.KEYWORD bookmonth1198
.FLYINGHEAD PALMPOWER BOOK-OF-THE-MONTH CLUB
.TITLE Putting the Hot in HotSync: your guide to romantic literature and sexually oriented references for the PalmPilot
.DEPT
.SUMMARY Every so often we get an article that just reminds us how much we enjoy being in the publishing business. This is one such article. Our PalmPower Book of the Month Club editors, Craig Froehle and John Swain, have compiled a wonderfully entertaining, yet still tasteful collection of sexually-related literature and resources available for download to your Palm organizer. From Fanny Hill and Lady Chatterly’s Lover to, well, The Cigar, this is an article that’s titillating, yet not offensive.
.AUTHOR Craig Froehle and John Swain
Masters and Johnson studied it. Margaret Sanger worried about its consequences. The President’s in hot water over it and everyone else has at least one opinion about it. What is it? Sex, of course.
Never being ones to leave any social stones unturned, in a moment of extreme bravery or utter dementia, our stalwart columnists turn the blinding truth of their backlights on sexuality in literature and reference works for the PalmPilot.
.H1 Fanny Hill: memoirs of a woman of pleasure
One classic example of human sexuality in literature is the 18th century Fanny Hill: Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure. Fanny Hill is John Cleland’s (1709-1789) most well known work and has enjoyed enormous popularity since its first publication in 1749. That popularity is more than likely due to its prurient nature and the inevitable publicity derived from the notoriety of its many heavily censored editions. However, Fanny Hill is more than simply a work of erotica. It has rightfully achieved a position in the pantheon of English literature classics.
The stylized text is presented in the form of two lengthy letters from the title character to an unidentified confidant addressed simply as "Madam". Throughout the body of these letters, the reader is given a window into Fanny’s life as a London "woman of pleasure". Cleland gives Fanny a pithy, elegant, but matter-of-fact voice with which to describe her circumstances.
What separates Fanny Hill from other erotic literature is two-fold. Between the tales of sexual encounters, Cleland offers readers timeless messages that carry as much relevance today as when first published. Of particular note are the views Fanny offers on virtue and vice in the closing paragraphs. However, not satisfied with simply espousing through his narrator, Cleland also used Fanny Hill as literary parody. By embracing a form of heavily stylized language, Cleland was in fact offering a bit of literary sarcasm addressed to his predecessors, most notably Daniel Defoe (1660-1731).
Fanny Hill has the dubious distinction of being one of a number of books that were officially banned in the United States. In the early 1960’s, the Attorney General of Massachusetts brought a civil action of obscenity against the book. Despite the intervention of a publisher, the trial court and eventually the Massachusetts Supreme Court decreed the book obscene and not entitled to the protection of the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution. On subsequent appeal, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1966 that Fanny Hill did not meet the Roth standard for obscenity, and the classic was again freely available in the United States.
.H1 Lady Chatterly’s Lover
When it came to banning erotic books however, few have raised the sheer amount of controversy and litigation as D. H. Lawrence’s Lady Chatterly’s Lover. Lawrence was well familiar with battles over censorship and when he completed Lady Chatterly, he expected difficulty in finding a publisher brave enough to print the work. He was correct.
Eventually, he met with a Florentine bookseller who agreed to print the book using Lawrence’s own money. The 1,000 copies of this first edition were sold through Lawrence’s friends to avoid trouble from the police. The book sold quickly and by the end of the first year, the first printing was sold out. Lawrence printed subsequent versions on numerous occasions.
The novel was profitable for Lawrence. However since it was not available through an established publisher, pirated versions were rampant and Lawrence was deprived of the full potential revenue from sales of Lady Chatterly. As a clamor of obscenity became common, booksellers were reluctant to sell the title in either its authorized or pirated editions. In 1930, a Massachusetts bookstore manager and his clerk were fined a total of $1000 and sentenced to four months in prison.
Despite the outrage of many in society a small group of people voiced support early on for the book. One anonymous critic in a decimating review wrote that the novel "reeked with obscenity and lewdness…" but continued by stating "Mr. Lawrence is a man of genius. As a psychologist he is in the front rank of living writers; as a stylist he stands supreme".
