confirming "JL's Law"

[George Thompson]

JL's Law is that it is a waste of time to look in 19th C porn for dirty
words.  This is exemplified by "The Amorous Intrigues and Adventures of
Aaron Burr", published in 1861, and available widely in libraries in series
2 of "Wright's American Fiction"; also available on line.
I was reading vol. 2 of Lyle Wright's bibliography of 19th C American novels
a while ago -- no comments, please -- when I came upon this title; Wright
rarely editorializes, but permitted himself a note calling it a "scabrous"
book.  My sort of reading material, in short, next to a good bibliography.
 I skimmed the copy that's on line, not having access to the microfilm here.
 Nary a dirty word did I find, nor anything else of much interest.  The
protagonist's conquests all met with danged little resistence -- as Caesar
might have put it, Vidi, Vinci, Veni.  If there are any of you curious about
what 19th C America knew about fancy fucking, and when did they know it, in
one adventure, maybe a third through the book, it is pretty clear that Burr
goes down on the lassie.

GAT

--
George A. Thompson
Author of A Documentary History of "The African Theatre", Northwestern Univ.
Pr., 1998, but nothing much since then.

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