I understand that the character of The Count Von Bek is a recurring character but not having read any other books with him in it, this is the only one by which I may judge him. He does not emerge as an entirely likeable man but he does come out feeling like a real one. He certainly is driven by the contrariness of masculine identity. and fueled by the lies we tell ourselves. The self reverence that masquerades as "virtue" when they are just excuses for wanting our own way, and our compulsions for getting it. Stew that in a heady cauldron of eighteenth century class politics and the Green Card of wealth and you end up with a lusty man boy used to getting his own way. This is a full on erotic memoir, very "A Remembrance Of Things Shagged." as the aged and most likely dying Count looks back on this period of his life. Spending his days and nights reveling, and to a degree unraveling, in the lost splendor of a pulverised fantasy city that is all Renaissance art, architecture, statues and fountains, like a European city sleeping restlessly and dreaming of its youth. Before it got stamped on by the boot of the bully boys.
Within the walls of the brothel there are many walking wounded and innocence is a commodity, to be bargained and priced, bought and paid for. There are some very complex relationships at play within the pages of the book, with history and hindsight as seen through the prism of what the Count wanted and what and who The Count got. lovers betray lovers, it is a cruel game. And yet one of the most lingering impressions is that of the notion of forgiveness being possible as one of the characters is let down, almost abandoned, yet still finds the capacity, the grace to forgive. Not that it is even called that, nor sadly even accepted, the very concept being so extraordinary, and in this case, socially extravagant.
I was reminded
