Casanova

By: Ian Kelly

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Paperback | 11 June 2009 | Edition Number 1

At a Glance

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432 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
2.4 x 12.9 x 19.7

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Giacomo Casanova was one of the most beguiling and controversial individuals of his or any age. Braggart or perfect lover? Conman or genius? He made and lost fortunes, founded state lotteries, wrote forty-two books and 3,600 pages of memoirs recording the tastes and smells of the years before the French Revolution - as well, of course, as his affairs and sexual encounters with dozens of women and a handful of men. His energy was dazzling.

Historian Ian Kelly draws on previously unpublished documents from the Venetian Inquisition, by Casanova, his friends and lovers, which give new insights into his life and world. His research spans eighteenth-century Europe.

This is the story of a man, but also of the book he wrote about himself. His own memoirs have brought him two centuries of notoriety. They have also changed forever the way we think and write about ourselves - and about sex. At the same time that revolutions - scientific, industrial, political and artistic - remade the world in the eighteenth century, Casanova created an intimate and exhaustive study of what he saw as the most revolutionary article of all - himself.

The world, and the way we look at ourselves in it, would never be the same again.

Industry Reviews

A bedazzling jewel of sophisticated pleasures, the best book yet on the world's greatest lover. - Simon Sebag Montefiore, Evening Standard Magazine

enthralling . . . It is hard to conceive of a juicier, more informative account of social and sexual mores of 18th century Europe. - Daily Mail

exhilarating . . . he has managed to make this story feel so fresh again. - Guardian

'The thing is to dazzle,' wrote Casanova. In this enthralling book he dazzles once again, and so, too, does his biographer. - Mail on Sunday

Elegant and scrupulously researched, with an admirable feeling for the age - Spectator

sober, thoughtful and affectionate new biography - Financial Times

Magisterial, utterly gripping . . . a vivid evocation of Georgian London. - Philip Hoare, Independent

In Ian Kelly [Casanova] has at last found his Boswell . . . a great blast of a book, packed with energy and information, marinated in sympathy and understanding, and rippling with enthusiasm right down to the final footnote. - Sunday Telegraph

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You Can Find This Book In

Non-Fiction Biographies & True Stories Biographies Historical, Political and Military Biographies Literature, Poetry & Plays Non-Fiction Prose Miscellaneous Items History Regional & National History European History

Prelude: the Teatro del Mundo	p. 1
Introduzione: The Opera Buffa called Venice	p. 5
Act I
The Calle della Commedia, 1725-1734	p. 23
At School in Padua 1734-8	p. 30
I Become a Preacher, 1739-41	p. 37
Enter Lucia, Nanetta and Marta, 1741-3	p. 44
Seminarian No More, 1743	p. 55
Intermezzo: Casanova and Travel in the Eighteenth Century	p. 61
Act II
The Road to Rome and Naples, 1743-5	p. 69
Love and Travesty, 1745	p. 83
Tales from the Seraglio, Constantinople, 1745	p. 93
Palazzo Bragadin, a Young Man's Entrance into Society, 1745-8	p. 103
You Will Also Forget Henriette, 1749	p. 116
Intermezzo: Casanova and Sex in the Eighteenth Century	p. 124
Act III
The Road to France, 1750	p. 139
Madame de Pompadour's Paris, 1750	p. 144
Lust in Cloisters, 1753-5	p. 159
Prison and Escape, 1755	p. 180
Comedie Francaise, Paris, 1756-7	p. 187
'The Mask of a Man of No Consequence': the Marquise d'Urfe and Experiments in Necromancy, 1757-60	p. 200
Intermezzo: Casanova and the Cabbala	p. 210
Act IV
Conversations with Voltaire, 1760-1	p. 223
Chevalier de Seingalt, 1761-3	p. 238
London, 1763	p. 249
Frederick the Great, 1764	p. 268
St. Petersburg, 1765	p. 274
Polish Duels, 1765-6	p. 290
Intermezzo: Casanova - Food-writer	p. 295
Act V
Il Traviato, The Wanderer, 1766-70	p. 303
Papal Knight and Oyster-eater, 1770-74	p. 315
Venice Revisited, 1774-82	p. 325
Don Giovanni, 1783-7	p. 332
The Castle at Dux, 1787-98	p. 338
Curtain call: The History of The History of My Life	p. 348
Acknowledgements	p. 353
Bibliography	p. 359
Notes on Sources	p. 371
Index	p. 391
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.

Casanova

At a Glance

Paperback

Industry Reviews

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