Bawdy, it’s not — Strange Antics: A cultural history of seduction

Anyone reading Clement Knox’s history of seduction for salacious entertainment is likely to be disappointed: it contains no mention of oysters or Barry White records, and only a very light sprinkling of bawdiness. Strange Antics is a serious and sober tome about libertinism and its consequences, thank you very much. Readers expecting ‘history’, in the conventional sense, will likewise be frustrated: though it dips into legal and political history, this book is principally composed of literary biography and criticism, as Knox draws on the lives of various cultural historical figures and several canonical novels to explore his theme — a format that has lately become something of a go-to for debut non-fiction authors.

In the 18th century men could sow their oats with minimal repercussions, whereas women engaging in dalliances risked social ostracism, economic ruin and pregnancy. As the letter-writer Lady Mary Wortley Montagu put it: ‘Tis play to you, but tis death to us.’