Giacomo Casanova

Massimo Riva (Brown University)

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Ed. by Jo Ann Cavallo, Columbia University
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.6.1: Italian Writing and Culture, 453-present.
Vol. editors: Carla Bregman (Independent Scholar - North America), Jo Ann Cavallo (Columbia University)

Dates

Born 2 Apr 1725
Died 4 Jun 1798
Activity 1745-1798

Places

Born in Italy
Active in Italy

Activities

Primary

Autobiographer

Resources

It is hard to distinguish between the writer and the protagonist of Casanova’s monumental Histoire de ma vie [History of My Life], “neither the story of a famous man nor a novel”, as Casanova himself writes in the preface. Casanova’s autobiography contains multitudes: in his travels throughout Europe, he met with royalty and crossed paths with legendary figures on both sides of the Enlightenment (Voltaire and Cagliostro); joined the Freemasons and also perhaps the Rosicrucians (Childs); tried his hand at diplomacy (as an envoy of the King of France), entrepreneurship (he managed a state lottery in Paris) and serious scholarship (in his old age); all the while pursuing adventures with women of all stations (his list …

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3328 words

Citation: Riva, Massimo. "Giacomo Casanova". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 02 June 2015 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=776, accessed 05 April 2025.]

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