Revisiting Casanova After #MeToo
Plus, Living in a Home that Breathes.
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CHARLIE SYKES: The Character of a Queen.
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CATHY YOUNG: Revisiting Casanova After #MeToo.
Few figures in world history are as iconic as Giacomo Girolamo Casanova, one of a select group whose names have become synonyms for āwomanizer.ā And yet as historical figures go, one could argue that Casanova, the eighteenth-century adventurer and memoirist, is an extremely minor one: His existence had little effect on the course of history, and his biggest contribution to culture in his lifetime was to have devised the state-sponsored lottery. Still, Casanova continues to fascinate. His autobiography, Histoire de ma vie (āThe History of My Lifeā), has gone through some four hundred editions in twenty languages; Franceās BibliothĆØque Nationale acquired the original French-language manuscript (along with other Casanova documents) in 2010 for $9 million, its single most expensive acquisition ever. The memoir has also provided source material for numerous films, notably including Federico Felliniās 1976 Casanova and a heavily fictionalized 2005 feature starring Heath Ledger.
Casanovaās Histoire was scandalous when first published in the 1820s, even heavily bowdlerized, and soon ended up on the Catholic Churchās index of prohibited books. Back then, it was condemned for its irreverence toward religion and frank depiction of illicit sexual adventures, some of them with nuns. In the 2020s, Casanova scandalizes for a very different reason: In the age of #MeToo and of acute feminist awareness of male sexual abuse of women, a man known primarily for his seductions is liable to be, as they say, problematicāespecially when those seductions took place in an era of legally entrenched male dominance and often fuzzy notions of consent. When a Casanova museum opened in his native Venice in 2018, the Huffington Post reacted with an article titled āThe Real Casanova Wasnāt A Ladies Man, He Was A Rapist.ā
Josh Barro joins the group to reflect on Queen Elizabeth, analyze President Bidenās democracy speech, interpret the midterm tea leaves, and evaluate what lessons we must learn from the poor US response to COVID-19.
In recent midterms, the right bet was against the incumbent party. But those elections didnāt have an overturning of a popular SCOTUS precedent and an ex-POTUS who tried to stage a coup on the ballot. Plus, an appreciation of the queen. The weekend pod with Charlie Sykes and Bill Kristol.
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Thursday Night Bulwark: Welcome to the Thunderdome. š
SONNY BUNCH: Barbarian Review.
Barbarian is a tricky movie to review because you really owe it to yourself to know as little as possible going in. As such, the top third of this review will discuss nothing beyond what is seen in the trailer and include a recommendation that you go see itāBarbarian is a terrifyingly fun film to see with an audience and one of the most-messed-up mainstream movies Iāve seen in yearsāwhile the bottom two-thirds will get into the weeds a bit further. I will break the sections up with an image or two.
You are forewarned.
ADDISON DEL MASTRO: Living in a Home that Breathes.
My wife and I have beenādejectedly, half-heartedlyāshopping for a house in Northern Virginia. I hardly have to explain why itās not an encouraging endeavor. (If youāre not familiar, just input any locality in Fairfax County into Zillow and filter by ālowest price first.ā)
Yet market travails aside, one of the most curious things Iāve noticed during open-house visits around here is that the windows in these expensive, very nice homes frequently do not work.
Sometimes theyāre old and have never been replaced; sometimes theyāve been painted shut; some look fine but are so stiff theyāve likely not been opened for years; some are brand new but are so cheap that the plastic in the locking mechanisms warps under pressure so that the window cannot latch shut. Some donāt even have intact screens. (That can sometimes be explained by a realtor trick: Removing the screens lets in more light. In these cases, the screens are stowed in the garage or basement.)
šØOVERTIME šØ
Happy Friday! I hope you have weekend plans that are fun and exciting as the āfree summerā days continue. Addison Del Mastroās item above reminded me of those hot nights in Shaker Heights without A/C and learning the physics of the box fan.
News for tennis fans. Iām not much of one, like my colleagues JVL and Will, but I do love John McEnroe. He answers the internetās questions. Obviously, I am rooting for Marylandās Francis Tiafoe.
Private policing in Saint Louis. I told this story when I predicted the gun-toting lawyers, the McCloskeys, were screwed. I used to live down the street from them, and one night after a fraternity party, I walked home through their neighborhood with a fellow brother. We were going to go play Halo on Xbox and a city cop stopped us and was going to cite us for trespassing. I showed him my license and opined that I was an unlikely thief, living literally down the street but not in that community. He let us off.
But the folks at Pro Publica and the Post-Dispatch highlight whatās becoming a growing problem in Saint Louis: policing disparity and the role of off-duty police. Itās wild if you havenāt lived it.
Thatās it for me. Tech support questions? Email members@thebulwark.com. Questions for me? Respond to this message.
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Editorial photos provided by Getty Images. For full credits, please consult the article.
