John Cleland - Fanny Hill and Homosexuality

Fanny Hill and Homosexuality

The fact that the passionate descriptions of copulatory acts in Fanny Hill are written by a man from the point of view of a woman, and the fact that Fanny is obsessed by phallic size, have led some critics to suggest it is a homoerotic work. This aspect of the novel, plus Cleland's presumed offence at Westminster School, lack of intimate friends, and his unmarried status have aided conjecture that he was homosexual, as has his bitter falling out with friend Thomas Cannon, author of the pamphlet Ancient and Modern Pederasty Investigated and Exemplify'd (1749), the earliest surviving published defence of homosexuality in English (Gladfelder). The authorized edition of Fanny Hill also contains a scene where Fanny comes across two men fornicating.