Giocomo Casanova's guest appearances

Giocomo Casanova

Princeton Alumni Weekly Podcasts

Scott McVay

John Milton

Bryan Walsh

Maria Tatar

Alan Krueger

John Drummond

Kieran Setiya

Cate Holahan

John Stewart

Leo Damrosch

Jim Marshall

Robin Bennett

Eleanor Roosevelt

Eric Schwartz

Catherine Sanderson

OwlTail

Leo Damrosch *68 is a Harvard professor of literature, emeritus, who has written biographies of Jonathan Swift, William Blake, and others. In his new book, titled Adventurer, he tackles Giacomo Casanova — the real Casanova, separate from the many fictionalized accounts that his name has inspired over the centuries, and separate from the version he painted of himself in a massive autobiography toward the end of his life. Damrosch spoke with PAW about untangling Casanova’s story and about how the modern biographer should treat a legendary womanizer, spy, con man, diplomat, gambler, novelist, and philosopher more than 200 years after he lived.

PAWcast: Leo Damrosch *68 on Biographing Giocomo Casanova