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Casanova in Bolzano concerns a fictionalised account of what happened to the famous seducer after he made a real-life escape from a Venetian prison; in Márai’s novel Casanova runs away, with his servant, Father Balbi, to a town called Bolzano, where a few years before he had fought a sword duel with the Duke of Parma over the love of a woman, Francesca, and where he was never to return under the penalty of death. Unexpectedly the Duke visits him and offers him a most unusual deal to save his life. And this is just the first twist in the novel.
I found out that the novel was translated several years ago in Portugal under the more apt title “The Conversations of Bolzano.” Indeed I have seldom read a novel more devoid of physical action or movement. The Magic Mountain is fast-paced entertainment in comparison. This is a very theatrical novel, composed of a handful of scenes, all within Casanova’s room at an inn, and two or three defining conversations that run dozens of pages each, with characters giving impossibly-long monologues in beautiful syntax. Now in the hands of a bad writer, this novel would have been a disaster, but I’m glad to say Sándor Márai is a writer who knows how to write monologues with rhythm and elegance.
This is not to say the novel lacks humor; indeed there’s a delightful chapter, which any book reader will love, in which Casanova and the Duke analyse with academic rigour what may arguably be the shortest love letter ever written in the history of literature; it had me laughing out loud in the train. And the deal the Duke offers and its outcome are unique.
Márai also has a talent for economy and precision. In less than 300 pages he created three very idiosyncratic characters. Francesca impressed me the most since she’s only in one chapter and I feel like I know everything about her. The author in the preface worries that the reader will let his prejudices turn him against Casanova, but in fact he's also depicted under a favourable light, less as a rogue and more as tragic man who can't control his life.
Read Casanova in Bolzano if you like historical novels without obsessive historical details, if you like novels that deal with writing and reading, if you like anti-heroes, or if you simply like elegant prose.
I found out that the novel was translated several years ago in Portugal under the more apt title “The Conversations of Bolzano.” Indeed I have seldom read a novel more devoid of physical action or movement. The Magic Mountain is fast-paced entertainment in comparison. This is a very theatrical novel, composed of a handful of scenes, all within Casanova’s room at an inn, and two or three defining conversations that run dozens of pages each, with characters giving impossibly-long monologues in beautiful syntax. Now in the hands of a bad writer, this novel would have been a disaster, but I’m glad to say Sándor Márai is a writer who knows how to write monologues with rhythm and elegance.
This is not to say the novel lacks humor; indeed there’s a delightful chapter, which any book reader will love, in which Casanova and the Duke analyse with academic rigour what may arguably be the shortest love letter ever written in the history of literature; it had me laughing out loud in the train. And the deal the Duke offers and its outcome are unique.
Márai also has a talent for economy and precision. In less than 300 pages he created three very idiosyncratic characters. Francesca impressed me the most since she’s only in one chapter and I feel like I know everything about her. The author in the preface worries that the reader will let his prejudices turn him against Casanova, but in fact he's also depicted under a favourable light, less as a rogue and more as tragic man who can't control his life.
Read Casanova in Bolzano if you like historical novels without obsessive historical details, if you like novels that deal with writing and reading, if you like anti-heroes, or if you simply like elegant prose.
