"Time of Desecration," Alberto Moravia's 21st volume of fiction, is an odd and intriguing experiment in using the erotic novel as an instrument for the scrutiny of political behavior. Though occasional allusions are made to the ideal of revolution, though Marx is once actually discussed by two of the characters, scarcely anything happens in the novel that is not explicitly, claustrophobically, steamily sexual. The effect of the book, however, is quite the reverse of the conventional erotic novel. There is nothing rousing or arousing about the relentless sequence of sexual scenes: Sex for the female protagonist is alternately a sordid means to an end and a ghastly trap; and her flat-toned narration of her erotic experiences "defamiliarizes" them by allowing no other feelings toward them to emerge.

This deliberate flattening is made easier by the peculiar narrative form of the novel. Desideria, a beautiful Roman girl who would...