Petrolio

A work in progress at the time of Pasolini's murder, Petrolio is made up of a series of notes - some extended and polished narrative passages, others cryptic messages from the author to himself that consist of no more than a few words. At the novel's center is Carlo, an oil executive who undergoes a profound personality split: Carlo 1 is a super-Machiavellian power monger; Carlo 2 lives only to satisfy his perverse and insatiable sexual desires. Carlo also experiences a sexual metamorphosis in which he becomes, at will, female. The story of Carlo is interspersed with re-visions of myth -…