mother asked to reveal to you the most mysterious secrets of bridal bed and to teach you what you must be with your husband, which your husband will also be, touching these small things which so strongly inflame men's passion. This night, so that I can indoctrinate you in all of this liberated language, will sleep together in my bed, which I would like to be able to say will have been the softest of Venus's lace."
L'École des filles
L’Escole des Filles ou la Philosophie des dames (a so-called whore dialogue) is an erotic work of fiction first described by Samuel Pepys in his famous diary. It was first published anonymously in Paris in 1655 by an. The presumed authors are Michel Millot and/or Jean L'Ange [or de Lange].
Originally published in 1655, this French text has also been translated as 'The School for Venus,' and despite its initial title (École des filles), should not be confused with The School for Girls (L'École des biches).
Letters of a Portuguese Nun
- Letters of a Portuguese Nun (1669)
The Letters of a Portuguese Nun (Fr. Les Lettres portugaises), first published anonymously by Claude Barbin in Paris in 1669, are a work believed by most scholars to be epistolary fiction (comprising five love letters) written by Gabriel-Joseph de La Vergne, comte de Guilleragues (1628–1685).
The passionate letters were a European publishing sensation (in part because of their presumed authenticity) and set a precedent for sentimentalism and for the literary genres of the sentimental novel and the epistolary novel into the 18th century. A 2006 book written by Myriam Cyr argues that the letters are in fact authentic.
Vénus dans le Cloître
- Vénus dans le Cloître (1683)
The Nun in her Smock or Venus in the Cloister is the English translation of the French novel Vénus dans le Cloître (1683), ascribed to Abbé du Prat.
In 1724, Edmund Curll published the "pornographic" title that argued that it is the church, and not Christ, that forbids sexual exploration. In 1727 he was convicted under the common law offence of disturbing the peace for its publication. It appears to be the first conviction for obscenity in the United Kingdom, and set a legal precedent for other convictions.
The format of the book is an example of a whore dialogue. In a series of five dramatic conversations between two fictional nuns (sister Agnès and sister Angélique) are related. In these conversations, the elder more experienced woman instructs the younger about sex.
Italy
Alcibiades the Schoolboy by Antonio Rocco
Alcibiades the Schoolboy (L'Alcibiade, fanciullo a scola), an Italian dialogue published anonymously in 1652, is a lively defense of pederasty loosely styled after Platonic dialogue. Set in ancient Athens, the teacher is modelled on Socrates, who so desperately wants to consummate the relationship he has with Alcibiades, one of his students that he uses all tactics of rhetoric and sophistry at his disposal. He argues that nature gave us sexual organs for our own pleasure, and that it would insult him to use them otherwise, citing examples from Greek mythology and culture, as well as refuting counterarguments based on the Sodom and Gomorrah story.
England
Somatopia is a term coined by Darby Lewes to denote texts composed of, or designed for the human body. Examples include Erotopolis: The Present State of Bettyland (1684) and Merryland (1740). Agriculture and topography have been popular sources of sexual symbolism from Ancient times.
Belgium
Netherlands
Spain
- Velazquez (Rokeby Venus, c. 1655)
France (visual)
