Casanova in Bohemia

by Andrei Codrescu

In his national bestseller The Blood Countess, Andrei Codrescu brought to life the bloodthirsty royal Elizabeth Bathory, who embodied nearly all the contradictions of the seventeenth century. Now he depicts the astonishing life of the legendary Casanova, as the old adventurer relives his life while writing his memoirs in a provincial Bohemian castle at the end of the eighteenth century. Far from being defeated by age, Casanova delights in the maidservants, reacts with intellectual vigor to the unfolding of the French Revolution, and collaborates with Mozart on Don Giovanni. Long considered the rhapsodist of an age of aristocratic mirth, scandal, and innumerable affairs, Casanova was also a first-rate intellect who corresponded and argued with Voltaire and Rousseau. His published work, besides the celebrated History of My Life, includes a multivolume fantasy fiction novel that predates and anticipates Jules Verne; translations of Italian classics into French; and a number of plays that were produced on the great stages of Europe.
In Codrescu's retelling of the Casanova legend, readers are introduced to an age far less inhibited than our own, and far more interesting in its vices. At once a libertine, a defender of women, a reactionary, a revolutionary, a brilliant observer, and a visionary, Casanova was a man ahead of his time both in thought and in action. Finally, in this inventive and absorbing work, Casanova is given due credit for his writings, his philosophies, and, of course, for the amorous magic that has been made known to so many.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Literature

336 pages, Hardcover

First published March 5, 2002

About the author

Andrei Codrescu is a poet, novelist, essayist, and NPR commentator. His many books include Whatever Gets You through the Night, The Postmodern Dada Guide, and The Poetry Lesson. He was Mac Curdy Distinguished Professor of English at Louisiana State University from 1984 until his retirement in 2009.

Reviews

[Ellen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Talk about a very different and unusual book! Casanova, the famous (or perhaps I should say "infamous") Venetian lover who lived in the 1700s, has relocated to Bohemia, now the Czech Republic, and is attempting to write his memoirs while staying in his friend's castle. In his 70s now, Casanova hasn't lost his touch with the ladies - the two who take care of him in his old age, Laura Brock and her younger friend, Libussa, perform such services for him as bathing, having sex while he watches, and Laura sits on his lap and tries to get the old man's "Micromeg" functioning. She wants to have his baby and to save his semen so that future Casanovas might be created some day.

Included throughout the book are many of Casanova's memories, not only of his conquests of a great many women of both high and low status, but also his dealings with politics and philosophy, many of which have caused him to be banned from countries, friendships to be disrupted, and his physical safety to be endangered. As the reader watches this fictionalized story unfold, it becomes apparent that Casanova, although geriatric now, isn't finished living yet. We follow him through more adventures up until the time of his ostensible death.

I won't discuss the ending of the book because that would spoil the surprise, but I can tell you that anyone interested in history, the occult, sexuality, and life as it was in the 1700-1800s should enjoy this book. The only reason I've not given it five stars is that a bit of editing could have been done that would have eliminated some repetition. Other than that small detail, it's a great read.

[Jim Feast · Rating 5 out of 5]

At times reading Andrei Codrescu’s Casanova in Bohemia, I thought of it as 120 Days of Eden. By that I mean, it was like a nonviolent version of Sade’s 120 Days of Sodom. In Sade’s work, after a scene of, say, a whipping and an orgy, the characters get into a philosophical discussion. In Casanova, after a less disturbing if equally kinky sex scene, Casanova and his companions turn to a literary colloquy. In one case, a beautiful female automaton becomes part of an orgy, then when that is finished, the participants take up musings on 18th century cybernetics. Another time, Casanova convinces grooms and maids to change clothes, leading to an interesting conversation on how dress intersects with sex roles. An orgy follows.
However, the book is not all sex and debate. The story is rooted in Casanova’s last years when he was employed as a librarian by Count Waldstein at his castle close to Prague. There he engages in various projects, including contributing, ironically enough, to the libretto for Mozart’s Don Giovanni, fighting with the cook over the preparation of macaroni, and trying to induce the gardener to create topiaries. However, most of the time he is entertaining his frolicsome maid Laura with richly embroidered tales of his adventures. In this part Casanova is something of an erotic Scheherazade since his tales often end with Laura or other listeners in coition. It’s not all stories. There are also lush descriptions such as this of his native Venice: Casanova “told of how Venice, splendidly costumed in her jewels of gold and blue, floats above her canals like a mirror that reflects only herself. To speak her language, citizens must speak the language of mirrors”
A large part of the book, if this is possible, is like a picaresque novel that is set in one place with Casanova’s storytelling in the castle supplying a full brocade of adventures. However, there are a few side trips to Prague, to Vienna to attend the coronation of the new emperor of Austria-Hungary, and to Weimar to confront Goethe, whose novel Young Werther seems (in Casanova’s eyes) to be casting a pall on young lovers. But by and large the drama of the book takes place in the slightly shabby but always lively and enticing world of of Casanova’s room where he mixes his entrancing memories with grouchy laments over the loss of the elegance and appreciation for sensuality that characterized the aristocratic lifestyle which, with the French Revolution in full swing, is being swept away. This mix is memories, laments and piquant adventures makes a wonderful time capsule you will be happy to dig up and open.

