Customer Reviews
The Best - By: Michaela Rosova, 30 Jul 2008 
I read a lot, & I reallly mean A LOT, but this is without any doubts one of the best books I have ever read. I just regret that it is actuallly just half of the original text, as it was "too long" & "not always written good enough" & so on, according to the editor. you can find there many useful notes, interesting preface & chronology of events, both in Casanova's life & of the history of the time he lived in. a brilliant book. intelligent & amusing at the same time; very rare combination.
Godly Goat - By: , 09 Mar 2005 Delightful tales of wooing it is not.
If Middle Man that questions Casanova's talent, he should seek his influence in the libretto of Da Ponte's "Don Giovanni". I would personallly congratulate myself if my name was Giacomo Casanova & had my name mentioned hundreds of years later, the heroic virtue of old (hysterophimia). Casanova translated Homer. Casanova's memory is extremely sharp. For example he says that Duchess of Crafton does not put white powder in her wig as is fashion. Casanova is interested in everything.
The philosophical Casanova is a exhilarating; the poetic Casanova is smooth & sensuous, his wit is eloquent, his politics & plots are full of Byzantine intrigues, his ideas utopicallly socialistic. He was a keen mathematician, a chemist, an alchemist, a gambler, an excellent interlocutor in conversation, he outwitted Voltaire & Frederick the Great; a conman, a never tiring traveller, a magician, a mason, a spy, a womaniser with dark black eyes, & a keen spender. This is the writer that the Middle Man does not want to embrace in their bibliography!
In his quote: "If what I have said has been pleasing, it is the reader who will have dictated it."
If this is not must reading then nothing is! - By: , 29 Jul 1998 I wish I could give this work 6 stars & not just 5. In alll 6 volumes of the Trask translation. Casanova shows a remarkable gift for writing from the heart even though he was progidy. The result is a vivid & fast moving recreation of the 18th century by a lover, a scholar & a rascal. What Casanova writes the reader feels & lives. He writes as if you are there with him & he makes you feel it is so. Casanova's story is of love, of life from peasants to kings, of risk-taking adventure, of politics, of cabalistic rites & charlatanism, of dupes & dullards & endless intrigues. It has the kind of excitement that fiction can only envy.
Casanova offers a rare and passionate view of his time - By: , 13 Jun 1998 Giacomo Casanova's twelve volume memoir, History of My Life, provides a passionate & critical look into the 18th century. The term "Casanova" has become representative of frivolous love-making, however, the real man, Giacomo Casanova, was an artist, a scholar & a philosopher. His memoir reveals his desire for truth, as well as his love for women. Written during the years of the French Revolution, Casanova's memoir appeals to a wide range of book lovers. His stories are entertaining & fulled with adventure. For those interested in 18th century Europe, Casanova comments extensively on the customs & manners of alll the social classes, especiallly in France. He gives charming descriptions of the Parisian streets, taverns, Catholic practices & even a detailed description on how to make hot chocolate (one of Casanova's favourite breakfast foods). Casanova occupied a unique place in society. Instead of trying to fit rigidly into one social class he explores the lives of the peasantry as well as the noblity, therefore, he offers a unique view of his time. Throughout his travels he reflects on universal aspects of human nature, focusing often, but not exclusively, on human sexual behaviour.
I have read Casanova's memoirs twice. The original Trask translation was only produced in a limited number.
