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This week I've been reading Victorian erotica — *FOR LEGITIMATE RESEARCH PURPOSES* — and I can't stop laughing at it. If you were trying to write a parody of a Victorian sex scene, would you change a word of this?!
- The Memoirs of Dolly Morton (1899)
- The Memoirs of Dolly Morton (1899)
Here's a lengthier — and slightly more explicit — passage from The Memoirs of Dolly Morton (1899). You can read the whole thing here: https://www.horntip.com/html/books_&_MSS/1890s/1899_the_memoirs_of_dolly_morton_(HC)/index.htm
The illustrations are also quite something. You can see more of them here: https://parisolympiapress.com/2020/02/27/anongeorges-joseph-grassal-the-adventures-of-dolly-morton-philadelphia-society-of-private-bibliophiles-charles-carrington-n-p-paris-1904/
I'm still only halfway through the book, but I should mention that it soon turns into a BDSM-tinged adventure about slavery and the underground railroad (!!). So much Victorian erotica was fixated on flagellation and spanking.
The book's full title is quite an eye-full.
It reminds me a bit of the section in @jonronson's brilliant Butterfly Effect podcast where he talks about how the titles of videos on PornHub are packed with long strings of keywords in order to be discoverable by search engines.
It reminds me a bit of the section in @jonronson's brilliant Butterfly Effect podcast where he talks about how the titles of videos on PornHub are packed with long strings of keywords in order to be discoverable by search engines.
I'm wading through this filth in search of British erotica featuring American girls — I'm interested in how the stereotypical figure of the young, glamorous, and adventurous American girl was sexualised in the Victorian imagination. If you know of any others, please let me know!
So far, I've found one other example in a book titled 'The Story of a Dildoe' (1891). I'll spare you too many details from this one — trust me, it's for the best — but here's what I mean about American Girls being set-up as the object of British sexual fantasies:
I can't resist sharing one highlight from 'The Story of a Dildoe' (1891). In this scene, a girl named Laura dons a strap-on, heads straight to the pianoforte, and improvises a song!
If you want to read more from 'The Story of a Dildo' (1891), there's a full scan on the book on the BnF's website. Be warned though, it features some *very* graphic descriptions of bodily fluids... https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k851127r/f11.image
The story also features a character named Maud Tromp, which is a strong candidate for being crowned the unsexiest name in all erotica.
(Apologies to all the Maud Tromps who follow this account)
Right, I’ll stop polluting your timelines with Victorian filth. There’s plenty more in this old thread: https://twitter.com/digivictorian/status/1126591137735745542?s=21 https://twitter.com/digivictorian/status/1126591137735745542
Very tempted now to squeeze a week on erotica/pornography into my forthcoming MA module on Victorian entertainment, but I’m not sure I can cope with the embarrassment of saying “tremendous cockstand” in a seminar... https://twitter.com/digivictorian/status/1283342993890607105?s=21 https://twitter.com/digivictorian/status/1283342993890607105
