Contents:
In a new biography to be published today, Casanova is claimed as a "proud intellectual and polymath" whose legendary sexual prowess was an expression of his commitment to Enlightenment ideals. Hidden aspects of Casanova's life are also uncovered, following the reopening of the Waldstein archives in Prague, including new evidence confirming that the quintessential "ladies' man" also experienced sex with men on a number of different occasions and, in a twist that may be of interest to many of today's A-list celebrities, that he attributed his success with women to the mystical Kabbalah.
The actor and biographer Ian Kelly followed Casanova's trail through archives in Prague, Moscow, St Petersburg, retracing the rake's wanderings between his departure from his native Venice in and his death in Bohemia now the Czech Republic in Kelly says he wanted to show "Casanova as someone who led pretty much an exemplary 18th-century life. Kelly also found evidence to confirm that a number of Casanova's sexual encounters had been with men, corroborating two references in Casanova's sensational memoir, The History of My Life. That he didn't dwell on the same-sex experiences in his memoirs may have to do with the fact that he simply didn't enjoy them as much, but it's also true that he was keen to quash rumours afoot in Venice that his rise to prominence was courtesy of his having been the rent boy of his first patron [Meteo Giovanni] Bragadin.
The Lothario of popular legend was also thrown out of the seminary in which had trained to become a priest for being discovered in bed with another male student. Casanova's tally of approximately sexual partners hardly compares with the legendary 1, of his mythical alter ego, Don Giovanni, or the French detective novelist Georges Simenon's claim of 10, Kunstverein Schwerte in Germany invited the artists Christian Freudenberger and Markus Karstiess to develop a project around the idea of the cave as a place of creativity. Foreword by Chris Dercon and Hugo Bongers.
Shine revels in the happy sheen, presenting wishful fantasies and visions of the future by 18 contemporary artists whose work offers different gleams of optimism. Family photographs are a universally familiar genre, and an intimate one, which makes this collection an accessible entry point for its deceptively simple but deeply complex social and representational issues. This monumental new book explores the recent history of exhibition-making, looking at the radical shifts that have taken place in the practice of curating contemporary art over the last 20 years.
Signs Taken in Wonder highlights the narrative aspects of contemporary artistic production in Istanbul, both in art and in literature. Foreword by Kathy Halbreich. Introduction by Rudi Fuchs. Between October and September , 14 site-specific artist's projects were installed in the city of Barcelona, at the initiation of the Espai Poblenou Foundation.
Excerpt by David Sedaris. Foreward by Judith Richards. The influential German art gallery Situation Kunst Art as Situation was founded in the s to present contemporary art as a sensory experience, alongside objects from Asia and Africa. Situational Diagram is a collection of essays and creative propositions by cultural theorists, philosophers, artists and activists. Six Feet Under collects an international array of contemporary and historical artworks, some dating back to the sixteenth century, that take on the topic of death and decay.
In art, death is a universal subject. SkypeLab fosters collaboration among digital artists and curators from Melbourne, Shanghai and Reutlingen. Foreword by Judith Richards. Slightly Unbalanced surveys the prevalence of psychological neurosis as a subject in contemporary art. Foreword by Barbara Schroeder.
A collaborative sound-art project by artists from Europe, North America and Japan, Social Music documents a series of broadcasts on Kunstradio in Vienna. In Sonic Somatic , the sound artist and theorist Christof Migone looks at sound art's overlap with other disciplines through its particular uses of articulation.
Articulation is explored here in all of its guises: Text by Yves Aupetitallot, Jef Cornelis. Sonsbeek , curated by Wim Beeren, introduced film, video and environmental art through works by Robert Smithson, Panamarenko and Claes Oldenburg. Sotto Voce maps the historical progression of the abstract white relief from the s to the s. A Contemporary Score investigates the ways in which some of the most innovative contemporary artists are working with sound today. Medea Photographs by Stephan Crasneanscki. Text by Arthur Larrue. Soundwalk is an international sound collective founded in the early s by Stephan Crasneanscki and based in New York City.
April 12, marks the acclaimed fiftieth anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's voyage into space. The catalogue addresses the ever-decreasing boundaries between nature and artificiality. In , Rotterdam and Porto, the cultural capitals of Europe for that year, were besieged by international artists invited to design projects that explored these two cities and their spaces. The street as a stage or site of creative action has acquired its own special role in art history: Subversive Practices explores European and South American experimental and conceptual art practices established between the s and s under the influence of military dictatorships.
