Arthur Schnitzler is a writer who comes from the same atmosphere that, at the beginning of last century, has produced a overed-measure
amount of creative ferments, of geniuses of the musical and figurative expression, of scientific and epistemological theories, and as well of several narrators with taste for decadent disquisitions. So, it''s understood that Schnitzler comes from Wien and he couldn''t come from anywhere else.
His hero, in this novel, is an old Casanova, captive of his glorious past.
Prisoner in his memories, of continuous remembrance of what he has been, of the character that he has constructed on his person, so jealous of the mask that he has worn with
success for all the life.
He has been admired by the women, and they favoured his egocentric attitude, but today this man is old and hasn''t that past success anymore.
The women don''t care about him, and the young people mock on him. So Schnitzler describes this man: grey, boring, eager.
Casanova gets charmed by a young girl named
Marcolina, who''s totally not interested in him. But he likes her too much, and organizes a serie of lies and tricks, in order to reach his goal.
His goal is only one: to seduce that girl, even if she doesn''t want him. Casanova will find help in the man who''s loved by Marcolina, who''s ready to merchandise Marcolina''s feelings.
In the "hero" of this story, Schnitzler intends to represent a kind of man who doesn''t accept the passing of time, and prefers to keep himself behind a mask instead to face reality and accepting the present and the changes. Casanova fears the changes, as well he sees only himself under the light of his memory, so he sees only the person that he was when he was younger. This attitude separes the man from the rest of the world: he lives only in his lies, he refuses every truth which denies his own logics. Living always with a sight to the past makes him living in his own shadow, because he''s prisoner not only of his image, but of the old image (the real old one, because the image has never changed with passing time) that his memory takes continuously at his attention.
Interesting and stimulating novel, written by a skillful observer of the psychological illusions of the modern man.