>>195737
the author's father was the infinitely more famous writer Dino Segre (Pitgrilli), who in addition was also a member of the secret police in Fascist Italy. the book is set in Spain under Franco. You could probably get some anti-fascist or anti-clerical meaning from it, but it'd be a stretch. It doesn't feel like it's "just" erotica, but it isn't philosophical in the way that the works of Georges Bataille, another french-language erotica writer, were.

it's very beautiful writing with great prose, but a lot of it is dialogue. this makes it quite the easy read, and the dialogue itself is also well-written.