Ex Libris Eroticis

    (NBM, 1991)
™ and © 1990 Massimo Rotundo

Since 1978, Italian illustrator Massimo Rotundo has worked on a variety of European comics titles, including the biography of Italian film director Pier Paulo Pasolini titled Pig! Pig! Pig!, the fantasy series Brendon from Bonelli Publishers, and retro–pastiche erotica like Ex Libris Eroticis. This large format, black and white volume presents seven stories inspired by the clandestine erotic literature of the 19th century. Back then, European aristocrats commissioned erotic novels directly from writers, who then published strictly limited numbered editions. According to Rotundo: “Most of the time the contents of these valuable books implied the mentality of a certain class and a certain epoch, a time in which man was the centre of a world where his virility symbolized his superiority, while woman was condemned to play a passive role.”

In “Diplozoon Paradoxum”, Nastasia and Eugene have traveled the world and seen it all. They remain emotionally attached, but have grown bored their sex life—that is, until a cocaine binge reveals the one, true secret of undying passion. In “New Love”, an abused wife escapes her kinky, sadistic husband and exacts revenge by taunting him with the sexual prowess of her adoring new lover.

Modern readers might find Ex Libris Eroticis' narrative themes quaint but they will also recognize the potent influence that era’s sexual vices exert on modern–day erotic convention. As the French say: “Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.”

— Leland Burrill
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