Sex and the Nineteenth-Century Horsedrawn Conveyance

Regular readers of this blague are well aware that I have repeatedly indulged my bemusement at the names of extinct or obsolescent horsedrawn conveyances. My point is that modern readers, who know precisely what is signified  -- in design, in metal, rubber and plastic, and especially in social value -- by such words as Jeep, Jaguar, Jetta, and jalopy, know just about zip about "fly," "trap," "landau," "chaise," "phaeton," "cabriolet," "sulky," "surrey," "curricle," "gig," "hansom," "buggy," "four-wheeler," "spring-van," "berlin," "barouche," "britchka," "troika," "wurt," "tandem," "caleche," "tilbury," "dog-cart," "wagonette," "go-cart," "victoria," "brougham," "diligence," "clarence" or "post-chaise."  If we notice these words at all, we tend to savor them as archaic Victorian music rather than to identify and evaluate them as specific forms of transportation.

Return with us now to the unthrilling 1950s, before pre-marital cohabitation became ordinary. In those days, automobiles reeked of sex. Indeed, I can remember that one sociologist described them as "portable bedrooms" -- a witticism that produced profound envy in those of us who came from automobile-less families.  While I knew that Nashes and Studebakers and big ol' DeSotos could serve as mobile boudoirs, I must confess that I had never suspected that horsedrawn vehicles could perform the same function. The eye-opener came by way of some sly and wicked goings-on in Flaubert's Madame Bovary.  Here's the situation: Emma has been wooed for a hundred or so pages by her young admirer, Leon. They are both eager to consummate their affair, but there's no convenient venue. Taking fate into his hands, Leon "pushes" Emma into a cab. "'Where to, Monsieur?' asked the cab driver. 'Wherever you'd like,' said Leon."  And then Flaubert describes the route around Rouen taken by coachman, cab, and lovers. He give us a page and a half of paragraphs like this one:  "The coach promptly began to move again, passing through Saint-Sever, along the Quai des Corandiers and the Quai aux Meules, over the bridge once more, through the Place du Champ-de-Mars and behind the gardens of the Home for the Elderly, where, in the sunshine, old men clad in black jackets stroll up and down a terrace green with ivy. It climbed up the Boulevard Bouvreuil, traveled along the Boulevard Cauchoise, then right over Mont-Riboudet as far as the hill at Deville."  At discreet intervals, Flaubert interrupts the narrative: "'Keep going," cried a voice from inside...."  "'Keep going!' shouted the voice, even more furiously...."  "The coachman could not understand what rage for locomotion could be compelling this pair never to stop." Eventually, the cab "drew up in an alley near the Beauvoisine district, and a woman stepped out, walking off with her veil lowered, never looking back."

Nineteenth-century writers were not allowed to be explicit about sexual events, so they had to adopt various circumlocutions and codes. They lacked the freedom of both earlier (Fielding, said Thackeray, "was the last of our writers who drew a man") and later (post-Joyce) novelists. To write frankly about the act of intercourse was absolutely taboo.  Despite the obstacles, Flaubert does a excellent job of suggesting both the duration, the energy and the jouissance that Emma and Leon experience while their coach was "tossing about like a ship."

I suspect that Flaubert's readers had little trouble comprehending what is meant by the passengers' sudden "rage for locomotion."

Comments

[Spike Schapiro]

How about this one by the Boss?

I'm driving in my car/ I turn on the radio/
I'm pulling you close/ you just say no.
You say you don't like it/ but girl/ I know you're a liar/ 'Cause when we kiss - Ooh --Fire!

[Otis Jefferson Brown]

Re. "In My Merry Oldsmobile":
A gentleman letting his ladyfriend decide how far she'd like to "go"? Sounds positively enlightened. We've sure come a long way since 1905.

[Otis Jefferson Brown]

“Get Out and Get Under (to Fix Up His Automobile)” (1913), another “sparking”-in-the-car song. Music by Maurice Abrahams, lyrics by Grant Clarke & Edgar Leslie.

He'd have to get under, get out and get under,
To fix up his little machine;
He was just dying to cuddle his queen,
But ev'ry minute
When he'd begin it
He'd have to get under, get out and get under,
Then he'd get back at the wheel;
Ev'ry time he would reach for a kiss
It seems the darned old engine, it would miss,
And then he'd have to get under, get out and get under,
And fix up his automobile!

[Spike Schapiro]

Said, riding and loving just can't be beat,
You and your woman in your own front seat.
Now, she can play with your keys, shift the gears,
Turn on your radio just loud enough to hear.
Now, she can turn up the heat and flip on your fan,
And then you start rolling just as fast as you can.
Every woman I know is crazy about an automobile.

[Otis Jefferson Brown]

“In My Merry Oldsmobile,” a popular song from 1905. Music by Gus Edwards, lyrics by Vincent P. Bryan. I love the naughty double entendres, especially in the last two lines of the famous chorus.

[Verse 1]
Young Johnny Steele has an Oldsmobile
He loves his dear little girl;
She is the queen of his gas machine,
She has his heart in a whirl
Now when they go for a spin, you know,
She tries to learn the auto, so
He lets her steer, while he gets her ear
And whispers soft and low...

[Chorus]
“Come away with me, Lucille,
In my merry Oldsmobile;
Down the road of life we'll fly,
Automobubbling, you and I!
To the church we’ll swiftly steal,
Then our wedding bells will peal;
You can go as far as you like with me
In my merry Oldsmobile!”

[Verse 2]
They love to “spark” in the dark old park
As they go flying along;
She says she knows why the motor goes,
The "sparker" is awfully strong!
Each day they "spoon" to the engine's tune,
Their honeymoon will happen soon;
He'll win Lucille with his Oldsmobile
And then he'll fondly croon...

[Chorus]
“Come away with me, Lucille,
In my merry Oldsmobile;
Down the road of life we'll fly,
Automobubbling, you and I!
To the church we'll swiftly steal,
Then our wedding bells will peal;
You can go as far as you like with me
In my merry Oldsmobile!”