Casanovas Heimfahrt
30. C. am box 4/10
708 MODIFYING THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY
sees the chevalier broken and hideous, stripped of human dignity,
and at fifty-three manceuvring to prolong those pleasures which he
had accepted with confidence fifteen years earlier. He reduces the
adventurer by a series of final qualifications, when he has lost the#
very essence of his glory; he imagines Casanova as an old man try¬
ing to carry off an existence which sits well with a much younger
man.
Casanova is decidedly moth-eaten. What money he gets comes
for the most part from petty gambling. He has two suits, one for
every-day and one for occasions.“ At this point he meets an old
school friend, Olivo, who insists that Casanova come stay with him
for a few days on his estate. There is a young woman here, Marco¬
lina; Casanova forthwith becomes pre-occupied with this Marcolina
exclusively. She, however, is completely neglectful of his prestige;
she treats him with a mixture of politeness and indifference which
turns to something like revulsion when he makes a few tentative
moves. Also, there is Lorenzi, a young lieutenant whom Casanova
suspects of being in love with her, perhaps successfully.
Sneaking out at dawn, to see if he can catch sight of Marcolina in
her room, he finds the shutters closed and barred. But after a time
there is a noise; dropping behind a bench, Casanova spies Lorenzi
taking leave of her. His desire for Marcolina becomes intense, al¬
most a necessity. Schnitzler next centres his attention on
getting Lorenzi into a gambling debt, which in a moment of beaz
geste, of the old feudal honou-, Lorenzi claims he will redeem the
following morning. But he has no money, and is leaving for war
the next day. Casanova, who has won the thousand ducats that
Lorenzi needs, in what is perhaps the most skilfully executed por¬
tion of the story, makes Lorenzi a strictly business proposition: he
will give Lorenzi the money if Lorenzi pledges his word that he will
arrange to have Casanova enter Marcolina’s room that night, posing
as her lover. Lorenzi agrees; the plan succeeds; Casanova is accept¬
ed in the darkness as the lieutenant.
It is from this point that Schnitzler begins pursuing the wretch in
earnest. After describing in a highly romantic vocabulary what hap¬
pened in that pitch-black room, Schnitzler begins tracing a set of
wild images in Casanova’s brain—a mixture of day-dreams and
nightmare—Casanova awakes, stifling dawn is penetrating
the thick curtain, and Marcolina is looking at him in horror, at his
30. C. am box 4/10
708 MODIFYING THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY
sees the chevalier broken and hideous, stripped of human dignity,
and at fifty-three manceuvring to prolong those pleasures which he
had accepted with confidence fifteen years earlier. He reduces the
adventurer by a series of final qualifications, when he has lost the#
very essence of his glory; he imagines Casanova as an old man try¬
ing to carry off an existence which sits well with a much younger
man.
Casanova is decidedly moth-eaten. What money he gets comes
for the most part from petty gambling. He has two suits, one for
every-day and one for occasions.“ At this point he meets an old
school friend, Olivo, who insists that Casanova come stay with him
for a few days on his estate. There is a young woman here, Marco¬
lina; Casanova forthwith becomes pre-occupied with this Marcolina
exclusively. She, however, is completely neglectful of his prestige;
she treats him with a mixture of politeness and indifference which
turns to something like revulsion when he makes a few tentative
moves. Also, there is Lorenzi, a young lieutenant whom Casanova
suspects of being in love with her, perhaps successfully.
Sneaking out at dawn, to see if he can catch sight of Marcolina in
her room, he finds the shutters closed and barred. But after a time
there is a noise; dropping behind a bench, Casanova spies Lorenzi
taking leave of her. His desire for Marcolina becomes intense, al¬
most a necessity. Schnitzler next centres his attention on
getting Lorenzi into a gambling debt, which in a moment of beaz
geste, of the old feudal honou-, Lorenzi claims he will redeem the
following morning. But he has no money, and is leaving for war
the next day. Casanova, who has won the thousand ducats that
Lorenzi needs, in what is perhaps the most skilfully executed por¬
tion of the story, makes Lorenzi a strictly business proposition: he
will give Lorenzi the money if Lorenzi pledges his word that he will
arrange to have Casanova enter Marcolina’s room that night, posing
as her lover. Lorenzi agrees; the plan succeeds; Casanova is accept¬
ed in the darkness as the lieutenant.
It is from this point that Schnitzler begins pursuing the wretch in
earnest. After describing in a highly romantic vocabulary what hap¬
pened in that pitch-black room, Schnitzler begins tracing a set of
wild images in Casanova’s brain—a mixture of day-dreams and
nightmare—Casanova awakes, stifling dawn is penetrating
the thick curtain, and Marcolina is looking at him in horror, at his