Giacomo Casanova Biography and List of Works

Soldier, spy, diplomat, writer, adventurer, chiefly remembered from his autobiography, which has established his reputation as the most famous erotic hero. Casanova's memoirs are primarily an unreliable account of an extraordinary succession of sexual encounters, but they also are of great interest historically and provide an intimate portrait of the manners and life in the 18th century.

Casanova was born in Venice as a son of an actor. He studied at the University of Padua and at the seminary of St. Cyprian from where he was expelled for scandalous conduct. In 1744 he became a secretary to Cardinal Acquaviva of Rome. A scandal again forced Casanova to leave the city and he travelled in Naples, Corfu, and Constantinople, settling in Venice. By 1750 he had worked as a clergyman, secretary, soldier, and violinist in several countries.

Suspected by the Inquisition, Casanova travelled to Paris, Dresden, Prague ,and Vienna, and then returned to Venice. He was denounced as a magician and sentenced in 1755 for five years in lead chambers under the roof of the Doge's Palace. Casanova managed to escape next year and made his way to Paris, where he introduced the lottery in 1757, but did not end his adventures. During these years he came in contact with such luminaries as Louis XV, Rousseau, and Mme. Pompadour. In 1760 he fled from his creditors and travelled across Europe. Between 1774 and 1782 he worked as a spy for the Venetian inquisitors of state. Last years he spent as a librarian in the service of the Count of Waldstein in the castle of Dux, Bohemia (now Duchcov, Czech Republic). During his last years he concentrated on his memoirs "to keep from going mad or dying of grief".

Casanova's main work was his autobiography, first published in complete form in the 1960s. He also published verse, translation of the Iliad, a satirical pamphlet on Venetian aristocracy, and an utopian novel L'ICOSAMERON, where brother and sister spend 81 years inside the Earth, meet strange creatures called Mégamigres, and mate in the new Eden. The novel occupies 5 volumes, and was probably influenced by Voltaire's Micromégas and Ludvig Holberg's Nicolaii Klimii Iter Subterraneum (A Journey to the World Underground). - Other adventure stories inside the earth: Jules Verne's Journey to the Centre of the Earth, Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Edgar Rice Burrough's Pellucidar novels.

Casanova's unpublished works include ESSAI DE CRITIQUE SUR LES MOEURS, SUR LES SCIENCES ET SUR LES ARTS (Critical Essay on Morals, Sciences, and Arts); LUCUBRATION SUR L'USURE (Lucubration on Usury); and REVERIE SUR LA MESURE MOYENNE DE NOTRE ANNEE ET SELON LA REFORMATION GREGOIRE (Reflections on the Common Reckoning of Our Year According to the Gregorian Reform). At his death he left behind some 8,000 pages of other manuscripts.

The Memoirs - written in French, tell the story of his life until 1744. They give a colorful picture of the culture of the 18th century Europe and belong to the erotic literature of the time. Original manuscript, sold by Casanova's family to the German firm of F.A. Brockhaus in 1821, was not released until 1960. The texts used up that time were based on a 28-volume German translation (1822-1828) and a highly inaccurate French edition (1838). The integral French text was first published as Histoire de ma vie in 1960-1962. The first full English edition was translated by W.R. Trask in six volumes (1966-71).

For further reading: The Other Casanova by Paul Nettl (1949); Casanova: A New Perspective by J. Rivers Childs (1960); Casanova by John Masters (1969); Life of Casanova by Mitchell Buck (1977); The Quadrille of Gender: Casanova's Memoirs by Francois Roustang (1988); The Man Who Really Loved Women by Lydia Flem (1997); Casanova in Love by Andrew Miller (1998 - note: fictional story of Casanova in London).

ILIAD,, (1775)