Daniel Defoe, Conjugal Lewdness

Liz Bellamy (The Open University)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.05: English Writing and Culture from the Glorious Revolution to the French Revolution, 1689-1789.
Vol. editors: Paul Baines (University of Liverpool), Daniel Cook (University of Dundee), Pat Rogers (University of South Florida), Nicholas Seager (University of Keele)

Domains

Moral Philosophy and Ethics

Dates

First circulation or publication 1727

Places

England (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Treatise

Resources

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Daniel Defoe’s

Conjugal Lewdness: or, Matrimonial Whoredom

was published in 1727, when Defoe was in his late sixties and approaching the end of his life, although the Preface suggests that the book was begun almost thirty years earlier (p. iv). Like so many of Defoe’s works, it immediately provoked controversy. The Introduction describes the adverse response that greeted the advance publicity for the book, with critics attacking the work’s title, which, according to Defoe, was viewed as “a Breach upon Modesty” and offensive to their ears (p. 7). This may in part explain why, in a second edition published a few months after the first, it was more innocuously entitled

A Treatise Concerning the Use and Abuse of the Marriage Bed

But while the original provocative title was designed

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1056 words

Citation: Bellamy, Liz. "Conjugal Lewdness". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 22 March 2005 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=5916, accessed 22 November 2024.]