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.