In the autobiographical Mémoires written between 1783 and 1787, Carlo Goldoni drew what can be considered an idealized picture of his life-long relationship with the theatre. The temporal and spatial distance from most of the events he spoke about – when he wrote his memoirs he was in his late seventies and had been for more than thirty years a voluntary exile in Paris – and perhaps the many disappointments he experienced, especially of the last part of his career, brought him to view his life as a much more consistent development of a plan than it really was. Yet, in spite of the limits the actual theatrical practice imposed upon him, Goldoni can rightly be seen as the reformer of the Italian theatre, the dramatist who …

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Citation: Carraro, Laura Favero. "Carlo Goldoni". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 30 June 2002 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=5186, accessed 29 March 2024.]

5186 Carlo Goldoni 1 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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