L'École des filles
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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L’Escole des Filles ou la Philosophie des dames (a so-called whore dialogue) is an erotic work of fiction first described by Samuel Pepys in his famous diary. It was first published anonymously in Paris in 1655. The presumed authors are Michel Millot and/or Jean L'Ange [or de Lange]. Also mentioned as a possible author is Paul Scarron (Kearney).
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Protagonists
As naive as the Agnès of Molière in L'École des femmes, Fanchon listens as her cousin Suzanne tells her about sex.
Incipit
"Belles et curieuses damoiselles" are the opening lines to the L'École des filles , addressing the female reader directly.
Publication history
Originally published in 1655, this French text has also been translated as 'The School for Venus,' and despite its initial title (École des filles), should not be confused with The School for Girls and The School for Wives.
Background
In the 17th century, numerous examples of pornographic or erotic literature began to circulate, mostly printed in Amsterdam, and smuggled into European states. These included École des filles, a French work printed in 1655 that is considered to be the beginnings of pornography in France. It consists of an illustrated dialogue between two women, a 16-year-old and her more worldly cousin, and their explicit discussions about sex. The author remains anonymous to this day, though a few suspected authors (Michel Millot) were convicted to prison sentences for supposed authorship of the work. In his famous diary, Samuel Pepys records purchasing a copy for solitary reading and then burning it so that it would not be discovered by his wife; "the idle roguish book, L'escholle de filles; which I have bought in plain binding… because I resolve, as soon as I have read it, to burn it.""
Notes
- Whore dialogue
- Michel Millot
- European erotica
- Baroquerotica
- Libertine literature
- Académie des dames ou le meursius francais
- Samuel Pepys's purchase of L'École des filles, his pleasure derived from and the subsequent burning of it
Bibliography
- The Politics of Pornography: L'Ecole des filles, Joan DeJean.
