James Stuart Montgomery

Initially a clerical lawyer in the city of Venice, Giacomo Casanova ended as the court Librarian in a small Bohemian estate. To pass the time there he wrote seven volumnes of memoirs. They are extraordinarily frank, and are considred as valuable in revealing eighteenth century manners and morals as Samuel Pepys' diary of Restoration England. He lived by his wits, was a sexual adventurer of great energy, and only had to break jail once! (to hear him tell it.) This an English language sketch of the whole rollicking career. But, one should really read the memoirs in the language of their composition, French, to really engage with this relatively sucessful and often witty fellow.… (altro)