TORONTO, September 2, 2004 – Venetian adventurer, legendary lover and autobiographer Giacomo Casanova has captured the imagination of celebrated Canadian author Susan Swan. The latest book by the colourful, prize-winning novelist and York University humanities professor, What Casanova Told Me, will be published by Knopf Canada on Sept. 18.
What Casanova Told Me embraces two centuries, two women, a long-lost journal and the mystery behind the legendary Casanova's last great love. It is a story about a Mediterranean odyssey and a search for renewal, pleasure and inspiration from the past. The novel is based on the journals of Asked For Adams, the fictitious cousin of former American president John Adams, who travelled with Casanova during the last years of his life.
The book is a return to historical fiction for Swann who admits she has a pessimistic view of society’s ideas about the future. “We have no vision for the future. We’re too caught up in bottom-line issues of the day,” she says. “That’s why I think we are looking back to our past to see if it can give us something we can use to go forward with.”
Swan’s book begins in 1797 when an aging Casanova meets Asked For Adams in Venice and invites her on a dangerous adventure through post-Byzantine Greece to Istanbul, which she records in intimate detail in her journal – until the travel diary ends abruptly and mysteriously. Two hundred years later the journal comes into the possession of Luce Adams, Asked For's 21st century descendant who reads it on her way to Crete for her mother’s funeral.
Swann spent the past seven years working on What Casanova Told Me, a labour made more demanding by its double narrative structure covering separate periods in history. “Finishing a book is very much like giving birth and then sending your child across the street into traffic,” says Swan. “You are terribly anxious that the child might be killed and hoping people clap their hands when the child gets to the other side.”
Film short premieres Sept. 8
The book will also be the subject of the first in a series of short dramatic films on Bravo!. Titled, What Casanova Told Me, the film is directed by Ed Gass-Donnelly and Marco Pecota. and will have its world broadcast premiere Sept. 8 on Bravo!FACT Presents. The public screening debut will take place at The Word On The Street literary festival at Queens’ Park in Toronto Sept. 26.
Author to appear in character at book launch Sept. 29
Swan is excited about plans for the book, which include an official launch Sept. 29 at 6:30 pm at the Rivoli Theatre. James Bee who played Casanova in the film will take part dressed in 18th-Century costume. Swan will interview him as her character Asked For Adams. The event, which will be part of ArtsWeek festivities in Toronto, is open to the public.
Swan, a celebrated journalist, feminist, novelist and activist, teaches a fourth-year fiction course and a second-year course on Canadian cultural at York. Her novel, The Wives of Bath, was a finalist for the Guardian Fiction Award and Ontario's Trillium Prize. It was made into the feature film Lost and Delirious, which was shown in 32 countries. The Wives of Bath was picked by a US reader's guide as one of the best novels of the '90s. Swan's critically acclaimed fiction has been published in 16 countries. Her other books include Stupid Boys are Good to Relax With (Sommerville House, 1996); The Last of the Golden Girls (Lester & Orpen Dennys, 1989, and Key Porter 2001) and Unfit for Paradise (Christopher Dingle Editions, 1981).
York University is the leading interdisciplinary teaching and research university in Canada. York offers a modern, academic experience at the undergraduate and graduate level in Toronto, Canada’s most international city. The third largest university in the country, York is host to a dynamic academic community of nearly 50,000 students and 7,000 faculty and staff, as well as 180,000 alumni worldwide. York’s 10 faculties and 21 research centres conduct ambitious, groundbreaking research that is interdisciplinary, cutting across traditional academic boundaries. This distinctive and collaborative approach is preparing students for the future and bringing fresh insights and solutions to real-world challenges.
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For further information, please contact:
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George McNeillie Media Relations York University 416-736-2100 ext. 22097
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David Fuller Media Relations York University 416-736-2100, ext. 22091 |
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