Venus in the Cloister or The Nun in her Smock, known in the original French as Vénus dans le cloître, ou la Religieuse en chemise (1683), is a work of erotic fiction by the Abbé du Prat, which is a pseudonym for an unknown author.
The entire story can be considered as a “whore dialogue”[4] in which the elder nun trains the younger one in matters of sex.
[6] Angelica then proceeds to mention Reverend Father Jesuit, who helped open her mind to such new types of religious speculations and debate.
The father talks of religion in terms of two distinct bodies—"one of which is purely celestial and supernatural, the other terrestrial and corruptible, which is only the invention of Men".
Policy, which cannot suffer any Thing defective in the State, seeing the Increase of these Recluses, their Disorder and Irregularity, was obliged to make use of its Power ...
It had a Mind to rid it self entirely of those Leaches, who through laziness and horrible sloath, would live on the Labour of poor People; but this Buckler of Religion with which they cover themselves, and the Judgment of the Vulgar, of which they had already made themselves Masters, gave Things another Turn; so that these Communities were not entirely unuseful to the Commonwealth.
While Angelica imparts her knowledge, Sister Agnes carefully acts the part of the younger nun who tries to escape seduction but fails in the attempt.
This form of writing began with Pietro Aretino's Ragionamenti (1534–36) followed by such works as La Retorica delle Puttane (The Whore's Rhetoric) (1642) by Ferrante Pallavicino; L'École des Filles (The School for Girls) (1655), attributed to Michel Millot and Jean L'Ange and also known as The School of Venus; The Dialogues of Luisa Sigea (c. 1660) by Nicolas Chorier (known also as A Dialogue between a Married Woman and a Maid in various editions; and as "Satyra sotadica").
In Venus in the Cloister, acts of masturbation, flagellation, same sex sexuality, voyeurism and copulation are explored in detail.
This oppressive setting of the church and subsequent lesbian relations that developed as a result was a popular theme in literature during the reforms of Protestantism and Counter-Reformation.
"At the moment of orgasm, individuality triumphs over the collective, nature acts out against culture and freedom strikes a blow against tyranny.
Secret meetings, acts of voyeurism, presence of veils and observers all combine to make the narrative extremely erotic and critical of repressive practices at the same time.
An anonymous translation was published in London in 1683, the year of the original French edition, by the bookseller Henry Rhodes, Fleet Street.
Even though Edmund Curll ensured that his name was not mentioned in the title page of Robert Samber's translation, it did not prevent him from running into trouble.
A report in The Whitehall Evening Post, claims that Lord Townshend was responsible for having Edmund Curll arrested in 1725 because he published "obscene Books and Pamphlets, tending to encourage Vice and Immorality".
Moreover, Edmund Curll argued that, Jean Barrin's work was meant to be read as a satire attacking the injustices of the Church.
"At the end of the hour, during which nothing more actually occurred, Curll was hoisted up on the shoulders of a couple of his strongest supporters and taken off to a nearby pub for a few pints.