The notorious adventurer and seducer Giacomo Casanova tells of his travels - on the run from the authorities of his native Venice - around northern Europe, poking fun at the ruling classes he encounters there, before focusing on a pivotal incident that occurs in Warsaw. Insulted by a Polish count over an Italian ballerina, Casanova finds himself forced to challenge his rival to a duel, and the sequence of events and their aftermath are described with gusto by the narrator.
A rollicking autobiographical account by one of the most iconic figures of eighteenth-century Europe, The Duel is presented here with an extract about the same event from Casanova''s memoirs, written fifteen years later.
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Giacomo Casanova Va néixer a Venècia el 1725, fill d’una actriu i un ballarí d’ascendència catalana. Va passar-se la joventut voltant per Europa, va servir a un cardenal, es va fer maçó i va ser militar. Quan va tornar a Venècia, fou empresonat, acusat de tenir llibres prohibits per la Inquisició i s’escapà a París, on va introduir la loteria i va haver de fugir de nou perseguit pels creditors. Sempre jugant, intrigant i seduint, va marxar cames ajudeu-me de multitud de corts d’Europa i inclús va ser empresonat a Barcelona, fins que se li va permetre retornar a Venècia, on va fer d’espia per a la Inquisició. El 1785 es va traslladar a Dux (avui Duchov), on residí fins que va morir el 1798