false<![CDATA[The Virtuoso]]>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1182546518m/1293138.jpg232739713In Margriet de Moor's exquisite (and exquisitely translated) <I>The Virtuoso</I>, a love affair with a castrato becomes the last thing one would expect: thoroughly, almost overwhelmingly <I>physical</I>. A bestseller in Europe, this Dutch writer's novel overflows with the sights and smells, tastes and textures of an 18th-century Naples caught in intellectual and sensual ferment. Here, thieves take shelter in churches, carriages race through the narrow streets, and aristocrats gamble, discuss Descartes, cross-dress, and swoon over their favorite male sopranos. Into this heady milieu comes Carlotta, Duchess of Rocca d'Evandro, married at 15 and a firm believer that "your body is what you are and all knowledge begins with desire."<p> What, then, to do with a body like Gasparo's? A native of the same village as Carlotta, at age 11 Gasparo underwent the infamous operation that would keep his soprano suitably pure. Years later, Carlotta hears him sing in the San Carlo theater and immediately falls into a fever of desire. One expects such a passion to be primarily metaphorical, and there is indeed something quixotic about her love for Gasparo, with his voice that "attests to a world beyond this world but which comes none the less from a body like every other: warm, full of obscure desires." Well, not quite like every other. A product of both prodigious natural gifts and prodigiously unnatural intervention, Gasparo is closer to a work of art than a man--but that doesn't prevent Carlotta from lusting after his bod. With some coaxing on her part, they manage to have an affair, the mechanics of which Carlotta by no means ignores in her breathless narration.<p> De Moor writes compellingly about beauty and art, but the book's real strength lies in her almost offhand depiction of Neapolitan aristocracy--its decadence, its playfulness, and even its casual cruelty. ("Only one boy in four fails to survive" Gasparo's operation, Carlotta breezily notes.) Reading <I>The Virtuoso</I> is like immersing yourself in another world entirely, one in which the central love affair makes beautiful sense. History is full of mutilation in the name of art; de Moor's triumph is to make the mutilation itself a subject of desire. <I>--Mary Park</I>23339561993The Virtuosototal:20|5:2|4:5|3:4|2:7|1:2|205834420falsefalseSun Sep 06 00:00:00 -0700 2009Mon Sep 07 09:18:26 -0700 2009Mon Sep 07 09:19:04 -0700 200900falsefalseThu Oct 15 04:49:39 -0700 2009Thu Oct 15 04:49:59 -0700 200910falsefalseSun Aug 31 05:03:56 -0700 2008Sun Aug 31 05:05:02 -0700 2008
more...]]>
40falsefalseSat Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2002Fri Dec 14 14:16:33 -0800 2007Fri Dec 14 14:16:44 -0800 200730falsefalseFri Nov 06 05:29:28 -0800 2009Fri Nov 06 05:29:54 -0800 200940falsefalseSun Sep 27 12:23:06 -0700 2009Sun Sep 27 12:23:06 -0700 200900falsefalseTue Sep 15 08:27:53 -0700 2009Tue Sep 15 08:27:53 -0700 200900falsefalseSun Sep 06 09:18:05 -0700 2009Sun Sep 06 09:18:05 -0700 200920falsefalseTue Jul 07 01:52:33 -0700 2009Tue Jul 07 01:52:33 -0700 200920falsefalseFri Jul 03 03:48:33 -0700 2009Fri Jul 03 03:48:38 -0700 200920falsefalseThu Jul 16 00:00:00 -0700 2009Tue Jun 30 02:01:46 -0700 2009Thu Jul 16 10:24:52 -0700 200920falsefalseSun May 31 15:05:36 -0700 2009Sun May 31 15:05:36 -0700 200950falsefalseSat Apr 25 10:44:14 -0700 2009Sat Apr 25 10:44:14 -0700 200900falsefalseSun Apr 12 16:10:29 -0700 2009Sun Apr 12 16:10:29 -0700 200900falsefalseThu Jan 22 09:07:25 -0800 2009Thu Jan 22 09:07:25 -0800 200910falsefalseFri Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2002Fri Jan 16 10:38:36 -0800 2009Fri Jan 16 10:38:36 -0800 200930falsefalseSat Jan 03 00:47:43 -0800 2009Sat Jan 03 00:47:43 -0800 200900falsefalseWed Dec 31 00:49:39 -0800 2008Wed Dec 31 00:49:41 -0800 200830falsefalseMon Sep 01 11:02:23 -0700 2008Mon Sep 01 11:02:23 -0700 200840falsefalseSun Aug 10 06:04:25 -0700 2008Sun Aug 10 06:04:25 -0700 2008
http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=1293138