The Executioner

"The Executioner" is one of the most famous novels by Eduard Limonov, which brought him fame as a strong and harsh prose writer. The main character, a Polish emigrant, arrives in the USA in the 1970s and becomes a professional gigolo. He calls himself the executioner, the master of wealthy and well-fed ladies. Essentially, this is a simple and sad story about loneliness and spiritual emptiness, told ruthlessly and openly.

Reader, you hold in your hands not just a book, but the first work of its kind in the world. "The Executioner" was written in Paris in 1982, at a time when writers and publishers were still being prosecuted in courts for sadomasochistic plots, and I bravely made a professional sadist the hero of the book. The book was not reissued for almost two decades. I present it to your attention, readers. E. L.