Casanova in the Enlightenment: From the Margins to the Centre

by Malina Stefanovska (Editor)

Overview

Illuminating the legend that Giacomo Casanova singlehandedly created in his famous – and at times infamous – autobiography, The History of My Life, this book provides a timely reassessment of Casanova’s role and importance as an author of the European Enlightenment. From the margins of libertine authorship where he has been traditionally relegated, the various essays in this collection reposition Casanova at the heart of Enlightenment debates on medicine, sociability, gender, and writing.

Based on new scholarship, this reappraisal of a key Enlightenment figure explores the period’s fascination with ethnography, its scientific societies, and its understanding of gender, medicine, and women. Casanova is here finally granted his rightful place in cultural and literary history, a place which explains his enduring yet controversial reputation as a figure of seduction and adventure.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781487534585
Publisher:	University of Toronto Press
Publication date:	12/07/2020
Series:	UCLA Clark Memorial Library Series
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	186
File size:	4 MB

About the Author

Malina Stefanovska is a Professor of French and Francophone Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction
Malina Stefanovska

Part I: Libertine Traces

1. "Triompher par la force": Sexual Violence and Its Representation in Casanova’s History of My Life
Raphaëlle Brin

2. The Writer of Dux: Casanova’s Dialogue with His Ladies from Autobiography to Correspondence
Bruno Capaci

3. Casanova and the Undifferentiated Body
Mladen Kozul

Part II: Emerging Sociabilities

4. Negotiating Sociabilities in Casanova’s History of My Life
Clorinda Donato

5. Casanova, Mercury, Mercurio
Malina Stefanovska

6. Casanova, the Love of Paris
Pierre Saint-Amand

7. Paris in Three Movements
Chantal Thomas

Part III: Representational Shifts and Legacies

8. Rewriting, Revolution, Melancholy: Two Versions of the First Stay in Paris
Jean-Christophe Igalens

9. Casanova: From Man to Myth
Michel Delon

10. Fellini’s Casanova: The Story of a Man Who Was Never Born
Christopher B. White

Contributors

Index

What People are Saying About This

Marie-Paule Pilorge

“An insightful analysis of Casanova's sinuous itinerary between male and female identity, mirth and melancholy, solitude and sociabilities, Paris and the world, this volume encourages a re-evaluation of the stereotypes and myths attached to the figure of the famed Venetian and invites readers on a journey through time, at the heart of the eighteenth century and in its contemporary margins. As Casanova writes in his utopian novel Icosameron: 'Time is a walk of imagination.'”

Kathryn Norberg

“Casanova is known as a seducer of women, but he was, as Stefanovska's volume reveals, much, much more. A Freemason, a letter writer, a man of science and medicine, an indefatigable social networker, and a Parisian for long periods, Casanova embodied different aspects of eighteenth-century life. Casanova in the Enlightenment updates our view of the peripatetic Venetian and should be required reading for historians, literary specialists, interdisciplinary scholars, and anyone who enjoys and seeks to understand the eighteenth century.”

Anne Vila

"Casanova in the Enlightenment is a valuable and timely contribution to research on eighteenth-century history and literature — particularly subfields like autobiography and the study of libertinage as a lifestyle, a philosophy, and a literary genre. It will also expand the readership of a figure who, as the volume's subtitle suggests, has been unjustly marginalized in scholarly discussions of what the 'Enlightenment' was or signified."

Editorial Reviews

" Casanova in the Enlightenment is a valuable and timely contribution to research on eighteenth-century history and literature – particularly subfields like autobiography and the study of libertinage as a lifestyle, a philosophy, and a literary genre. It will also expand the readership of a figure who, as the volume's subtitle suggests, has been unjustly marginalized in scholarly discussions of what the ‘Enlightenment’ was or signified."

—Anne Vila, Department of French and Italian, University of Wisconsin-Madison
"Casanova is known as a seducer of women, but he was, as Stefanovska's volume reveals, much, much more. A Freemason, a letter writer, a man of science and medicine, an indefatigable social networker, and a Parisian for long periods, Casanova embodied different aspects of eighteenth-century life. Casanova in the Enlightenment updates our view of the peripatetic Venetian and should be required reading for historians, literary specialists, interdisciplinary scholars, and anyone who enjoys and seeks to understand the eighteenth century."—Kathryn Norberg, Departments of History and Gender Studies, University of California, Los Angeles
"An insightful analysis of Casanova’s sinuous itinerary between male and female identity, mirth and melancholy, solitude and sociabilities, Paris and the world, this volume encourages a re-evaluation of the stereotypes and myths attached to the figure of the famed Venetian and invites readers on a journey through time, at the heart of the eighteenth century and in its contemporary margins. As Casanova writes in his utopian novel Icosameron: ‘Time is a walk of imagination.’"—Marie-Paule Pilorge, Department of French, Université de Tours

From the Publisher