Casanova: A Study in Self-Portraiture

Casanova, the Venetian who lived most of his life in exile from his beloved city, created his own myth, which in turn is a reflection of the nature of the city itself. ‘Imaginative writers’, writes Zweig, ‘rarely have a biography, and men who have biographies are only in exceptional circumstances able to write them’. Casanova is a splendid, almost unique, exception.