Description: About This Book
In this autobiographical tale, a young dandy is forced to flee his hometown after falling afoul of the authorities. But sheltering in the royal court he finds treachery and insult and is eventually positioned into a meaningless confrontation over a woman he cares nothing about. Told with debonair wit and a merciless attitude toward high society, the tale becomes a tense adventure that leads to a surprising outcome. This Is A Melville House "HybridBook" HybridBooks are a union of print and electronic media: Purchasers of this print edition also receive Illuminations--additional curated material that expands the world of Casanova's novella through text and illustrations--at no additional charge. To obtain the Illuminations for The Duel by Giacomo Casanova, simply scan the QR code (or follow a url) found at the back of the print book; the link leads to a landing page where you can download a file for your preferred electronic reading device. Included are excerpts from work by Havelock Ellis - W.E. Garrett Fisher - Richard von Kraft Ebbing - Arthur Schnitzler - Arthur Symonds - Mark Twain - And the entire version of Casanova's duel as written in his personal memoirs. Full-color art by Francesco Casanova - Anton Raphael Mengs - Jean-Marc Nattier - Johann Berka - an 1841 map of Weehawken - "An Air Balloon Engagement" by J. Barrow - and portraits of the ten most deadly duelists. Also included: "Famous Duels, Duelists, and Dueling Grounds"Review Quotes: Praise for "The Art of The Novella"
"I wanted them all, even those I'd already read."
--Ron Rosenbaum, "The New York Observer"
"Small wonders."
--"Time Out London"
"""[F]irst-rate...astutely selected and attractively packaged...indisputably great works."
--Adam Begley, "The New York Observer"
"I've always been haunted by Bartleby, the proto-slacker. But it's the handsomely minimalist cover of the Melville House edition that gets me here, one of many in the small publisher's fine 'Art of the Novella' series."
--"The New Yorker"
"The Art of the Novella series is sort of an anti-Kindle. What these singular, distinctive titles celebrate is book-ness. They're slim enough to be portable but showy enough to be conspicuously consumed--tiny little objects that demand to be loved for the commodities they are."
--KQED (NPR San Francisco)
"Some like it short, and if you're one of them, Melville House, an independent publisher based in Br