I'm about halfway through a translation of Sándor Márai's intriguing novel about the notorious lover Casanova as he's forced to face his physical and psychological enemies (the former being the Duke of Parma) after he escapes from a Venetian prison. This meeting up with the past via a run-in with an old enemy also forms the central plot line of Marai's other translated novel Embers. Though Casanova in Bolzano isn't as erotic as I'd expected (so far), it does present a compelling portrait of a man whose quest for happiness remains elusive yet tantalizes everyone it touches. A Hungarian novelist who's been compared to both Calvino and Marquez, Márai fled to the U.S. after WW II and eventually committed suicide in 1989. His works have been recently rediscovered and are currently being translated by Knopf.
Image: Heath Ledger has the title role in the upcoming film, Casanova, which opens on December 25.
Related: Carolin Young's Apples of Gold in Settings of Silver details famous dinner parties throughout history. A Medici wedding and Casanova's seduction supper with a wealthy young nun are but two of the scandalously decadent dinners covered in this gorgeous book.
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