Infamous Commerce
Subtitle: Prostitution in Eighteenth-Century British Literature And Culture
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Published: June 8, 2006
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 288
ISBN-13: 9780801444043
Subjects: Literary studies: 16th to 18th centuries; Prostitution; Social history; c 1700 to c 1800; History and criticism; Feminist; Literary Criticism; Literature - Classics / Criticism; Prostitution in literature; History; United Kingdom, Great Britain; English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh; Women's Studies - General; 18th century; English literature; Great Britain
Description: "In Infamous Commerce, Laura J. Rosenthal uses literature to explore the meaning of prostitution from the Restoration through the eighteenth century, showing how both reformers and libertines constructed the modern meaning of sex work during this period. From Grub Street s lurid "whore biographies" to the period's most acclaimed novels, the prostitute was depicted as facing a choice between poverty and some form of sex work. Prostitution, in Rosenthal's view, confronted the core controversies of eighteenth-century capitalism: luxury, desire, global trade, commodification, social mobility, gender identity, imperialism, self-ownership, alienation, and even the nature of work itself."

"In the context of extensive research into printed accounts of both male and female prostitution - among them sermons, popular prostitute biographies, satire, pornography, brothel guides, reformist writing, and travel narratives - Rosenthal offers in-depth readings of Samuel Richardson's Clarissa and Pamela and the responses to the latter novel (including Eliza Haywood's Anti-Pamela), Bernard Mandeville's defenses of prostitution, Daniel Defoe's Roxana, Henry Fielding's Tom Jones, and travel journals about the voyages of Captain Cook to the South Seas. Throughout, Rosenthal considers representations of the prostitute's own sexuality (desire, revulsion, etc.) to be key parts of the changing meaning of "the oldest profession.""--Jacket.