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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Poet, novelist, essayist and much-admired NPR commentator Codrescu (The Blood Countess) offers a ribald history of the final years of the infamous satyr. The novel imagines Giacomo Casanova the son of an Italian actor, who began his career as a lifelong seducer of women when he was kicked out of the seminary for dallying with the nuns in the twilight of a lifetime flamboyantly checkered by peccadillo and achievement. Scarcely a year after escaping prison and still in his early 30s, he made and lost a fortune when he introduced the lottery in Paris. At the age of 60, under the nom de plume Chevalier de Seingalt, he assumes the post of librarian for Count Waldstein at Dux Castle in the kingdom of Bohemia. Arranged around an outline of European history from 1785 to the year of Casanova's death in 1798, his reminiscences evolve in a sequence of nightly visits by an intelligent, precocious and sexually agreeable maidservant, Laura Brock, and her younger protege, Libussa Moldau. Codrescu evokes (and takes liberties with) the historical events of the French Revolution and unblushingly drops the names of such icons as Franklin, Goethe, Mozart and Marie Antoinette into the mix. They are put to good, kinky use: Casanova so excites Laura with a story about an argument that he once had with Voltaire about poetry that she begins to lactate. Codrescu fans will enjoy this tongue-in-cheek patchwork of bawdy escapades.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
As in his earlier novel, The Blood Countess, Codrescu here brings to life a historical character, depicting Casanova the man, the myth, and his times. In the 1790s, Giacomo Casanova is an old man living at the castle of Count Waldstein at Dux near Prague and working as a cataloging librarian in the count's library. In conversations with a young woman servant he has befriended, he relates episodes from his past life as he finishes work on a fantasy novel titled Icosameron and begins writing his mammoth memoirs. Although Casanova is past his prime, sexual activity of various styles and combinations still seems to occur whenever he is around. Codrescu presents Casanova as representative of an old world order that is slipping away, as the ideas that gave rise to the American and French revolutions are radically changing the political, social, and cultural landscape of Europe. Though factually based, the novel also incorporates almost dreamlike meetings and philosophical discussions between Casanova and Goethe, Hegel, and even Sartre. Casanova is portrayed as a weakening but still forceful old man, full of warmth, humor, and intelligence. Very entertaining and well written, this novel is recommended for all libraries. Jim Coan, SUNY at Oneonta
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
See all Editorial Reviews
Poet, novelist, essayist and much-admired NPR commentator Codrescu (The Blood Countess) offers a ribald history of the final years of the infamous satyr. The novel imagines Giacomo Casanova the son of an Italian actor, who began his career as a lifelong seducer of women when he was kicked out of the seminary for dallying with the nuns in the twilight of a lifetime flamboyantly checkered by peccadillo and achievement. Scarcely a year after escaping prison and still in his early 30s, he made and lost a fortune when he introduced the lottery in Paris. At the age of 60, under the nom de plume Chevalier de Seingalt, he assumes the post of librarian for Count Waldstein at Dux Castle in the kingdom of Bohemia. Arranged around an outline of European history from 1785 to the year of Casanova's death in 1798, his reminiscences evolve in a sequence of nightly visits by an intelligent, precocious and sexually agreeable maidservant, Laura Brock, and her younger protege, Libussa Moldau. Codrescu evokes (and takes liberties with) the historical events of the French Revolution and unblushingly drops the names of such icons as Franklin, Goethe, Mozart and Marie Antoinette into the mix. They are put to good, kinky use: Casanova so excites Laura with a story about an argument that he once had with Voltaire about poetry that she begins to lactate. Codrescu fans will enjoy this tongue-in-cheek patchwork of bawdy escapades.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