Ten well-established artists from across the Maghreb, Levant, and Gulf in conversations moderated by experts on contemporary Middle Eastern art. Text by Friederike Assandri, et al. In a longstanding Chinese folk custom, paper replicas of money and goods are ritually burned as offerings to win the favor of ancestors, gods and spirits. Interview with Bernard Ceysson by Rachel Stella.
Text by Octavio Camargo, Jennifer Gabrys. Vrhovec Sambolec, Jana Winderen. The latest Surface Tension gathers the fruits of the Manual project, a collaborative sound-art venture undertaken by six international artists. It includes a randomly chosen CD by one of the contributors.
A collaboration between artist Sophie Warren, architect Jonathan Mosley and writer Robin Wilson, Beyond Utopia looks at the practicalities of utopian thinking in urban planning and administrative culture. Following the success of Surface Tension: Problematics of Site, Surface Tension: Continuing the work initiated in Surface Tension: Problematics of Site, this second in the Supplement series engages questions of location and performative interventionist practices through essays and creative projects.
Introduction by Lawrence Rinder. Interview by Bill Berkson. Translation by Michael Tweed. Essays by Miriam Basillio and Roxana Maroci. Artists have always struggled to represent the ephemeral phenomenon that is time, but since the beginning of the twentieth century it has become almost a fixation: Foreword by Hyun-Sook Lee.
Korean Dansaekhwa painting emerged in the s as a reaction to the academicism of the National Art Exhibition and the country's rapidly changing social and political landscape. Foreword by Claudia Gould. The Blue of Distance , published to accompany a group exhibition at the Aspen Art Museum, is a reflection on the color blue's uncanny relationship to absence, desire and distance. This collection of alphabets features the work of artists, designers, musicians and curators. Introduction by George Pendle.
Visualizing Japan in the s Text by John W. Modernity took many forms in s Japan, but in the tumultuous years before militarism pushed the country toward global aggression, it was most visibly associated with a glittering consumer culture. The Century of the Bed addresses the use of the bed as an office and workspace. How can we define and reexamine the bed as an architectural space?
This volume offers an in-depth exploration of contemporary moving-image art, examining the ways in which "the cinematic" has blurred cultural distinctions between reality and illusion. Interview by Gerald A. The Circus as a Parallel Universe takes the circus as a metaphor for the art world--a platform for transgression against the existing world order.
Foreword by Laura Steward. Introduction by Nancy M. Text by Sarah Lewis, Daniel Belasco. Text by Mara Ambro? In this luxurious volume, 60 artists from 22 African countries explore Dante's The Divine Comedy , employing a broad range of artistic media such as painting, photography, sculpture, video, installation and performance.
Text by Jeremy Wood. Screenplay by Atom Egoyan. Text by Michael Tarantino. Featuring poems, artist's projects, film stills and photographs, The Event Horizon presents the work of over 15 European artists and is based on an exhibit held at the Irish Museum of Modern Art. Irony is one of the defining characteristics of postmodernism, but is it a meaningful strategy today? Introduction by Dominic Molon.
Text by Anthony Huberman, Kelly Shindler. Foreword by Erlend G. Serving as a repository of memory and atonement, the titular mansion itself functions as a portrait of the family's collective trauma. The Figure in Contemporary Sculpture brings together the work of over 25 leading international artists, in whose practice the human form plays a central role. The Luminous West unites 33 artists from two generations to define the artistic landscape of Germany's Rhineland and North Rhine-Westphalia regions. As contemporary art in India becomes more widely recognized within the country, there has also been a growing awareness of its growth and impact internationally.
Text by Michael Connor. Foreword by Linda Shearer. Introduction by Toby Kamps. Essay by Frances Richard. Drawing on s cul p tural paradigms as diverse as paper-doll books, Mad magazine fold-ins and exploded schematic diagrams, the artists in The Paper Sculpture Book offer a hands-on, self-contained art show. Text by Carel Blotkamp. The People's Art invokes the Dutch tradition of intense social organization, spread across every aspect of government, interest groups and human relations.
Foreword by Lawrence Rinder. Combining studio, classroom, library, gallery and stage, The Possible offered a new model of museum exhibition.
Traversing a variety of mediums, this publication explores Christian themes in secular art from the past 25 years. Acknowledgements by Claudia Gould. At first glance, The Puppet Show seems a flip title. Like the European Romantics, Fluxus artists were intent on changing society through reverie and imagination. Its goal is to support young international artists.
