<p>The dates are important to mention in order to put the open sensuality in the novel in perspective. that is pre-AIDS when male-male sexuality was being liberated from its centuries-long subterranean hiddenness into a visibility if only in this instance of the twilit and claustrophobic &ldquo;freedom&rdquo; of a bath house.</p><p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; (M.R. from the intro)</p>