[1] In their publication, Olympia Press excised over half of the book,[1] even though, according to literary critic Richard Kostelanetz, they promised Tavel that they would publish the work in its entirety.
[3] While dozens of characters have their own narratives throughout the novel,[1] the story focuses on Mark, an expatriate in Tangier, Morocco, falling in love with Hamid, a thief.
[5] Kostelanetz criticized Olympia Press' decision to cut out a substantial amount of the book, and said that Tavel has not received "the respectful attention" that his work ultimately warrants.
[8] According to pederasty researcher Parker Rossman, Street of Stairs is one of several novels about male foreigners going to the Barbary Coast—from Tunisia to Morocco—to have sex with young boys, which has a pronounced effect on the characters' "sexual behavior and life-styles".
[9] Similarly, LGBT studies scholar James T. Sears called the book one of the "pederastic erotic classics" alongside Leo Skir's Boychick and Jean Cocteau's The White Paper.