Reading Guide
Read Casanova's Memoirs Free Online: Best Translation
Yes. The 1890s English translation of Casanova's Memoirs is in the public domain, free on Project Gutenberg, and the same text is available in this app. For the complete text taken from the original manuscript, look for Willard Trask's modern translation, which is still in copyright and has to be bought or borrowed.
Casanova's History of My Life is long, more than a million words in the English text in this app, so most people want to know where they can read it without buying a stack of volumes. The short version: there is a free English text, and there is a better but paid one. Which to pick depends on what you want from the book.
Where can I read it for free?
- Project Gutenberg. The Memoirs are hosted there as twelve volumes in plain text and e-book formats. You can search for them on Project Gutenberg.
- In this app. The reader includes the same English text, organised into 30 episodes and 143 chapters, with reading progress, bookmarks, a map of his journeys and postcards for the places he visits. You can use it in your browser or on your phone.
- Libraries. Many libraries lend the modern translation described below as a book or e-book.
Which translation is this?
The free English text dates from the 1890s. Its preface explains where it came from: Casanova wrote the Memoirs in French, and the manuscript went to the Leipzig publisher Brockhaus, who had it translated into German and printed. A French translation made from that German edition left out about a quarter of the text. The English translator says he worked from a French edition that Brockhaus printed in 1826, which he calls the complete original.
It is a readable translation, and it sounds like a Victorian reader's idea of Casanova.
Is there a better translation?
Yes. Later scholars found that the early French editions had been rewritten and softened by an editor, and the original manuscript was not published until the 1960s. Willard R. Trask's English translation, published in volumes from the 1960s and reissued by Johns Hopkins University Press, was made from that original manuscript text. Penguin Random House lists it as a National Book Award winner.
It is the one to choose if you care about the exact text and want the complete, uncut Memoirs, or if you are using the book for study.
Start reading the Memoirs
The full English text, split into 143 chapters, with a reading companion, in your browser or in the app.
Which should you read?
- You want the story and want it free: the Gutenberg or in-app text is a perfectly good way to enjoy Casanova's adventures.
- You want the most accurate and complete text: read Trask's translation from a library or bookshop.
- You want to browse: use the app to jump to a place or an episode, such as the escape from the Leads, and read it in context.
One note on the numbers: the Gutenberg text is divided into twelve volumes, while this app groups the same material into six volumes and 30 episodes to make it easier to navigate.
Sources
- Project Gutenberg, search for Casanova
- Translator's preface to the English Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, included in the app
- Penguin Random House, History of My Life (Trask translation)
Start reading the Memoirs
The full English text, split into 143 chapters, with a reading companion, in your browser or in the app.
Related questions
Casanova's History of My Life: Summary and Reading GuideWhat is Casanova's History of My Life about? A plain summary of the Memoirs, volume by volume, with the episodes worth reading first.
How Casanova Escaped from the Leads Prison in VeniceCasanova escaped Venice's Leads prison on the night of 31 October 1756. Here is how he did it, step by step, from his own account in the Memoirs.