Analysis Of John Leland's Memoirs Of A Woman Of Pleasure By John Cleland

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CASE NAME: A Book Named "John Cleland's Memoirs of a Woman Of Pleasure" V. Attorney General of Massachusetts CITATION/DATE: 383 U.S. 413 (1965-1966) LEVEL OF COURT: Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court FACTS: “Fanny Hill”, a.k.a. “Memoirs of a Woman Of Pleasure” was a book written by English author John Cleland, which told its story through a series of letters written by the stories’ protagonist to an unknown recipient. The novel generated immediate controversy upon release due to its sexual content and explicit subject matter, with its protagonist being a prostitute in London. The book went through multiple legal allegations in Britain and the U.S. before finally arriving in the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. The plaintiff claimed that the book was “lewd and obscene”, and motioned to ban the book. The book, defended by publisher G.T. Putnam Sons, was earlier defended as being “a joyful celebration of normal, non-perverted sex.” ISSUE Does the book Memoirs of a Woman Of Pleasure have either cultural, social or literary value, thus declaring it not obscene? Or is it a work i...

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