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.