Diplomat, gambler, charlatan, social adventurer and favorite of women, Casanova has not left the stage for three centuries. The role of Casanova was played by dozens of famous artists - from Russian silent film star Ivan Mozzhukhin to Marcello Mastroianni. Plays and poems are written about him, strawberry cakes, eau de toilette and upholstered furniture are named after him. The myth of Casanova, however, displaced the real Casanova from the frame - a brilliant writer, translator of Homer, interlocutor of Voltaire and Catherine II. Telling the exciting life of Casanova, full of incredible twists and turns, Philip Sollers returns his hero to his true scale: this outwardly frivolous character, who to this day irritates adherents of official morality, was, it turns out, one of the key figures of his time. A great mocker and seducer, a dashing lover and a statesman, Casanova restores the rights of human nature.