Overview

Between Casanova's time and ours, there have been two centuries of ignorance and misunderstanding about this remarkable man. He is thought of as a Don Juan of the salons, cold and indifferent to women, but in this splendid new biography, we rediscover him as he really was, an ardent man of the Enlightenment, a true friend and lover of women. Lydia Flem has discerned the fascinating pattern that enabled a sickly Venetian baby, abandoned by his actress mother and raised by a magically powerful grandmother, to become the audacious, gallant Casanova who flung himself into experience (amatory and otherwise) without asking for anything in return except that most scandalous of all rewards -- pleasure.

This generous, spirited man gave of himself without stint, and men and women alike rejoiced in his company. His whole art of being was, in fact, an exercise in happiness. Cocking a final snook at posterity, he became a moralist and insisted not only that pleasure was the first principle of existence but that true happiness came only in one's memory. Beyond pleasure there is happiness -- that is Casanova's legacy.


ISBN-13

9780374119577

ISBN-10

0374119570

Weight

1.00 Pounds

Dimensions

6.00 x 1.25 x 9.00 In

List Price

$24.00

Format

Hardcover

Pages

256 pages

Publisher

Farrar Straus & Giroux

Published On

1997-11-01



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