Around the world as attempts were made to publish uncensored versions of Lady Chatterly’s Lover, obscenity cases were brought to trial. In America, between 1944 and 1959, pivotal court cases were held to test the nature of the work as obscenity for both print and film versions. In Japan, in 1952 and 1953, trials resulted in the conviction of a publisher for the translated version. During the Great Cultural Reformation in China, in the late 1960’s and 1970’s, it was not uncommon for people to be imprisoned for life simply because they possessed a copy of the book. Today, only eminent members of Chinese society are allowed to read the book, and they must first obtain written permission to read it only for academic purposes. Possession of the book without permission can still lead to a prison sentence.
So the next time you have the time and the free device memory, take a moment to HotSync with the Palm organizer editions of these touchstones of literary, judicial and erotic history. As you do, take a moment to be thankful you live in a society where you have the choice to do so.
.H1 Great reference works
Well, this is the 90’s and the information superhighway is literally overgrown with publicly accessible materials on dating, love, sex, marriage, and every conceivable variation thereof. And should you have the desire to carry some instructional reading in your Palm device, there is a wealth of reference information just for the asking.
Do you find yourself wanting to be in a relationship? Or, do you find yourself in a relationship and not having the faintest clue what to do about it? Download the Alt.Romance FAQ (i.e., Frequently Asked Questions) in DOC format and you’ll be able to read answers to questions like "How do I meet other people?" or "What’s a romantic thing I can do for my significant other?" Written in true FAQ form, it provides a broad range of points of view as well as both facts and opinions on the matter.
If you’ve found that special someone, you may want to move on to more explicit instructional material. "The Love Teachings of Kama Sutra" is a classic (and explicit) reference to sexual relations, and is available for downloading into your Palm device in DOC format.
A more contemporary sexual reference is the infamous Alt.Sex FAQ. This document is the result of several years of work by over a dozen individuals who compiled the very best answers to some of sex’s most difficult questions. It provides information on anatomy, techniques, and even sexually transmitted diseases. (One note of caution: while not explicitly addressed in the FAQ, it might be considered poor form to reference these materials on your PalmPilot in a "real-time" fashion, if you know what I mean.)
If these materials motivate you to investigate previously unexplored realms, and you haven’t adopted that physician-recommended workout regimen yet, then you may also want to having the PalmPilot First Aid & CPR Reference (compiled by Mary Jo Sminkey) loaded on your device…just in case.
.BEGIN_KEEP
.H2 The obligatory Starr Report reference
Finally, if Bill Clinton’s escapades have been entertaining to you, then you certainly don’t want to miss having the entire Clinton-Starr-Lewinsky fiasco in DOC format loaded on your Palm organizer. Nearly everything regarding the trial is available, including the sexually explicit Starr Report, transcripts of Clinton’s videotape deposition, Monica Lewinsky’s depositions, email to Linda Tripp, and the White House "prebuttal." On a tangentially related note, the Cigar Smoker’s FAQ is also available for downloading in DOC format (although we suggest that you not inhale).
.CALLOUT the Cigar Smoker’s FAQ is also available for downloading in DOC format (although we suggest that you not inhale).
So, whether you like to read about other peoples’ fantasies or create your own, there is a great deal of "romantically inclined" and "explicitly mature" materials available for loading into your Palm organizer.
All of the above documents can be found at either MemoWare or The Lending Library. Or, take a tour around the PalmPilot E-text Web-Ring. You may be surprised to find exactly what you’re looking for!
.BEGIN_SIDEBAR
.H1 Product availability and resources
Visit MemoWare, maintained by Craig Froehle, at http://www.memoware.com.
Visit The Lending Library, maintained by John Swain, at http://www.macduff.net.
Tour the PalmPilot E-text Web-Ring at http://www.pilotlibrary.org/webring.html.
.END_SIDEBAR
.BIO Craig Froehle is currently pursuing a doctoral degree in Business Administration at UNC, but is perfecting the art of cheese-sculpting as a back-up plan. After learning this month that his streak continues unbroken by failing, yet again, to be a recipient of the Nobel Prize in anything, John Swain will continue to work for a living in New York City.
.DISCUSS http://www.component-net.com/webx?13@@.ee6c3f5
.END_KEEP