[Antoinette · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mixed. On the one hand, there are some solid and worthwhile philosophical-historical-literary ideas (Casanova v. de Sade, v. Goethe, v. "Don Giovanni"). The end of Casanova and the end of the Ancien Regime are interestingly paired (and I love the culture of the 18th century). The characters are vivid enough, even with something of an inflection of Casanova's voice. On the other hand, the writing is clunky and hard work; all plot and suspense and reason to keep reading are lacking; the winter mood is somber and sad and done to (pun sadly intended) death; and, most frustratingly, the light and gaiety that Casanova recalls are themselves only shadows in the book. Most damning, though, is the final conceit of Casanova living on as a spirit because his final mistress gave him a blowjob when he was dead and thereby saved the essence of him: in the epilogue, we see Casanova live through the 19th and 20th centuries, meeting a famous cast of characters and waiting until his memoirs are finally published. This ghost story is not in keeping with the mode of the book itself, and is unpleasantly surprising. All in all, I should have just reread the Histoire de ma vie instead...

[Ian Chadwick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun, touching, and for the most part historically accurate. With an epilogue that stretches into the fantastic. For those of us old enough to be grappling with our later years, it’s very evocative. My blog post and review:
http://ianchadwick.com/blog/casanova-...

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Impressive performance, if a little thin. The prose, while thoroughly modern, has a sparkly, eighteenth-century insouciance. Codrescu is besotted with the historical Casanova, and reading this has certainly made me want to read the memoir. The Casanova character in this novel, when you factor out the almost Munchausen-like back story, is a boilerplate lovable roue, the sort who would be played by Peter O'Toole in the movie, you know the one, where he engages in lots of bold talk with a hot, saucy wench, and we chuckle indulgently at the naughty shenanigans rendered harmless by his impotence and his irrepressible twinkle. "One day shortly after his seventieth birthday, which he had celebrated with a small party at which Laura arranged for the deflowering of a peasant girl by a mustachioed Hungarian, the Chevalier departed in his caleche without a word of farewell." What you get is a kind of Dirty Book Lite - lots of sex, but without the elements of risk and revelation that make sex sexy.
The connect-the-dots interactions with contemporary historical figures like Mozart and Hegel reminded me (pleasantly) of Little Big Man. The prophetic dreams of underage sex-object Libussa are fun in a what-crazy-aspect-of-our-modern-world-will-she-dream-of-next kind of way. I hated the last chapter, which required that you buy into, at the very end of the narrative, this conceit whereby Casanova is rendered immortal through the agency of some wacky mojo his lover Laura works with his jism. I think the whole point of the chapter was to use the research about Casanova's nineteenth-century translators and critics. It was twee and irritating and it's definitely uncool to change the rules in the epilogue.

[Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

In Praise of Decadence and Sophistication

The remarkably sophisticated and totally unrevolutionary Giacomo Casanova lived at the end of an era of decaying ideals. He represented both the greatest contradiction to those ideals and their staunchest defense. He was, you might say, the well-connected contrarian.
Casanova in Bohemia is not a novel. Andrei Codrescu has written us instead a salon, a chance to eavesdrop on the conversation that the aging Casanova shares with the revolutionary age that’s overwhelming his own. The conversation is enthralling. The fact that we are obviously listening to Codrescu’s words behind Casanova’s moving lips makes this particular piece of ventriloquism no less enchanting. The obvious connections between Casanova’s declining world and our own and the playful sexuality of Codrescu’s reconstruction of the Grand Lecher and the values of our times only make it more fun to read.
An odd concession to the novelistic conceit gives the book a weird anachronistic conclusion, but you can skip it at no great loss. This is a luscious entertainment in the novel of ideas, more voluptuous than action-packed and extremely rewarding.

Lynn Hoffman, author of bang BANG

[Melissa Rea · Rating 5 out of 5]

So beautifully adds to story of the man behind the myth. Histoire de Ma Vie, Casanova's memoir, leaves off when the author is only forty-nine. Casanova in Bohemia gives us a peek into his later life. The writing style has the flavor of Casanova's memoir without the restraints required of the late eighteenth century writer.Casanova's almost innocent sensuality is still there along with his intelligence and wit. Thank you Mr. Codrescu for a little more time with my dear friend, Monsieur Seingault.

[Marvin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Given how imaginative & entertaining Codrescu usually is on NPR, I expected more from this book. The premise is that Casanova is an old man living as a librarian on an estate in Bohemia & recalling his past adventures to a beautiful young servant who is repeatedly aroused, intellectually as well as sexually, by his stories. There's lots of sex & lots of name dropping, but it doesn't have a lot else going for it.

[Marnie · Rating 2 out of 5]

just because someone does interesting commentaries on NPR doesn't mean they're a good novelist. I really didn't get the point of this tediously written book, and the Epilogue seemed a bizarre tag.

[Billy · Rating 5 out of 5]

An absolutely gifted poet of our time. Everyone should follow this man's work. It is archdeluxebeautifulle

[M Burke]

Not as entertaining as his poetry on NPR.

[manatee · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun romp.