LiveJournal Author's Note
A few things to note before jumping in:
Passion & Profession was, originally, a fill for a prompt on the Eagle kinkmeme; it has clearly spiraled far out of control.
To the best of my ability, all English language spellings are accurate for the time and the dialect. Many quoted verses from the Bible have even more-archaic and more-unusual spellings.
A fair amount of non-English languages are spoken in the story. Thus, a fair amount of the story's dialogue is not in English. (Unfortunately, LJ does not yet support the necessary non-Roman scripts--as far as I know--and so the Hindi and Bengali have been transliterated.) In order to read the Hindi, the Bengali, and the French, mouse over the words and an English translation will appear in hypertext. Regrettably, I do not speak any of those particular languages, and so they are only as accurate as Google Translate has deemed fit to make them.
All Biblical verses cited are from the 1769 version of the King James Bible. All interpretations are my own.
Each chapter contains notes at the end, which primarily exist to explain the many obscure references and unusual words that litter the text, or to add a bit more historical context to the setting. Quite a few were simply written as an act of frivolity and indulgence, when I learned some factotum I found interesting and decided perhaps someone else would like to know it too. Needless to say, the notes are in no way necessary to understand or enjoy the story.
Corrections regarding any of the non-English languages are welcome with open arms; corrections regarding the English language will be taken under gentle advisement; corrections and clarifications regarding historical or cultural details, information presented in the notes, and contemporary theology and religious thought will be eagerly researched, and incorporated into the story if possible; all other concrit is welcome if kindly meant; direct criticisms, or complaints about the behaviours, moralities, or beliefs expressed in the story, will be politely received and quietly set aside.
Warnings: many, many warnings here. I hate to put in warnings, in a way, because it makes the novel sound far more unsavoury than it really is, because the list inevitably contains an unfortunate amount of spoilers, and because many of the attitudes that I feel compelled to warn about were not even recognised as ideas in 1840. Nevertheless, I'd also hate to have anyone read Passion & Profession and come away feeling that they were mislead. So, in no particular order, this fiction contains:
drinking, smoking, mentions of drug use, slavery, prostitution by unwilling, enslaved adults, prostitution by unwilling, enslaved children (although please note no sexual situations involving children actually occur or are described in the text), domestic violence, dub-con and non-con sexual behaviours, and concepts that we would now call racism, classism, imperialism, sexism, and homophobia.
In addition to all this, it also contains what may be, for some, unpleasant amounts of religion (primarily Christianity), numerous examples of early-Victorian eroticism, the flagrant manipulation and revision of various historical characters for strictly dramatic purposes, oversimplifications of history, Victorian interpretations of D/s, discussions of theories on Greek sexuality that are undergraduate at best, an overly-liberal use of punctuation, and the diffuse, general abuse of utilitarian philosophy, Jane Eyre, the classical education, and Berlioz.
Passion & Profession was, originally, a fill for a prompt on the Eagle kinkmeme; it has clearly spiraled far out of control.
To the best of my ability, all English language spellings are accurate for the time and the dialect. Many quoted verses from the Bible have even more-archaic and more-unusual spellings.
A fair amount of non-English languages are spoken in the story. Thus, a fair amount of the story's dialogue is not in English. (Unfortunately, LJ does not yet support the necessary non-Roman scripts--as far as I know--and so the Hindi and Bengali have been transliterated.) In order to read the Hindi, the Bengali, and the French, mouse over the words and an English translation will appear in hypertext. Regrettably, I do not speak any of those particular languages, and so they are only as accurate as Google Translate has deemed fit to make them.
All Biblical verses cited are from the 1769 version of the King James Bible. All interpretations are my own.
Each chapter contains notes at the end, which primarily exist to explain the many obscure references and unusual words that litter the text, or to add a bit more historical context to the setting. Quite a few were simply written as an act of frivolity and indulgence, when I learned some factotum I found interesting and decided perhaps someone else would like to know it too. Needless to say, the notes are in no way necessary to understand or enjoy the story.
Corrections regarding any of the non-English languages are welcome with open arms; corrections regarding the English language will be taken under gentle advisement; corrections and clarifications regarding historical or cultural details, information presented in the notes, and contemporary theology and religious thought will be eagerly researched, and incorporated into the story if possible; all other concrit is welcome if kindly meant; direct criticisms, or complaints about the behaviours, moralities, or beliefs expressed in the story, will be politely received and quietly set aside.
Warnings: many, many warnings here. I hate to put in warnings, in a way, because it makes the novel sound far more unsavoury than it really is, because the list inevitably contains an unfortunate amount of spoilers, and because many of the attitudes that I feel compelled to warn about were not even recognised as ideas in 1840. Nevertheless, I'd also hate to have anyone read Passion & Profession and come away feeling that they were mislead. So, in no particular order, this fiction contains:
drinking, smoking, mentions of drug use, slavery, prostitution by unwilling, enslaved adults, prostitution by unwilling, enslaved children (although please note no sexual situations involving children actually occur or are described in the text), domestic violence, dub-con and non-con sexual behaviours, and concepts that we would now call racism, classism, imperialism, sexism, and homophobia.
In addition to all this, it also contains what may be, for some, unpleasant amounts of religion (primarily Christianity), numerous examples of early-Victorian eroticism, the flagrant manipulation and revision of various historical characters for strictly dramatic purposes, oversimplifications of history, Victorian interpretations of D/s, discussions of theories on Greek sexuality that are undergraduate at best, an overly-liberal use of punctuation, and the diffuse, general abuse of utilitarian philosophy, Jane Eyre, the classical education, and Berlioz.