History of My Life (Volumes I & II)
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
This translation of Giacomo Casanova's epic memoir was first published in a multi-volume set more than 25 years ago, but this new paperback edition makes Casanova's story accessible to the general reader. Thankfully, the great Venetian adventurer's memoirs can finally be read as they were written, without the bowdlerizing that plagued them for two centuries. While Casanova is most notorious for his womanizing, his memoirs are also remarkable as they give a top-to-bottom view of European life in the 18th century. Johns Hopkins University Press has done a handsome job, packaging the entire story in six double volumes. And, in keeping with the spirit of the author, it's worth mentioning that a 17th-century painting of lounging nude woman spans across the spines of the set when they're arranged on the shelf.
Los Angeles Times Sunday Book Review, Lisa Jardine
History of My Life chronicles an action-packed lifetime of sublime sexual conquests, lightly glued together with contemporary anecdote, social vignettes and local color. Its language is a triumph of richly crafted French prose (we know its author worked and reworked his narrative), which was first rendered into excellently apt English by Willard Trask in the 1960s. It is vital, sharp, racy but mercifully discreet--no Anglo-Saxon four-letter words but only "conquests," "combats, "pleasures" and "crimes" committed in the name of "love." The pace never flags--for all of the customary repetitiveness of Casanova's sexual exploits, this is a grippingly good read.
History of My Life (Volumes I & II)
History of My Life (Volumes I & II),Giacomo Chevalier de Seingalt Casanova,Willard R. Trask,The Johns Hopkins University Press,0801856620,1725-1798,Biography,Biography / Autobiography,Casanova, Giacomo,,Europe,European - General,European - Italian,History: World,Italian Prose,Literary,Literary Criticism,Biography: general,Casanova, Giacomo,French
Books Report:
Recommended Books