Arthur Schnitzler - Casanova's Homecoming

By the late eighteenth century Casanova, once one of the great lovers and adventurers of Europe, has become tired, old, and women no longer find him appealing. His exile from Venice is keeping his spirits at a low, and thus far his treatise against Voltaire remains unwritten. Arthur Schnitzler's Casanova's Homecoming is an examination of the great lover when he is no longer great, and when the only romances available to him seem to be with women equally old and worn.

Old age does not sit well with Casanova. His arrogance, dutifully rewarded with the embrace of a thousand women when young, has remained unsatisfied for some time now. He idles his days recounting stories of his youth to men equally corpulent, and his gambling debts have become large. Schnitzler writes that Casanova, "[t]hough no longer driven by the lust of adventure that had spurred him in his youth, he was still hunted athwart the world, hunted now by a restlessness due to the approach of old age."

As a literary device for exploring the eroticism of aged men, Casanova is a brilliant choice. Most people have heard of him, and if not, then the term is a common one when discussing the amorous adventures of young males. By writing of Casanova after he has peaked, instead of at his prime, Schnitzler is able to take one of the emblems of masculine sexuality and upturn it on its head. For the most part, this technique is exceptionally effective, for we instinctively expect Casanova to succeed because, well – he's Casanova! It doesn't make sense that he wouldn't.

His challenge comes early to the novel in the guise of Marcolina, a beautiful young woman who is the daughter of an old friend. Marcolina is a modern woman, interested in philosphy and literature, and not merely as nets by which to ensnare a potential husband. And, worse, she doesn't know who Casanova is – his reputation has in no way preceded him.

She was wearing a simple grey dress of some shimmering material. She had a graceful figure. Her gaze rested on him as frankly and indifferently as if he were a member of the household, or had been a guest a hundred times before. Her face did not light up in the way to which he had grown accustomed in earlier years, when he had been a charming youth, or later in his handsome prime. But for a good while now Casanova had ceased to expect this from a new acquaintance. Nevertheless, even of late the mention of his name had usually sufficed to arouse on a woman's face an expression of tardy admiration, or at least some trace of regret, which was an admission that the hearer would have loved to meet him a few years earlier. Yet now, when Oliva introduced him to Marcolina as Signor Casanova, Chevalier de Seingalt, she smiled as she would have smiled at some utterly indifferent name that carried with it no aroma of adventure and mystery.

But why should Marcolina recognise Casanova by name, or care who he is? To her he is an old man much like her father, which is to say he holds no potential for desire. He is past his prime, a specimen from a time when she was not alive, and hardly the target of romance. But for Casanova – again, he is Casanova! And this is how he sees himself, at least outwardly, though the cracks of pity and self-awareness are evident:

While thus recounting real and imaginary incidents, he could almost delude himself into the belief that he was still the bold, radiant Casanova, the favourite of fortune and of beautiful women, the honored guest of secular and spiritual princes, the man whose spendings and gamblings and gifts must be reckoned in thousands. It was possible for him to forget that he was a decayed starveling, supported by pitiful remittances from former friends in England and Spain – doles which often failed to arrive, so that he was reduced to the few and paltry gold pieces which he could win from Baron Perotti or from the Baron's guests.

He could even forget that this highest aim now was to return to his natal city where he had been cast into prison and from which, since his escape, he had been banned; to return as one of the meanest of its citizens, as writer, as beggar, as nonentity; to accept so inglorious a close to a once brilliant career.

For Casanova, being a non-entity is akin to being dead. It makes one useless and ineffectual. One may as well become an inn-keeper, or a cart-driver. What use of being Casanova, if he cannot be appreciated by women? This problem does not, however, produce as much introspection as perhaps one would expect. Instead, Marcolina and Casanova engage in a number of conversations about a variety of topics, and then Casanova makes an advance and is rejected. He rages, he wonders, but he doesn't really examine himself – instead he examines her. There must be something wrong with her if she has declined his attention. His wrinkles, his odor, his sagging skin and missing teeth, are all seasoning, artefacts of his attention to passion. What would (and does) repulse him in a woman of his own age he expects will attract a woman twenty years younger.

'Am I really so repulsive?' he anxiously asked himself. Then, replying in thought to his own question: 'No, that is not the reason. Marcolina is not really a woman. She is a she-professor, a she-philosopher, one of the wonders of the world perhaps - but not a woman.'

