This new edition of Stefan Zweig's biographical essay, subtitled A Study in Self Portraiture, was originally dedicated to Maxim Gorky. Casanova, the Venetian who lived most of his life in exile from his beloved city, created his own myth which in turn is a reflection of the nature of the city itself. Imaginative writers, writes Zweig, rarely have a biography, and men who have biographies are only in exceptional circumstances able to write them ... Casanova is a splendid, almost unique exception.