Text by Ericka Beckman, A. The payoff doubles each time tails appears. This anthology summarizes seven years of exhibitions at the Swiss Institute in New York. Text by Michael Taussig, Breyten Breytenbach. Western art has long nurtered an idyllic dream of "the tropics," absorbing larger cultural longings for exoticism, armchair travel, uninhibited sensuality and the rejection of industrialized civilization.
Preface by Katharina Blaas, Christiane Kreijs. Text by Jumana Al Yaziri, et al. Contributions by Claire Jervert, Oliver Wasow. Appearances of blinking ellipsoids, whirling orbs and other such sinister sightings have been reported throughout history, but nowhere has the idea of contact with extraterrestrials taken hold so powerfully as in the postwar United States. Media images of terrorist acts ingrain themselves in the collective memory with a pungency against which we seem almost powerless.
Alixe Bovey, Erik Davis. Text by Horst Bredekamp, et al. The Vertigo of Reality explores the profound changes in art as a result of digital media, such as video games. This volume explores artistic representation of today's increasingly precarious work and social spheres within advanced economies.
Introduction by Cecilia Alemani. X was a one-year, experimental non-profit initiative, whose goal was to inspire new ideas for producing and experiencing contemporary art. Reflections from a Damaged Life? Edited by Christian Malycha.
Text by Theodor W. Edited by Carin Kuoni. Contributions by Ernesto Neto, Charles Eames. Text by Barbara Clausen. Bubbles and related forms seem to be springing up everywhere lately in contemporary art. Preface by Dieter Rampl. The Scenario Book is a curatorial project that aims to construct a representation of the European community from the perspective of the arts. Thread Lines departs from the typical assumption that drawing means putting pen to paper, framing it instead as an open-ended act in which lines can be woven, stitched, knit, even embodied.
Preface by Karin Zimmer. Text by Holger Ventura, Gerardo Mosquera. What effect can art have in the face of current conflict? In this volume, curators, theorists, artists and writers argue for methods of map-making that go beyond geographic representation. Text by Esther Buss, Alexander R. Galloway, Hans Ulrich Reck, et al. Foreword by Hugh M.
In a "post-Latin American" age, Latin American art has taken a postmodern tack, mindful of borders and identity politics but not determined by them. Text by Ludwig Seyfarth, Zdenek Felix. The radical metamorphosis of everyday objects has emerged as an increasingly prominent theme in contemporary art, demonstrating that the legacy of the Surrealist object has only gained in significance.
Text by William Warmus, Laura Burkhalter. Transparencies brings together a group of international artists whose work explores glass as both medium and as subject matter. Text by Mark Gisbourne, et al. Drawing from contemporary art as well as the work of old masters, Truth attempts to confront art's relationship with truth and the acquisition of knowledge.
Text by Friedrich W. Typemotion looks at a variety of artistic productions in which type is animated--from feature films and advertising to artworks and music videos--with examples from 20 countries dating from to the present. Under 30 presents annual award-winning young up-and-coming Swiss artists.
Employing artificial materials to create simulations of nature, the 18 artists featured in UnNaturally explore the ways in which the boundaries between nature and culture are sometimes blurred. Unsettled Landscapes , published for Santa Fe's inaugural SITElines Biennial, looks at the urgencies, political conditions and historical narratives that inform the work of contemporary artists across the Americas. Utopia Gesamkunstwerk presents a contemporary perspective on the historical idea of the Gesamkunstwerk , or total work of art, first defined by Wagner as an art that unites all art forms.
The transition between a dream and reality is sometimes blurry and jagged--moments of panic, confusion, fear, joy, a trail of thoughts that carries emotions from one world to the next. Vienna Actionism was the most extreme artistic project of the s, mostly preceding and always surpassing the other performance art, body art and happenings in terms of sheer violent excess. Inspired by visions of the Virgin Mary in the tenth century, the works presented in this volume explore the persistence of visions in contemporary art.
The agency of pedestrianism in the realm of civic creativity has become a major tool for contemporary art, particularly since the 60s. Walk Ways explores this theme of walking as an action and a metaphor. Preface by David Schwartz. Walkers explores the reimagining and recycling of Hollywood iconography in contemporary art and the way that movies live on in our personal and cultural memories. Text by Uta Caspary. Text by Shamim M. Featuring the work of 14 Los Angeles artists, the exhibition Wasteland and its accompanying catalogue are inspired by the unlikely meeting, in the city of Paris, of the LA-as-cultural-wasteland myth with T.
