Description

Stradella is a novel by James Sherwood, first published in 1962 by Olympia Press as part of their Traveller’s Companion Series. The story centers on Amourella, a Hollywood actress known as the “Goddess of Love,” who engages in a series of erotic escapades.

She enlists Archimedes Flum as her houseboy, leading to a month filled with indulgent and hedonistic experiences. The novel is noted for its explicit content, blending elements of pornography and satire, and has been described as oscillating between “pornography and scatology.”

This is the 1967 Grove Press revised edition, which introduced the book to a broader American audience. While controversial for its provocative themes, Stradella is also recognized for its humor and critique of Hollywood’s excesses. From the dj: “The story is narrated by Archimedes, in a wry, self-mocking style, by turns cynical and candid, and the milieu of Hollywood’s has-beens and never-wases is revealed with a grim humor perhaps unapproached since The Day of the Locust.