The Story of My Life

Seducer, gambler, necromancer, swindler, Good Samaritan, spy, swashbuckler, self-made gentleman, entrepreneur, wit, poet, translator, philosopher, and general bon vivant, Giacomo Casanova was not only the most notorious lover the Western world has known, but also a storyteller of the first order. Since he lived a life richer and stranger than most fictions, the tale of his own adventures is his most compelling story, but his memoir remained-at twelve volumes-unfinished at the time of his death. In these selections culled from authoritative French texts are all the highlights of Casanova’s life: his youth in Venice as a precocious ecclesiastic; carousing and dabbling in the occult; imprisonment and thrilling escape; travels and encounters with major literary figures and world leaders; and, of course, many amorous conquests, ranging from noblewomen to nuns to cobblers’ daughters, all of them willing partners in the adventures of his life.

The first new translation since the 1960s, this Penguin Classics edition will provide readers with the most famous episodes as well as the overall shape of a monumental work in one beautiful, unique volume.