Casanova's Chinese Restaurant
Casanova's Chinese Restaurant is a novel by Anthony Powell (ISBN 0-09-947244-9). It forms the fifth volume of the twelve-volume sequence A Dance to the Music of Time, and was originally published in 1960. Many of the events of the novel were included in the television adaptation broadcast on the United Kingdom's Channel 4 in 1997, comprising part of the second of four episodes. There was also an earlier, more comprehensive, BBC Radio adaptation.
 First edition cover | |
| Author | Anthony Powell |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | James Broom-Lynne |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Series | A Dance to the Music of Time |
| Publisher | Heinemann |
Publication date | 1960 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover) |
| Pages | 229 pp |
| Preceded by | At Lady Molly's |
| Followed by | The Kindly Ones (novel) |
As with several of the earlier volumes, there is a time-overlap with previous books, the first part returning to the period before the death of Mr. Deacon. The ruined door of a fictional Soho pub, the Mortimer, provides the narrative frame of the volume.[1] However, Casanova's Chinese Restaurant concentrates on a new set of characters, principally the composer Hugh Moreland, (based on Powell's close friend Constant Lambert),[2] his fiancée Matilda, and the critic Maclintick and his wife, Audrey, whose unhappy marriage forms a key part of the narrative.
The interweaving of historical with fictional events is more notable here, and is used to illuminate the characters, as for example in Erridge's ill-considered departure for the Spanish Civil War.
Reception
Much of the book's reception has been positive, [3] with one reviewer calling the novel 'by far the funniest in Powell's saga ... much of the story surpasses even Evelyn Waugh at his most scathingly satirical, and P. G. Wodehouse at his most daftly farcical' and with another saying that the story was 'simply brilliant.' However, Evelyn Waugh himself, who reviewed all of the early instalments of the series, complained of "a sad disappointment ... only three pages of Kenneth Widmerpool."
Casanova's Chinese Restaurant is dedicated to Harry & Rosie- Henry d'Avigdor-Goldsmid and Rosie, Lady d’Avigdor Goldsmid.[4]
References
- Hoffmann, Catherine. “‘Vistas Framed by a Ruined Door’: Anthony Powell’s Poetics of Ruins.” Études Britanniques Contemporaines 43, no. 43 (2014): 95–108.
- Gould, John A. “Best Friends: Constant Lambert and Anthony Powell.” Southwest Review 91, no. 1 (2006): 93–108.
- Mizener, A. (1960) Life is absurd and also a little sad: CASANOVA'S CHINESE RESTAURANT. by Anthony Powell. New York Times. Oct 09 1960:1
- Jay, Mike. (2013) "Who Were the Dedicatees of Powell’s Works?" The Anthony Powell Society Newsletter.50 (spring): 9-10.