The metaphor of death equated with orgasm is not exclusive to French literature. It is, after all, the climax.
I can't be arsed to look for examples but it's common to Chaucer and Shakespeare. See also the ingestion of food being called consumption, the act of fucking being called the consumption of a physical relationship, and pneumonia and TB, for centuries resulting in almost certain death, being referred to as 'the consumption'. It's disputed, but the breathlessness that lung disease causes was compared to the breathlessness of a good shag that is so all consuming, hence 'the consumption'. I'm fairly sure the same metaphor is found in classic Greek and Latin lit.
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Prufrock Lucifer, son of the morning!, Thu 14 May 2015, 1:06,
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