Product Description

The Victorian era offers an untapped wellspring of lesbian erotica. Indeed, Victorian erotica writers treated lesbians and bisexual women with voracious curiosity and tender affection. As far as written treasuries of vice and perversion go, the Victorian era has no equal. These stories delve into the world of the aristocrat and the streetwalker, the seasoned seductress and the innocent naïf. Represented in this anthology are a variety of genres, from romantic fiction to faux journalism and travelogue, as well as styles and tones resembling everything from steamy page-turners to scholarly exposition. What all these works share, however, is the sense of fun, mischief and sexiness that characterized Victorian lesbian erotica. The lesbian erotica of the Victorian era defies stereotype and offers rich portraits of a sexuality driven underground by repressive mores. As Oscar Wilde claimed, the only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #413278 in Books
• Published on: 2006-03-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 608 pages

Customer Reviews

Must Have Been John Austin
This is the first book I have ever purchased on Amazon that I had to return. It seemed to have been written by a man, there was not one scene that did not include some type of phallus. I am a fan of Victorian tales and classic from writers like Jane Austin, this book seemed to be written by someone from modern times trying to speak with the syntax and semantics of Victorian times. I would not recommend this collection to anyone who likes sensual and sexual play between women. There were some scenes with incest and rape. I did not get very far in this book, about the first 5 stories, in an attempt to find something worth my time. I returned the book the very next day after receiving it in the mail.
Take a look at it in a book store before you purchase it to varify my words.

A very bad joke.
Surely this book is a joke; a very bad joke. I am quite familiar with Victorian Literature and am quite familiar with so called lesbian tales of sex and I am quite familiar with the differences in the way women and men write each. This was written by a man, have no doubt! The Pseudo Victorian style was probably put together in the late 1960s or 1970s when such books seemed to be all the craze. As has been pointed out, there is the problem of incest and rape involved in some of the stories. This is a normal "guy thing." I have no doubt that a local yokel frat boy would love this sort of thing, and to be honest, that is just who it was written for. Do not waste your money on this one, nor your time trying to read it. Neither is worth it. A person could take a copy of The Pearl, switch a few words around, and come up with something better than this...what ever it may be. I do not recommend this one and really rather resent the publisher trying to pass this one off as Victorian Lesbian Literature....it is far from it.

Fairly enjoyable but of questionable origin
I seriously question the validity of these stories as real Victorian writing. As another reviewer mentioned, there are no background and bibliographic references whatsoever. I would at least expect approximate dates and publishers of the original texts.

My guess is that they were written by a man familiar with Victorian erotica, but some time after the era ended. One clue is that one story describes the woman as a "lesbian," a word which didn't come into popular use until well after the Victorian era. Sexologists began using it in 1889, but it is really doubtful that a writer of common porn would be aware of the most recently published scientific writing.

On the other hand, the stories are entertaining as some ridiculous little pieces of erotica.