Giovanni Giacomo Casanova de Seingalt

Giovanni Giacomo Casanova de Seingalt , 1725-98, Venetian adventurer and author. He studied for the church but was expelled from school for immorality. A life of adventure took him all over Europe. He supported himself by gambling, spying, writing, and, especially, by his power to seduce women, and his personal charm affected the foremost persons of his time. Arrested (1755) in Venice, he accomplished the notable feat of escaping (1756) from the "leaden roofs" of the state prison. In Paris, where he enjoyed favor in court circles, he became director of the lottery and amassed a fortune. In 1785 Casanova retired to the castle of Dux, Bohemia, where his friend Count Waldstein employed him as librarian. A man of learning and taste, with interests ranging from mathematics, poetry, and literary and musical criticism to commercial and political projects, Casanova left many writings. His memoirs, written in French, became world-famous. Only abridged versions were published until 1960, when the complete memoirs began to appear in French and in German translation. Accurate as to history, the memoirs probably contain much invented personal matter. Other papers, in prose and verse, were released in 1930.

Bibliography: See his autobiography tr. by W. R. Trask (12 vol. in 6, 1967-71; repr. 1997); biographies by J. R. Childs (1961), J. Masters (1969), and L. Flem (1997).

Casanova de Seingalt, Giovanni Giacomo (1725–98) Italian libertine and adventurer. From 1750 he travelled through Europe leading a dissolute existence. He amassed a fortune and mixed with high society. His exploits are recounted in Memoirs, which were not published in unexpurgated form until 1960. His name is synonymous with the amorous adventurer.