History of My Life
$49.99
- Hardcover
1512 pages
- Release Date
15 October 2006
Summary
Giacomo Casanova, Chevalier de Seingalt (1725-1798), was a soldier, spy, diplomat, writer, and adventurer, chiefly remembered for his autobiography, which cemented his reputation as a legendary erotic hero. His memoirs offer a captivating, though perhaps subjective, account of his encounters with 122 women, providing an intimate glimpse into the customs and life of the 18th century.
While the name Casanova is now synonymous with amorous exploits, vividly narrated in his memoirs, his l…
Book Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781857152906 |
|---|---|
| ISBN-10: | 1857152905 |
| Author: | Giacomo Casanova, Rt Hon/Viscount John Julius Norwich |
| Publisher: | Everyman |
| Imprint: | Everyman's Library |
| Format: | Hardcover |
| Number of Pages: | 1512 |
| Release Date: | 15 October 2006 |
| Weight: | 1.07kg |
| Dimensions: | 211mm x 136mm x 50mm |
| Series: | Everyman's Library CLASSICS |
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What They're Saying
Critics Review
“These memoirs are compulsive reading… they are the work not only of a highly accomplished seducer but of a literary artist of the highest talents.” – J. H. Plumb, New York Times Book Review
“Trask has written a version in an English fully contemporary yet remarkably Italian in sensibility. With admirable restraint and refinement, he has conveyed the zest and sensuous delight of the original.” – National Book Award Citation
About The Author
Giacomo Casanova
“I saw that everything in the world that is famous and beautiful, if we rely on the descriptions and drawings of writers and artists, always loses when we go to see it and examine it up close.”
Born into a family of Venetian actors, Giacomo Casanova studied for the priesthood as a young man, at a Seminary in Padua. Expelled for his licentious activities, he returned to Venice by way of a secretariship to a Cardinal in Rome - from which he was promptly fired, amid scandal.
Back in his home town, Casanova supported himself by conning the local nobility with a mixture of magic tricks, fake alchemy and vague occult mysticism. Rather too successful at this, he was convicted of witchcraft by the Inquisition in 1755, and imprisoned in the Doge’s palace.
He managed to escape and flee to France, where his skill in self-publicity really began to shine. A sensationalised account of his story appeared as a pamplet which led to a sudden popularity. Styling himself ‘Jacques Casanova, the Chevalier de Seingalt’ he made a small fortune establishing a lottery.
This established a pattern for Casanova of travelling to a new country, re-mythologising himself and his history, making and then losing fortunes. In his time, he encountered such luminaries as Pope Clement XIII (1760), Voltaire (1760), Rousseau and Mozart (1787). His legacy was ensured by the publication of his “Histoire de Ma Vie” - a document better regarded for its portrait of the social history of the Enlightenment period in continental Europe, than for its strict biographical accuracy.
Once more impoverished, Casanova ended his days as the librarian to the Count of Waldstein in the castle of Dux, Bohemia (now Duchcov, Czech Republic). He died, aged 73, almost forgotten.
“I have lived as a philosopher, and die as a Christian.”
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