When Flesh Becomes Word

This book collects nine different examples of British libertine literature that appeared before 1750. Three of these are famous "whore dialogues". This collection also presents a range of other examples of libertine literature, including bawdy poety, a salacious medical treatise, an irreverent travelogue, and a criminal biography.

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When Flesh Becomes Word collects nine different examples of British libertine literature that appeared before 1750. Three of these--The School of Venus (1680), Venus in the Cloister (1725), and A Dialogue Between a Married Lady and a Maid (1740)--are famous "whore dialogues," dramatic conversations between an older,experienced woman and a younger, inexperienced maid. Previously unavailable in an affordable edition these dialogues combine sex education, medical folklore, and erotic literature in a decidedly proto-pornographic form. This edition presents other important examples of libertine literature, including bawdy poetry, a salacious medical treatise, an irreverent travelogue, and a criminal biography. The combination of both popular and influential texts presented in this edition provides an accessible introduction to the variety of material available to eighteenth-century readers before the publication of John Cleland's Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure in 1749.