From the cover:

This passionate work is largely autobiographical, the "Matchless Actress" and the "Young Rhetoician" are world-famous figures that no one can mistake.

From the flap:

When all his sensational forays into statesmanship as the apostle of Italian domination of the Adriatic will be forgotten, Gabriele D'Annunzio will still be remembered for his novel the Flame of Life. This book, so intimately associated with the foremost actress of this century and the poet-laureate of Italy, is a testimonial of a passionate relationship as idyllic as it was violent and voluptuous. D'Annunzio's fame rests on the novel which is concededly one of the highest achivements of contemporary Italian literature.