As an exponent of holism and experiment, Buckminster Fuller was an exemplary figure to many artists in his lifetime, and his relevance has only gained. We Need to Talk bursts open the conventions of the bound book, consisting of 10 posters that, folded twice, become 80 single pages.
Edited with text by Dan Nadel. Essay by Kathleen Forde. Interviews with Naut Humon and Steina Vasulka. Synesthesia is the condition where stimulation of one sense aural, for instance triggers another visual , so hearing a G minor chord might literally make you see red. What We Call Love explores how the notion of love has evolved within the 20th century. How have seismic sociological changes concerning sexuality, marriage and intimacy affected the way we conceive love today?
Featuring 14 artists and one pair of artistic collaborators, What about the Art? Contemporary Art from China examines the contributions of Chinese artists to the international canon of contemporary art. Trash Rubbish Mongo examines the work of artists who use garbage as their artistic medium, creating art that mirrors our alienation and consumerism. Author Lea Vergine suggests trash is a natural medium: Edited by Niels Van Tomme. Where Do We Migrate To? This richly illustrated reader reflects on Africa at the beginning of the twenty-first century using literary and scientific texts and essays.
Wild Sky presents works of photography, video, painting and installation that attempt to measure and encompass the skies. This catalogue gathers work that explores recent changes in the perception of nature. Essays by Homi Bhabha and Orhan Pamuk. The attention currently directed from the West to the Islamic world has profound ramifications for the art made by those who come from the region but live elsewhere: Text by Matthias Frehner, et al.
Introduction by LeRonn Brooks. Text by Jordan D. Schnitzer, Elizabeth Bilyeu When justice is at stake, artists historically have spearheaded challenging conversations. The work in this book bears witness to stories and identities that challenge dominant paradigms. Introduction by Mette Marcus and Kirsten Degel. Text by Ruth Hemus. This catalogue explores the relationship between the written word and art and film. Work Hard , the curatorial debut of celebrated Swiss artist Valentin Carron born , presents a creative discourse between a surprising group of artists: World and System takes A.
The suburbs have always been a fertile space for imagining both the best and the worst of modern social life. Borrowing its title from a George Brecht aphorism, Yesterday Will Be Better examines a recent upsurge in the use of mnemonics in art. Text by Naima J. Keith, Thomas Lax, Jay Sanders. The legendary art collective Nul was founded in Amsterdam in Distributed Art Publishers, Inc.
For reproduction permissions, contact the copyright holders. Generation Loss Edited with text by Julia Stoschek. True Colours Introduction by Hugh Allan. Mirrored Edited by Mats Stjernstedt. Modern Utopias Modern Utopias is published to accompany a long-term touring exhibition that tells the story of the utopias of the 20th and 21st centuries through great works from the collection of the Centre Pompidou in Paris.
Traces of the Political Edited with text by Rainer Fuchs.
One of Rudi 's buddies is the most obnoxious one you can think of. Nets features works of art that play with the idea of webs and networks, from spiders' webs to diagram structures. Works from Edited by Tim Nye. Foreword by Hugh M. There is a story that during World War II , Stalin received a report about the affairs of one of the military commanders usually stated to be Rokossovsky , and was asked "What shall we do"? Dio Brando is so charismatic and good-looking that he managed to father four children.
Text by Noit Banai, Maja Fowkes, et al. The nightclub as avant-garde architecture: Portable Art Edited by Celia Forner. Shedding Light Edited by Beppe Finessi. In an increasingly polarized world, Social Forms surveys those artists at the forefront of political resistance In Social Forms: Unseen images of the Beats, including many—uniquely—in color This magnificent volume features a remarkable collection of largely unseen photographs of the Beat Generation by renowned Magnum photographer Burt Glinn.
The Boat is Leaking. For 14 Rooms , curators Klaus Biesenbach and Hans Ulrich Obrist invited artists to each activate a room and explore the relationship between space, time and physicality with an artwork whose "material" is the human being. The s were a groundbreaking decade for contemporary art in the United Arab Emirates, a radical moment when artists in the UAE explored experimental new formats, formed art collectives and founded journals. Text by Christian Egger, et al. This volume looks at artworks situated between photography and sculpture.
Since the s, Miami's Rubell family has collected the works of the most relevant contemporary African American artists as an integral part of their broader mission to collect the most interesting art of our time. Text by Sandy Nairne, Sarah Howgate. The BP Portrait Award is the world's leading showcase for painters working in portraiture. Since its inception in , the Berlin Biennale has developed into a primary forum for contemporary art.
