Casanova in Bolzano

Product Description Casanova in Bolzano is a riveting novel written within the framework of historical reality, of Casanova's escape from a Venetian prison and his fateful encounter with a woman in Bolzano who finally defeats him. Marai captures Casanova and his time and world with amazingly rich detail and startling insight. About the Author SANDOR MARAI (pronounced SHAN-dor) was born in Kassa, in the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1900. He rose to fame as one of the leading literary novelists in Hungary in the 1930s. Profoundly antifascist, he survived WWII, but persecution by the Communists drove the his country in 1948, first to Italy and then to the United States. He committed suicide in San Diego in 1989. He is the author of a significant body of work, which Knopf is translating into English.SIMON PREBBLE, a British-born performer of considerable talent and experience, has built a successful career that spans the Atlantic. As a stage and television actor he has played in everything from soaps to Shakespeare, but it is as a veteran narrator of some 275 audio book titles that he has made his mark since coming to the U.S. in 1990.Audiofile magazine has named him a “Golden Voice” and in 2004 he was named “Narrator of the Year” by Publishers Weekly. He lives with his wife in New York. 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 structuresEmbers, Márai's only other novel to be translated into English. UnlikeEmbers, 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. From AudioFile It is appropriate to read Marai's Casanova in the form of a "talking book," as it is the talkiest book you'll read in your life. The plot, such as it is, proceeds in alternating monologues. At first, many of these are interior; then the characters start declaiming at each other at stunning length. The Duke of Parma shows up in Casanova's room and talks without interruption for a disc-and-a-half about a love letter four words long. Then his wife shows up in Casanova's room and talks even longer--or maybe it just seems that way. Simon Prebble's narration is absolutely masterful, which is no surprise. He delivers these repetitive speeches with respect and interest, as if continually finding new fine points in the arguments. Whether his skill compensates for the flowery longeurs of the structure is an open question. B.G. © AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine--Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine 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 nigh