Of course, not a woman! Marcolina, if a woman, would surely fall at his feet. But she is not a woman, which explains why she does not. This reasoning creates in Casanova a comfortable sense of security, though it doesn't often last.

Schnitzler's writing is quite erotic, both overtly and subtly. Casanova seems to experience his days in a relentless state of engorgement, both physically and mentally. He is like a hawk constantly poised and ready to swoop, and willing to stay in that position for ever if necessary. Schnitzler writes Casanova with the urgency of upcoming culmination, which has a tremendous affect on the manner in which the story unfolds. By and large, there isn't a great deal of plot here – Casanova meets girl, girl rejects Casanova, Casanova tries harder – but the single-minded obsession and energy with which Casanova attacks his problem works, and works well.

It is important to see Marcolina as a problem to be solved, and not a woman to be loved. Oh, Casanova 'loves' her, and declares it silently quite often. But we know it isn't real, and would disappear once he has physically possessed her – emotional possession means little, and at times we wonder if Casanova is capable of appreciating real, emotional love. Midway through the novel, while talking with Marcolina,

Beneath the shimmering folds of her dress he seemed to see her naked body; her firm young breasts allured him; once when she stooped to pick up her handkerchief, Casanova's inflamed fancy made him attach so ardent a significance to her movement that he felt near to swooning. Marcolina did not fail to notice the involuntary pause in the flow of his conversation; she perceived that his gaze had begun to flicker strangely. In her countenance he could read a sudden hostility, a protest, a trace of disgust.

Schnitzler's novella tackles the question of what a man is to do once he has become useless. “Is this all that remains of my empire?” asks Casanova. To the young, his achievements are unknown and, if known, meaningless. His life as it currently stands is poor and penniless, without ambition or hope. He wonders,

[b]ut what availed his patience and his foresight, what became of all his plans in life, when the lure of a new love adventure summoned? Women, always women. For them he had again and again cast everything to the winds…[a]ll the honours and all the joys in the world had ever seemed cheap to him in comparison with a successful night upon a new love quest.

The last third of the novella becomes embroiled in a plot which is, it should be admitted, rather fantastical. Lorenzi, a handsome young officer who loves Marcolina, and who seems to be loved by Marcolina, emerges from the periphery of Casanova's tumescence, and becomes a primary character in a drama that threatens to escalate into the ridiculous. Casanova comes into a stream of money and a purpose in life, all neatly timed to place Lorenzi on an awkward footing, which then allows Casanova to seduce Marcolina in a manner which is morally reprehensible and does much to shatter the reader's sympathy for the aging lover. There is a duel, a death, a preposterous love scene and a ridiculous next morning.

Following all this – and these lashings of plot are handled in twenty pages or so – the novella continues on, for some reason, tying up loose ends which seem bewildering, not necessary. Schnitzler's bizarre choice of plotting could have worked well if he used the plot (as he does earlier in the piece) to further examine the immense egoism of Casanova, but he doesn't. The novella falls flat, and the framework for deeply analysing the psychological aspects of male sexuality goes wasted.

The sheer arrogance of Casanova's characters blinds the reader to the attraction of Marcolina. We aren't really ever shown why she is so desirable to him, and the reason for this is relatively simple - she is important to Casanova as a further conquest, as an achievement of his own, and not as an individual. He values not the woman but the possession of her. Considering this, the primary focus of the novel is not on the love but the lover, and here Schnitzler falls short. Casanova is a character built from the beginning to eventually swoop, but he doesn't. Oh, he conquers the woman (was that in doubt?), but he conquers neither himself nor his problems with age. Conclusions aren't always necessary, but when the first half of the novel concerns itself with Casanova's growing acceptance of himself as no longer the Casanova, then it behooves the final half to complete matters in a coherent fashion. Sadly, this is not the case.

Author	Arthur Schnitzler
Title	Casanova's Homecoming (Original Title: Casanovas Heimfahrt)
Translator	Eden and Cedar Paul
Nationality	Austrian
Publisher	Project Gutenberg
Published	1918
Pages	108
Availability: ---Amazon (US)

See Also

Other titles by Arthur Schnitzler under review:
---Bertha Garlan
List of Austrian authors under review