The name of Giacomo Casanova, Chevalier de Seingalt (1725-1798), in now synonymous with amorous exploits, & there are plenty of these, vividly narrated, in him memoirs. But Casanova was not just an energetic lover. In his time he was diplomat, business man, trainee priest, traveller, prisoner, magician, confidence trickster, gambler, professional entertainer & chalatan. He financed business projects, organised lotteries, wrote opera libretti & dabbled in high politics. Above all he was an autobiographer of enduring brilliance & subtlety who left behind him what is probably the most remarkable confession ever written. Casanova was a Venetian who explored to the full all the possibilities 18th century Venice offered by way of love & profit before being imprisoned, escaping from gaol, & fleeing from the city to begin travels which took him across Europe. In Moscow & London, Berlin & Constantinople, he met the famous men & women of the time
- Catherine the Great, Voltaire, Louis XV, Rousseau
- & recorded his encounters for the memoirs he wrote in retirement at the end of his life. These memoirs are by turns subtle, touching, thrilling, wonderfully comic & quite irresistible. Although the present edition
Includes:: one third of Casanova's enormous (though unfinished) book, it contains all his major adventures & all is greatest affairs of the heart. ' Casanova is unsurpassed as the recreator of the daily talking interests of 18th century Europe. he ranges from slut to patrician, from closet to cabinet, waterfront to palace.'
- V S PRITCHETT