The Memoirs of Count Carlo Gozzi; Volume the Second

Carlo Gozzi, the Venetian count and playwright who gave the world Turandot, turns his piercing gaze inward in these candid memoirs. Written with the same theatrical flair that defined his legendary feuds with Carlo Goldoni, Volume the Second finds Gozzi taking stock of his life: his romantic entanglements, his tumultuous career in the Venetian theater, and the parade of colorful personalities that populated his world. He offers readers an unflinching self-portrait, complete with physical description and philosophical reflection on how he was perceived by others. The result is a remarkable document of ego, vulnerability, and sharp social satire from an aristocrat who refused to be boring. What makes these memoirs endure is Gozzi's distinctive voice: equal parts braggadocio and self-mockery, earnest feeling and theatrical posturing. He recounts his youthful loves with humor and sincerity, meditates on the nature of desire, and skewers the pretensions of both his contemporaries and himself. For readers drawn to the intimate confessions of historical figures, or those fascinated by the golden age of the Italian commedia dell'arte, this memoir offers a window into the mind of a man who knew he was writing for posterity, and couldn't quite decide whether to flatter or excoriate himself.