Book Cover of 1601: Conversation, as it was by the Social Fireside, in the Time of the Tudors

1601: Conversation, as it was by the Social Fireside, in the Time of the Tudors

by Mark Twain

[Date: 1601.] Conversation, as it was by the Social Fireside, in the Time of the Tudors. or simply 1601 is the title of a short risqué squib by Mark Twain, first published anonymously in 1880, and finally acknowledged by the author in 1906. Written as an extract from the diary of one of Queen Elizabeth I's ladies-in-waiting, the pamphlet purports to record a conversation between Elizabeth and several famous writers of the day. The topics discussed are entirely scatological, notably flatulence, flatulence humor, and sex. 1601 was, according to Edward Wagenknecht, "the most famous piece of pornography in American literature." However, it was more ribaldry than pornography; its content was more in the nature of irreverent and vulgar comedic shock than obscenity for sexual arousal. Prior to the court decisions in the United States in 1959-1966 that legalized the publication of Lady Chatterley's Lover, Tropic of Cancer, and Fanny Hill, the piece continued to be considered unprintable, and was circulated clandestinely in privately printed limited editions.

Book Details

Language

English

Original Language

English

Published In

1880

Authors

Mark Twain image

Mark Twain

United States

Twain was fascinated with science and scientific inquiry. He developed a close and lasting friendship with Nikola Tesla, and the two spent much time together in Tesla's laboratory. Twain patented thre...

Books by Mark Twain

Listen/Download Audiobook

Read by:
00:00
Playback Speed 1.0
00:00
  • Select Speed

Related books

Mathilda Cover image

Mathilda by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

Mathilda, or Matilda, is the second long work of fiction of Mary Shelley, written between August 1819 and February 1820 and first published posthumous...

Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night (Arabian Nights) Volume 13 (Supplemental Nights) Cover image

Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night (Arabian Nights) Volume 13 (Supplemental Nights) by Anonymous

The Book of the Thousand and One Nights is a collection of Middle Eastern folk tales compiled in Arabic during the Islamic Golden Age. The tales are b...

Poems of Sappho: An Interpretative Rendition into English Cover image

Poems of Sappho: An Interpretative Rendition into English by Sappho

This book is a collection of poems by the ancient Greek poet Sappho, who is considered one of the greatest poets of all time. The poems are written in...

All's Well That Ends Well Cover image

All's Well That Ends Well by William Shakespeare

All's Well That Ends Well is a play by William Shakespeare, published in the First Folio in 1623, where it is listed among the comedies. There is a de...

Fanny Hill Cover image

Fanny Hill by John Cleland

Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure—popularly known as Fanny Hill (possibly an anglicisation of the Latin mons veneris, mound of Venus)—is an erotic novel...

The New Machiavelli Cover image

The New Machiavelli by H. G. Wells

The New Machiavelli is a 1911 novel by H. G. Wells that was serialised in The English Review in 1910. Because its plot notoriously derived from Wells'...

A Country Doctor  Cover image

A Country Doctor by Sarah Orne Jewett

A Country Doctor is a fiction novel by American author Sarah Orne Jewett. The book, which was first published in 1884, was based on the relationship b...

The Crock of Gold Cover image

The Crock of Gold by James Stephens

This is a comic novel written by Irish author James Stephens, a quick-witted storyteller whose pantheistic philosophy is revealed in his adult Irish f...

Hypatia Cover image

Hypatia by Charles Kingsley

Hypatia is a historical novel set in 5th-century Alexandria, Egypt. The story revolves around a young monk, Philammon, who leaves his desert monastery...

Romans et contes Cover image

Romans et contes by Theophile Gautier

This collection of stories by Théophile Gautier explores themes of the supernatural, hallucinations, and erotica. It includes two longer fantastical t...

Reviews for 1601: Conversation, as it was by the Social Fireside, in the Time of the Tudors

No reviews posted or approved, yet...