Kiss the Girls

Casanova names himself after Giovanni Giacomo Casanova de Seignalt (1725-1798)—the Italian figure known for his forceful sexuality. The real-life Casanova documented his sexual experiences in his multi-volume memoir Histoire de ma vie (Story of My Life)—which has been published in multiple languages. Until recently, most portrayals of Casanova were lighthearted. Thus, the novel’s Casanova represents a subversion of the historical Casanova. The latter wasn’t a predator or a serial killer. He sought a variety of sexual experiences—and like the novel’s Casanova, he didn’t believe in repressing his desires—but he wasn’t a source of toxic masculinity. In the film Casanova (2005), for example, Heath Ledger portrays him with a mix of romanticism and comedy.

As perspectives about sexual dynamics have changed, so has Casanova’s reception. In “The Life of Giacomo Casanova, the Original Bad Boy,” the culture critic Laura Freeman reviews a recent biography of Casanova that depicts him as nefarious, Adventurer: The Life and Times of Giacomo Casanova (Damrosch, Leo. “Adventurer by Leo Damrosch review.” The Times, 2023). Initially, Freeman is suspicious, “Here we go, I thought. Casanova for the age of #MeToo and toxic masculinity. Can’t we keep the Casanova myth as it is? Can’t sex ever be fun?” As Freeman reads Damrosch’s biography, she realizes that Casanova was virulent—participating in sexual assaults and physically assaulting women when they insisted that he use condoms. Though the historical Casanova wasn’t a murderer, the contemporary evaluation makes the novel’s Casanova less derivative.

The evolution of Casanova’s legacy—from a charming libertine to a figure scrutinized under the lens of consent and power—reinforces the novel’s thematic depth. Patterson’s Casanova is an extreme manifestation of unchecked male desire, distorting seduction into control and violence. However, as modern reassessments of the historical Casanova reveal his coercive tendencies, the distinction between the two figures begins to blur. While Patterson’s villain is a fictional serial predator, the real Casanova's actions, when viewed through a contemporary ethical framework, suggest that his mythos was built on a foundation of entitlement and exploitation. By invoking this infamous name, the novel not only taps into an archetype of masculine allure but also challenges the reader to reconsider the boundaries between charisma and coercion, pleasure and power, and history and horror.