Casanova in Bolzano [Paperback]

Sándor Márai (Author), George Szirtes (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 8, 2005

Another rediscovered masterpiece from the Hungarian novelist whose Embers became an international bestseller—a sensuous, suspenseful, aphoristic novel about the world’s most notorious seducer and the encounter that changes him forever. In 1756 Giacomo Casanova escapes from a Venetian prison and resurfaces in the Italian village of Bolzano. Here he receives an unwelcome visitor: the aging but still fearsome Duke of Parma, who years before had defeated Casanova in a duel over a ravishing girl named Francesca and spared his life on condition that he never see her again. Now the duke has taken Francesca as his wife—and intercepted a love letter from her to his old rival. Rather than kill Casanova on the spot, he makes him a startling offer, one that is logical, perverse, and irresistible. Turning an historical episode into a dazzling fictional exploration of the clasp of desire and death, Casanova in Bolzano is further proof that Sándor Márai is one of the most distinctive voices of the twentieth century.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

October 31, 1756: the incorrigible playboy and roving gambler Giacomo Casanova escapes from a pestilent Venetian prison. Aiming for Munich, he stops near the Austrian border at an inn in Bolzano. The imperious septuagenarian duke of Parma, Casanova's victorious former rival for the hand of Francesca—then a teenager, now the duchess of Parma, and still in love with Casanova—just happens to live nearby. To prevent another duel, the duke blackmails the legendary womanizer: either he seduces Francesca, breaks her heart and leaves, thereby curing her of the "infection" that is Casanova, or he risks being killed or turned in to the authorities. The fervent colloquy echoes the centerpiece tête-à-tête that structures Embers, Márai's only other novel to be translated into English. Unlike Embers, however, this book fizzles out; an austere and poignant exposition on the inexorability of fate that has been building for over 200 pages collapses into an intolerably tedious, long-winded rant by Francesca as she tries to persuade Casanova to run away with her. The harangue makes it hard to believe that anyone would fight over her and makes the reader wonder why another Márai (1900–1989) work was not translated before this one.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

After 16 months in an Inquisition jail, Casanova crashes in the South Tyrol town of Bolzano, and within days he is back to his legendary exploits: borrowing, gambling, and, of course, seducing. Enter an aged duke--who years ago banished the lover, bleeding from his heart, after a duel over the lovely Francesca--with an indecent proposal. Spend a night with her, the duke asks Casanova, and then hurt her, so she will finally forget her unrequited love and remember her wealthy husband instead. But is it really as easy to forget as it is to seduce? And what does the seducer really know about love, anyhow? The second of Marai's rediscovered Hungarian jewels to be translated into English, this selection builds to an intimate, deliberate climax that showcases the author's considerable psychological discernment in matters of the heart. It also sneaks in just a pinch of clever modernist commentary on writing, performance, and personal duplicity. Captivating, lyrical, and, yes, seductive. Brendan Driscoll
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 294 pages
• Publisher: Vintage (November 8, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0375712968
• ISBN-13: 978-0375712968
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #292,065 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A RICH, COMPELLING STORY, November 20, 2004

By 

Gail Cooke (TX, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Casanova in Bolzano: A Novel (Hardcover)

The life of writer Sandor Marai has all the elements of a dramatic novel, regrettably a tragic one. Born in the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1900, he had established an enviable reputation in only 30-some years. His nobility, humanism and hatred for the Fascists earned him the enmity of Admiral Horthy's Hungarian regime and later the malevolence of the Communists who were to be in power. All copies of his books were destroyed, and his work was banned forever.

Disillusioned and in despair he left his beloved country, first to find sanctuary in Italy and then in the United States. In 1989 he took his own life never knowing of democracy's return to his native land. Some five years later three of his works were found in French translations. In 2001 we were privileged to have the first English translation of one of his novels, Embers. It was published to great acclaim, as I feel certain that Casanova in Bolzano will be received.

