Amorous Initiation: A Novel of Sacred and Profane Love

First published in French in 1910, Amorous Initiation has been called one of the great novels of the first half of this century. And yet until now, this work has been virtually unknown in the English language. The story begins in Naples with the accidental meeting of the narrator--a Danish nobleman--and the mysterious Count Pinamonte, who invites the Dane to his crumbling palace, where, almost without preamble, he proceeds to tell his spellbinding story of a doomed love affair. In relentlessly seeking to know and understand love, the enigmatic count has destroyed it. But through his passion, he is initiated into a state of all-embracing love for the Creator and creation.

A tour de force of the search for love and the search for God and a ferociously dedicated attempt to understand both. The superb translation by Belle N. Burke captures the humor and brilliance of a turbulent monologue that moves between tortured self-recrimination and lucid rapture.