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," dramaticconversations between an older, experienced woman and a younger, inexperienced maid. Previously unavailable to the modern reader, these dialogues combine sex education, medical folklore, and erotic literature in a decidedly proto-pornographic form. This edition presents other important examples oflibertine 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 toeighteenth-century readers before the publication of John Cleland's Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure in 1749. | When Flesh Becomes Word by Bradford K. Mudge, Hardcover | Indigo Chapters