As in his earlier novel, The Blood Countess, Codrescu here brings to life a historical character, depicting Casanova the man, the myth, and his times. In the 1790s, Giacomo Casanova is an old man living at the castle of Count Waldstein at Dux near Prague and working as a cataloging librarian in the count's library. In conversations with a young woman servant he has befriended, he relates episodes from his past life as he finishes work on a fantasy novel titled Icosameron and begins writing his mammoth memoirs. Although Casanova is past his prime, sexual activity of various styles and combinations still seems to occur whenever he is around. Codrescu presents Casanova as representative of an old world order that is slipping away, as the ideas that gave rise to the American and French revolutions are radically changing the political, social, and cultural landscape of Europe. Though factually based, the novel also incorporates almost dreamlike meetings and philosophical discussions between Casanova and Goethe, Hegel, and even Sartre. Casanova is portrayed as a weakening but still forceful old man, full of warmth, humor, and intelligence. Very entertaining and well written, this novel is recommended for all libraries. Jim Coan, SUNY at Oneonta
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
See all Editorial Reviews
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Inside This Book
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First Sentence:
On the fifth of June, in the year 1798, a body believed to be that of Giacomo Casanova, self-styled Chevalier de Seingalt, was buried in the graveyard of Dux Castle in the kingdom of Bohemia, in the presence of his last patron, Count Waldstein, his nephew, Carlo Angiolini, who had traveled from Dresden, and an assorted retinue of servants, most of whom had done their utmost to make miserable the last years of his life. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
black rope Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Count Waldstein, Chevalier de Seingalt, Laura Brock, Maria Theresa, Maria Christine, Prince de Ligne, Donna Lucrezia, Don Giovanni, Jacques Casanova, Marie Antoinette, New World, Giacomo Casanova, Hans Gelder, Teresa Morelli, Aux Plombs, Eliphas Emmanuel, Chez Casa, Doge of Venice, French Revolution, Laura de Sade, Marquis de Sade, Carlo Angiolini, Eiffel Tower, Frederick of Prussia, Lorenzo Da Ponte New!
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Front Cover | Front Flap | First Pages | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
On the fifth of June, in the year 1798, a body believed to be that of Giacomo Casanova, self-styled Chevalier de Seingalt, was buried in the graveyard of Dux Castle in the kingdom of Bohemia, in the presence of his last patron, Count Waldstein, his nephew, Carlo Angiolini, who had traveled from Dresden, and an assorted retinue of servants, most of whom had done their utmost to make miserable the last years of his life. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
black rope Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Count Waldstein, Chevalier de Seingalt, Laura Brock, Maria Theresa, Maria Christine, Prince de Ligne, Donna Lucrezia, Don Giovanni, Jacques Casanova, Marie Antoinette, New World, Giacomo Casanova, Hans Gelder, Teresa Morelli, Aux Plombs, Eliphas Emmanuel, Chez Casa, Doge of Venice, French Revolution, Laura de Sade, Marquis de Sade, Carlo Angiolini, Eiffel Tower, Frederick of Prussia, Lorenzo Da Ponte New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Front Flap | First Pages | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 15
books:
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9
books
cite this book:
See all 9 books citing this book
- Don Giovanni in Full Score (Opera Libretto Series) by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart on 4 pages
- The Blood Countess by Andrei Codrescu in Front Matter, and Back Matter
- Sorrows of Young Werther: WITH Elective Affinities, Faust and Italian Journey (Everyman's Library classics) by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe on page 112
- The Social Contract (Penguin Classics) by Jean-Jacques Rousseau on page 256
- The Story of My Life (Penguin Classics) by Giacomo Casanova on page 162
See all 15 books this book cites
- Andrei Codrescu and the Myth of America by Kirby Olson on page 153, Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- New Orleans, Mon Amour: Twenty Years of Writings from the City by Andrei Codrescu in Front Matter
- Instant Karma by Mark Swartz in Front Matter
- Wakefield by Andrei Codrescu in Front Matter
- 101 Damnations: The Humorists' Tour of Personal Hells by Michael Rosen on page 12
See all 9 books citing this book
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