This sixth Biennale is curated by Kathrin Rhomberg and is themed around the idea of contemporaneity itself. Abstrakt Contributions by Christine Buci-Glucksmann.
Abstrakt surveys new works in the field of abstract painting that subvert the principles of Modernism and reflect on the status of painting in a post-Duchampian universe. Text by Brigitte Borchardt-Birbaumer, et al. This catalogue brings together an assortment of artists who extend the medium of painting into post-Constructivist sculpture and installation. After Nature Text by Massimiliano Gioni. After the Reality Text by Kentaro Ichihara.
Among Heroes Preface by Ellen Seifermann. Animal Spirits Edited by Karen Marta. Animations Edited by Klaus Biesenbach. Ape Culture Edited by Hila Peleg. Apocalyptic Wallpaper Edited by Annetta Massie. Architektonika Edited by Matilda Felix.
Art Basel Unlimited Every year, between 50 and 70 artists are invited to the exceptional platform Unlimited , which defies limitations and experiments with new forms of presentation. Art and China after Twenty years of experimental art from a globalized China Published on the occasion of the largest exhibition of contemporary art from China ever mounted in North America, organized by the Solomon R. Art and the City Edited by Christoph Doswald. Art in the Age of Art of Another Kind: Edited by Valerio Terraroli. Art or Sound Introduction by Germano Celant. Artists for Artists Edited by Eric Banks.
Australia By Thomas Keneally.
Sex Cat Encounters Casanova Karma is just one of hundreds of the real life romantic encounters of a prolific lover of the 20th and now into the 21st century. Sex Cat Encounters Casanova Karma - Kindle edition by Casanova Karma. Download it once and read it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets.
Automatic Cities By Robin Clark. Barcelona Sculptures Essay by Jaume Capo. Big Picture Preface by Marion Ackermann. Blur of the Otherworldly: Booster Edited by Marta Herford. Born To Be Wild: Brilliant Dilletantes Introduction and text by Mathilde Weh. Bronze By Francesca Bewer. Catch Me Edited by Peter Pakesch. China Edited by Lorenzo Sassoli de Bianchi. Color in Flux Edited by Peter Friese. Command Z Text by Lisa Moren.
Create Edited by Lawrence Rinder. Creating Ourselves Edited by Emily Butler. Dance with Camera Edited by Jenelle Porter. Devil On The Stairs: Disaster Text by Michael Bracewell. Double Life Edited by Joanna Ahlberg. Drawing Now Essay by Laura Hoptman. Electronic Superhighway Edited by Omar Kholeif. Embedded Metaphor Edited by Nina Felshin.
Empty Dress Edited by Nina Felshin. Exile on Main Street During Pop art's heyday in the s, a small headstrong group presented themselves as artists' artists rather than media darlings. Family Ties Edited by Trevor Fairbrother. Fantastic Prayers Artwork by Tony Oursler. Focus Asia Edited by Philipp Bollmann.
For Real Essay by Martijn van Nieuwenhuyzen. Fourth Plinth Foreword by Grayson Perry. Frauenzimmer Edited by Stefanie Kreuzer. Free to Love Introduction by Jesse Pires. Freeway Balconies Edited by Collier Schorr. From Media To Metaphor: Text by Barbara Rose, Adrien Goetz. Function Dysfunction Since the s, Glasgow has developed a thriving art culture. Heart of Darkness Foreword by Kathy Halbreich. History is Now Foreword by Ralph Rugoff. Huckleberry Finn Edited by Jens Hoffmann. Human Condition Edited by Peter Pakesch. Image Anxiety This volume looks at the relationship between image production and conditions of anxiety across the booming economies of Asia, from Korea to China to Japan.
Inventing Abstraction, By Leah Dickerman. Ironic Edited by Claudia Emmert. Konkret Edited by Simone Schimpf. Landscape Confection Essay by Helen Molesworth. Lifelike Edited by Siri Engberg. Lights On Edited by Gunnar B. Live Forever Edited and introduction by Teresa Calonje. Love Edited by by Danilo Eccher. Made in Rome Edited by Manuel Blanco. Madly in Love By Germano Celant. Maps and Legends Edited by Luca Cerizza. Mo ve ment Edited by Wolfgang Fetz.
Money, Good and Evil: New York Graphic Workshop: Nuage Edited by Michele Moutashar. On the Road Edited by Gloria Moure. Out of Beirut Edited by Suzanne Cotter. Overcoming Dictatorships Text by Jutta Vinzent. Para Fictions Edited with text by Natasha Hoare. Paz Errazuriz and Lotty Rosenfeld: Photorealism Edited by Otto Letze. Politics of Form Edited by Hans D. Portrait of a Generation Introduction by Kathy Grayson. Post-Hypnotic Artwork by Peter Halley.
