Fülszöveg
LITERATURE s^AU $13.95
Translated by Arthur Machen Edited by George Gribble ^ '
New introduction by Erica Jong
"Casanova, his Memoirs make clear, was no Casanova—no cad. He loved women to be sure, but he also had a passion for honor, fame, virtue, and world literature, to whose history this book will always belong." —Erica Jong
It is unfair that the fascinating character of Casanova should be reduced in most people's minds to that of a stereotype: the amoral bedroom adventurer. As any reader of his Memoirs has discovered, Casanova was a multitude of selves—philosopher, musician, actor, satirist, gambler, soldier, magician, diplomat, even librarian. By simply telling the story of his life, he brings 18th-century Europe alive. His Memoirs are as important as Walpole's letters or Franklin's autobiography in revealing the texture of an age and the preoccupations of a man. It is full of picaresque detail and duplicitous intrigue as well as sober self-reflection; it takes the reader...
Tovább
Fülszöveg
LITERATURE s^AU $13.95
Translated by Arthur Machen Edited by George Gribble ^ '
New introduction by Erica Jong
"Casanova, his Memoirs make clear, was no Casanova—no cad. He loved women to be sure, but he also had a passion for honor, fame, virtue, and world literature, to whose history this book will always belong." —Erica Jong
It is unfair that the fascinating character of Casanova should be reduced in most people's minds to that of a stereotype: the amoral bedroom adventurer. As any reader of his Memoirs has discovered, Casanova was a multitude of selves—philosopher, musician, actor, satirist, gambler, soldier, magician, diplomat, even librarian. By simply telling the story of his life, he brings 18th-century Europe alive. His Memoirs are as important as Walpole's letters or Franklin's autobiography in revealing the texture of an age and the preoccupations of a man. It is full of picaresque detail and duplicitous intrigue as well as sober self-reflection; it takes the reader on a spree through high society in Rome, Paris, Florence, London, St. Petersburg, Berlin, and Venice as Casanova pursues women, fortune, and titled respectability.
Erica Jong's new introduction discusses the classic appeal of Casanova's Memoirs, their enduring and very modern views on sex, manners, power, and, surprisingly, virtue.
Vissza