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''My Secret Life'', by "Walter", is the
memoir A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based in the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autobio ...
of a gentleman describing the author's
sexual development Puberty is the process of physical changes through which a child's body matures into an adult body capable of sexual reproduction. It is initiated by hormonal signals from the brain to the gonads: the ovaries in a girl, the testes in a boy. In ...
and experiences in
Victorian England In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardian ...
. It was first published in a private edition of eleven volumes, at the expense of the author, including an imperfect
index Index (or its plural form indices) may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional entities * Index (''A Certain Magical Index''), a character in the light novel series ''A Certain Magical Index'' * The Index, an item on a Halo megastru ...
, which appeared over seven years beginning around
1888 In Germany, 1888 is known as the Year of the Three Emperors. Currently, it is the year that, when written in Roman numerals, has the most digits (13). The next year that also has 13 digits is the year 2388. The record will be surpassed as late ...
. The work itself is enormous, amounting to over one million words, the eleven original volumes amounting to over 4,000 pages. The text is repetitive and highly disorganised and the literary quality is negligible, but its frank discussion of sexual matters and other hidden aspects of Victorian life make it a rare and valuable social document. According to Steven Marcus, it is virtually the only source for information on London's houses of prostitution, in which Walter spent many hours. It has been described as "one of the strangest and most obsessive books ever written".


Publishing and bans

The first edition was probably printed by Auguste Brancart, in an impression of only 25 copies. In the twentieth century ''My Secret Life'' was pirated and reprinted in a number of abridged versions that were frequently suppressed for obscenity. In 1932, for example, a
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * ...
publisher was arrested for issuing the first three volumes. In the USA it was finally published without censorship in 1966 by
Grove Press Grove Press is an American publishing imprint that was founded in 1947. Imprints include: Black Cat, Evergreen, Venus Library, and Zebra. Barney Rosset purchased the company in 1951 and turned it into an alternative book press in the United Sta ...
, but in 1969 a British printer, Arthur Dobson, was sentenced to two years' prison for producing a UK reprint. It was not until 1995 that the work in its entirety was published openly in the UK, by Arrow Books.


Authorship

The identity of "Walter" is unknown. There is no scholarly consensus in favour of any of the candidates proposed. The most commonly suggested author is
Henry Spencer Ashbee Henry Spencer Ashbee (21 April 1834 – 29 July 1900)(Walter) was a book collector, writer, and bibliographer. He is notable for his massive, clandestine three-volume bibliography of erotic literature published under the pseudonym of Pisanus Frax ...
(1834–1900). He was a book collector,
writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, play ...
, and
bibliographer Bibliography (from and ), as a discipline, is traditionally the academic study of books as physical, cultural objects; in this sense, it is also known as bibliology (from ). English author and bibliographer John Carter describes ''bibliography ...
and, from the three volumes he published under his pseudonym Pisanus Fraxi, the expert on erotic books in his day.
Gershon Legman Gershon Legman (November 2, 1917 – February 23, 1999) was an American cultural critic and folklorist, best known for his books ''The Rationale of the Dirty Joke'' (1968) and ''The Horn Book: Studies in Erotic Folklore and Bibliography'' (19 ...
was the first to link "Walter" and Ashbee, in his introduction to the 1962 reprints of Ashbee's bibliographies, and the 1966 Grove Press edition of ''My Secret Life'' included an expanded version of that essay. Ashbee was also identified as Walter by a May 2000,
Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service in ...
documentary on British TV, ''Walter: The Secret Life of a Victorian Pornographer'' – and in 2001 Ian Gibson's ''The Erotomaniac: The Secret Life of Henry Spencer Ashbee'' (2001, ) provided a detailed review of
circumstantial evidence Circumstantial evidence is evidence that relies on an inference to connect it to a conclusion of fact—such as a fingerprint at the scene of a crime. By contrast, direct evidence supports the truth of an assertion directly—i.e., without need f ...
arguing that Ashbee wrote ''My Secret Life'', presumably weaving fantasy and anecdotes from friends in with his own real-life experiences. If Ashbee was not the actual author, it is suggested that he may well have been the compiler of the work's lengthy, detailed, and very imperfect index, and have provided other editorial assistance and help in getting the book into print. On the other hand,
Steven Marcus Steven Paul Marcus (December 13, 1928 – April 25, 2018) was an American academic and literary critic who published influential psychoanalytic analyses of the novels of Charles Dickens and Victorian pornography. He was George Delacorte Professo ...
, in his influential ''The Other Victorians'' (1966), concluded that the balance of known facts was against Legman's "shrewd and ingenious guess." Also unconvinced were Phyllis and Eberhard Kronhausen in their detailed study of ''My Secret Life'', ''Walter, the English Casanova'' (1967). A number of other men have been suggested as more likely to be the author, including: *
William Simpson Potter William Simpson Potter (21 January 1805 – 16 January 1879) was a 19th-century English author. Potter was a friend of Henry Spencer Ashbee, a merchant, bibliographer, bibliophile, authority on the life and works of Miguel de Cervantes, and collec ...
(1805-1879), a known associate of Ashbee, was put forward by Gordon Grimley in his introduction to the 1972 edition of ''My Secret Life''. Grimley is sceptical of Ashbee's candidacy as the main author. According to Ashbee, Potter was involved in authoring '' The Romance of Lust'', an erotic work centred on incest and a range of sexual encounters. * Charles Stanley, a barrister and
stockbroker A stockbroker is a regulated broker, broker-dealer, or registered investment adviser (in the United States) who may provide financial advisory and investment management services and execute transactions such as the purchase or sale of stocks and ...
, was put forward in 2000 by
Vern Bullough Vern Leroy Bullough (July 24, 1928 – June 21, 2006) was an American historian and sexologist. He was a distinguished professor emeritus at the State University of New York ( SUNY) at Buffalo, Faculty President at California State University, No ...
and
Gordon Stein Gordon Stein (April 30, 1941 – August 27, 1996) was an American author, physiologist, and activist for atheism and religious skepticism. Biography Stein was born in New York to Jewish parents, and from an early age took an interest in science. ...
as the most likely candidate, the known facts of whose life best coincide with the internal evidence of the work. "Walter" claimed to be a close friend of the barrister in a famous case of the time, which they identify as the case of ''R v Richard Clarke'' in 1854. That barrister, William Overend QC, was a childhood friend of Stanley. * William Haywood (1821-1894), who was Surveyor and Engineer to the City of London Commissioners of Sewers was suggested by John Patrick Pattinson in 2002 after extensive research.