In an opening author's note Marai makes it clear that the only actual event in this story is Casanova's escape from an unspeakably horrid cell in Venice's ducal palace in 1796. What follows is totally fiction - ah, but what fiction it is.

With the assistance of a defrocked priest, Balbi, Casanova makes his way to an Italian village, Bolzano. Once there he demands and is given the finest rooms by an innkeeper who at first distrusts the pair because of their ragged appearances and lack of luggage. But Marai has given Casanova a silver tongue, one which commands, influences, and, of course, woos.

Bolzano is far from what most would consider a safe haven because some years before Casanova had dueled with the duke of Parma for the love of Francesca, then a 15-year-old girl. The Duke got the better of Casanova but did not take his life, rather making him promise never to see Francesca again.

Now, the duke is an old man and has come upon a note Francesca has written to her former lover asking to see him. She, too, has changed over the years. Married to the Duke she is no longer a susceptible teenager but a rather willful woman. Will the two meet?

Throughout his richly told tale Marai treats readers to painterly details and ruminations pertaining to the human condition - desire, honor, love, duty. Here is a novelist whose life was far too short, yet he speaks to us as if he were alive today. And his voice is sublime.

- Gail Cooke

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exquisite Adult Entertainment, June 16, 2005

By 

Erik Ketzan (Germany) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Casanova in Bolzano: A Novel (Hardcover)

The second Marai novel to be published in English by Knopf. If Embers was primarily about friendship, Casanova is primarily about love between man and woman. It is clear that Marai understood people better than most writers of the twentieth century, or in fact any that come to mind. From his writing, one assumes that Marai must have lived, really lived.

Casanova is Bolzano is not a young man's (or woman's) book. Its insights speak to those who have lived a good chunk of life already, exploring human ambition and disappointment, youth and age, celebrity and exile, and the complicated relationship of love and sex. It's a mature work from a mature writer.

It is also not a historical novel; it has precious little to say about the eighteenth century, or Italy, or even specific characters. The characters in Bolzano are not even "characters," as such-- in fact, the name "Casanova" does not appear once, outside of Marai's introduction (the original Hungarian title is "Vendégjáték Bolzanóban," which also does not mention "Casanova"). It's about people, archetypes.

How does it compare with Embers? It starts off a little more slowly (The NYTimes review called it, "a novel of exquisite slowness and refreshing oddity"), but quickly picks up for one classic Marai scene: two people in a room meeting again for the first time in years.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars EXEMPLARY READING OF AN INTRIGUING STORY, April 5, 2005

By 

Gail Cooke (TX, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Casanova in Bolzano (Audio CD)

Who better to read this inspired story of Casanova than the acclaimed Simon Prebble? His English accent and rich tenor add immeasurably to a listener's pleasure. Combine these with his ability to inhabit all make of diverse characters within a single reading and you have an audio book head and shoulders above the rest.

In an opening author's note Marai makes it clear that the only actual event in this story is Casanova's escape from an unspeakably horrid cell in Venice's ducal palace in 1796. What follows is totally fiction - ah, but what fiction it is.

With the assistance of a defrocked priest, Balbi, Casanova makes his way to an Italian village, Bolzano. Once there he demands and is given the finest rooms by an innkeeper who at first distrusts the pair because of their ragged appearances and lack of luggage. But Marai has given Casanova a silver tongue, one which commands, influences, and, of course, woos.

Bolzano is far from what most would consider a safe haven because some years before Casanova had dueled with the duke of Parma for the love of Francesca, then a 15-year-old girl. The Duke got the better of Casanova but did not take his life, rather making him promise never to see Francesca again.

Now, the duke is an old man and has come upon a note Francesca has written to her former lover asking to see him. She, too, has changed over the years. Married to the Duke she is no longer a susceptible teenager but a rather willful woman. Will the two meet?

Throughout his richly told tale Marai treats us to painterly details and ruminations pertaining to the human condition - desire, honor, love, duty. Simon Prebble treats us to a superb reading.

- Gail Cooke