Reinventing Abstraction Text by Raphael Rubinstein. Remote Viewing Edited by Paul Young. Resistance Performed Edited by Heike Munder. Revolution in the Making Edited by Paul Schimmel,? Ruffneck Constructivists Edited and with an introduction by Kara Walker.
Sad Songs Edited by Barry Blinderman. September 11 Edited by Peter Eleey. Situational Diagram Edited with text by Begum Yasar. Smoky Pokership Edited by Sibylle Omlin. Sonsbeek , Edited by Yves Aupetitallot. Species Text by Ludwig Seyfarth. Squatters Contributions by Bartomeu Mari. Streetopia Edited by Erick Lyle. Subversive Practices Edited by Hans D. Supermarket of the Dead Edited by Wolfgang Scheppe. Surface Tension Supplement No. Tempo Edited by Paulo Herkenhoff. The Dissolve Edited by Sarah King. The East Village Scene Reviewing the fertile melting pot of downtown New York in the late s and early s, The East Side Scene excavates the nightclubs and galleries where that decade's defining art was first exhibited.
The End of the 20th Century: The Sense of Movement: The Way Things Are: Things are Queer Edited by Marta Herford. Tokyo Edited by Doryun Chong. Transactions Edited by Stephanie Hanor. Transformed Objects Preface by Monika Schnetkamp. Truth Edited by Thomas Rusche.
UnExhibit Edited by Sabine Folie. Walk Ways Essay by Stuart Horodner. Wall Work Edited with text by Gabriele Knapstein. We Need to Talk Special subjects require special book formats. What about the Art? Worlds Away Edited by Andrew Blauvelt. Yes Naturally Edited by Ine Gevers et al. Notwithstanding their considerable differences and individuality--one would hardly expect them to have a lover in common--Louise Bourgeois, Marlene Dumas, Paul McCarthy and Raymond Pettibon share an artistic intent to explore eroticism and sexuality.
With a mix of irreverence and sincerity, artists John Baldessari and Meg Cranston here tackle nothing less than the question of God. Foreword by Andrew Graham-Dixon. With over illustrations by 50 artists, 21st-Century Portraits explores new developments in the representation of the human form and face as well as the continuing appeal of commissioned portraiture. From its inception in the s, the Rubell Collection has been able to boast a particularly fine range of African-American art.
He stops in a small town en route to his freedom. Bolzano, however, is no petty stopover, no Traveloggia off Highway 1. The town of Bolzano is the setting of a duel that won't abandon his heart -- a duel with a Duke that he failed to win, which cost him "the One," Francesca. She's not "the One," exactly, as we're led in fairy tales and self-help books to understand the term. Francesca was a year-old woman and the only "One" he hadn't managed to forget. The prize of a memorable duel with the Duke of Parma, Francesca hears word of his presence through the grapevine that grows in any small town.
Her commitment to the Duke seems to disintegrate, and the news of his arrival forces her to pen a request for a meeting. So begins the laborious journey into the facts and falsehoods of amore -- not to mention the nearly pages that detail it. Each well-articulated insight about life and love seems to be accompanied by paragraphs of exhaustive exposition. These characteristics define the strengths and weaknesses of the novel. Let's start with the positive: That is, he is capable of distilling our own musings and insecurities about love and sex, and putting them in terms that allow many of us to blame our dysfunction on what seem to be universal truths.
Whether these "truths" have any bearing on reality is beside the point- we can retreat into the captivating illusion that we are all swept into drama beyond our control. On the other hand, what tedious explanations! Characters, including the Duke of Parma and Casanova himself, deliver pages-long monologues that, after awhile, border on the kind of Dickensian excess that would make Hemingway turn in his grave.
Flamboyant soliloquies have their place, but I'm not sure that place is smack in the middle of an otherwise well-paced novel. Small town Italy could be a reader's playground, yet we're grounded in a room with the curtains drawn. And despite Casanova's reputation, there's disappointingly little "play" inside that curtained room in the first place.
That's not to say the journey doesn't have its charms. Written as a play, the book and its indulgences would have made for a superb one-act. Imagining the sort of Kevin Kline-esque manner that would accompany any modern, theatrical adaptation of this book is easy. Furthermore, a talented actor would be able to bring to life what is, as a page of prose, simply monolithic.