Veracity

The question of how much the book is a record of true experiences (whether of Ashbee or another writer), and how much is fiction or erotic fantasy can probably never be fully resolved. However, the presence of much mundane detail, the writer's inclusion of incidents that do him little personal credit, and the lack of intrinsically improbable circumstances (in contrast to most
Victorian erotica Victorian erotica is a genre of sexual art and literature which emerged in the Victorian era of 19th-century Britain. Victorian erotica emerged as a product of a Victorian sexual culture. The Victorian era was characterized by paradox of rigid mora ...
) lend it considerable credibility. In spite of "Walter's" obsessive womanising over a period of several decades, only a few of his partners are of his own
social class A social class is a grouping of people into a set of hierarchical social categories, the most common being the upper, middle and lower classes. Membership in a social class can for example be dependent on education, wealth, occupation, incom ...
. The great majority are
prostitutes Prostitution is the business or practice of engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, non-penet ...
,
servants A domestic worker or domestic servant is a person who works within the scope of a residence. The term "domestic service" applies to the equivalent occupational category. In traditional English contexts, such a person was said to be "in service ...
or
working class The working class (or labouring class) comprises those engaged in manual-labour occupations or industrial work, who are remunerated via waged or salaried contracts. Working-class occupations (see also " Designation of workers by collar colo ...
women. This would appear to reflect the realities of his time. Internal evidence from the book suggests that "Walter" was born between 1820 and 1825. In the last volume he notes seeing the books through print, which indicates that he was still alive in the 1890s.
Steven Marcus Steven Paul Marcus (December 13, 1928 – April 25, 2018) was an American academic and literary critic who published influential psychoanalytic analyses of the novels of Charles Dickens and Victorian pornography. He was George Delacorte Professo ...
(1969) ''The Other Victorians: a Study of Sexuality and Pornography in Mid-Nineteenth-Century England''. New York: Basic Books, 1964; pp. 78-88


References


Further reading

* Marcus, Steven, ''The Other Victorians: a Study of Sexuality and Pornography in Mid-Nineteenth-Century England'' (1966) * Kronhausen, Eberhard & Phyllis, ''Walter: The English Casanova''. 512 pages. Ballantine Books, 1967 * Gibson, Ian, ''The Erotomaniac: Secret Life of Henry Spencer Ashbee''. 285 pages. London: Faber and Faber, 2001


External links


Archive of text removed from Project Gutenberg #30360
(first 3 volumes only, downloadable in various eBook formats)
Complete text online, via Wayback Machine


{{DEFAULTSORT:My Secret Life 1888 non-fiction books British memoirs Pornographic books Prostitution in England Victorian culture Works of unknown authorship Works published under a pseudonym