The fascinating
memoirs of a ‘respectable’ gentleman living in 19th century London
give a rare and unique insight into the attitudes towards women, sex and prostitution
in a time of frigidity and repression.
Personally, this time in history interests me greatly and the book,
which I had never heard of and stumbled across by chance, encapsulates the dark
and mysterious world of the capital in the 1800s. The text almost escaped any
recognition, being a controversial piece of erotica, and caused printers and
publishers to be arrested or imprisoned due to their involvement with it. It is
alleged that the original eleven volumes were locked away in a British library
for some time, banned for their depravity, and were only published in their
entirety in 1995. I discuss only the first three volumes which detail how the
book came to be, Walter’s childhood and education about sex and also his
experiences from teenage boy to young man. I focus on the relationships he had
with certain women and also the ambiguity that surrounds the text.
The text begins with a foreword from a man who
was given a peculiar package whilst his friend was gravely ill. The
instructions were that the package was not to be opened until the man had died, if he survived the package was to be
returned to him. If not, it was allowed to be seen by the receiver’s eyes only
and then burnt. The demise came and the parcel was opened, the inheritor
writes, “the more I read it, the more marvelous it seemed.” For some years he
wondered what he would do with it and, ignoring his friend’s wish, came to the
conclusion: “feeling that it would be sinful to destroy such a history, I
copied the manuscript and destroyed the original. No one can now trace the
author, no names are mentioned in the book […] If I have done harm in printing
it, I have done none to him, […] and given to a few a secret history which
bears the impress of truth on every page, a contribution to psychology.”
As you can imagine, I was eager to learn more. The text reads like a gripping mystery novel and critics have wondered if the text is indeed purely fictional.
However, many disagree because the novel is extremely repetitive and
unstructured, written years after the events in a muddled manner which is unlike
fiction. Regardless, the story continues to be obsessive because it is such an
intriguing insight in to a world of pseudonyms and banned publication, an
expose of the animal that raged within the Victorian.
Before delving into Walter’s world, I would like to state that this
discussion is not for the sole purpose of recommendation. Walter was deeply
infatuated with sex of any form: be it masturbation, voyeurism, pedophilia in
one case, forced, bought or group. He is graphic in detail about some of the
most debasing sexual acts probably recorded in this format at the time- hence
the anonymity. For the purpose of this blog, I discovered that the word ‘c*nt’ appears
1,035 times in the three volumes I read. Therefore, I advise those who are
easily offended to leave it be.
Walter was never educated about sex, the knowledge he gained was through
spying with his cousin Fred or noticing that his baby siblings had something
that wasn’t a penis. He and Fred would spy on their older relatives whilst they
were using the toilet and discuss what they imagined sex and the uses of
genitalia to be. Walter and his classmates would masturbate each other because
they knew no better and many of Walt’s first sexual experiences were through
maids and cooks that his mother employed . Is it much wonder that sex became so
appealing to Walter? It was a tantalising taboo, Walter would even peek through
keyholes in order to catch a glimpse of a woman in the nude and would then
‘frig’ himself into a frenzy whilst looking at the illustrations in Fanny Hill.
To read the book is almost to become a voyeur yourself.
Once older, being of an educated class, Walt used
money to buy himself the pleasures that many women wouldn’t give so freely. He
writes about sexual experiences with every type and class of prostitute you
could possibly imagine, from old to young or backstreet to grand apartment.
Some he found repulsive, others he writes about as an artist who has found
their Mona Lisa.
Sarah Mavis seems to be “the one that got away” for poor old Walt. She
was aloof, she was unlike any prostitute or lady he had even lain with because
she was a woman who was indifferent to him, she intimidated him. Not to mention
she had the physical form that Walter held so highly; “fleshy limbs and a fat
backside.” She was expensive and infuriating; Walter seemed to have fallen for
her at first sight: “I saw a pair of feet in lovely boots which seemed
perfection, and calves which were exquisite.” It’s important to note that
Walter was unhappily married during the latter volumes and had asked Sarah to
elope with him. He’d offered to flee the country with Sarah - he paid for her
living and wanted to provide for her as his mistress - he confesses to have
loved her. She wouldn’t leave her husband for him and he was left heartbroken.
He later writes that he believed she was found dead in the Thames. It’s not
typically romantic but there seems to be something tragically Shakespearian
about the whole seedy affair.
I find the concept of this secret life extraordinary, had this man not
written what he did, we would never know about Sarah Mavis or her sad existence
or the worship one man had for her. The little conversations and glances would
have died with them. The thing that frustrates me and
draws me to the book is the subtle clues and jigsaw pieces that Walt gives us
and Sarah Mavis is so intriguing because she is one of those pieces. Who was
she? We are told she had been an actress in a troupe, she had been a model for
artists and she had only begun prostituting herself in order to support her
family and earn money to start a business.
Walt writes: “Then she told me she had in her youth been a model for
artists, had sat to Etty and Frost, hers was the form which had been painted in
many of their pictures, - and then she would say no more.” William Edward Frost
is widely recognised as a follower of William Etty, both painted the female
form during the Victorian era. I was naturally curious to see some of their
work in the hope of seeing Sarah Mavis. The first picture of the female form I
have included in this piece is by Etty and the second is a painting of a
woman’s face by Frost. In my fantasy of discovering who Sarah Mavis is, I have
re-read Walt’s descriptions of Sarah’s full form and depiction of her face and
I’d love to imagine that either could be her.
Here is a short
description of Sarah Mavis’ face by Walt:
“Handsome her face
certainly was, but it was of a somewhat heavy character: her eyes were dark,
soft and vague in expression which together with the habit of leaving her lips
slightly open, gave her a thoughtful, and at times half-vacant look. Her nose
was charming and retroussé, her mouth small, with full lips, and a delicious
set of very small white teeth, her hair was nearly black, long, thick and
coarsish dark hair in large quantity was in her armpits, and showed slightly
when her arms were down, her arms and breasts were superb.”
Oxford Road Rating: ★★★★
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