The Arch of Desire

4/5 ( ratings)

A delectable novel of a man's lifelong devotion to erotic exploration, The Arch of Desire is based very loosely on the life of the artist Pierre Molinier, admired by the surrealists and creator of a many-layered erotic universe. As the novel opens, Pierre is a boy, raised by a wealthy family of Belgian winemakers. Precociously curious about the opposite sex -- particularly the intimate garments he finds drying in the laundry room -- he is initiated into the erotic by a family servant and soon moves on to the more forbidden charms of his lovely, sophisticated half sister. As he comes of age -- attending art school, becoming an acclaimed painter, and settling in Bordeaux -- Pierre simultaneously pursues ever more complex pleasures, devouring his father's collection of de Sade, Restif de la Bretonne, and other erotic classics, sampling the varieties of women -- from a Senegalese prostitute, to a lesbian who works as a dominatrix to rich men, to a beautiful German who becomes his last, most perfect lover -- and exploring the limits of his fetishes for dressing up and the adoration of beautiful, feminine feet. A delightful recollection of sexual pleasure from the dawn to the twilight of life, The Arch of Desire will satisfy every erotic appetite. "[A] delicious, bold and genuinely immoral book, or perhaps ... a treatise in favor of hedonism and the pleasures of desire." -- A. Castro, El Periodico "A fascinating novel, exquisitely conceived and structured ... De Sade would applaud." -- Antonio Bordon, La Provincia "Munoz Puelles uses an erotic vocabulary that stretches the rules of the genre." -- Maria Jose, El Pais