L’HISTOIRE DE MA VIE DE GIACOMO CASANOVA : AUTOBIOGRAPHIE OU ROMAN D’AVENTURE ? Une étude comparative du texte original des mémoires de Giacomo Casanova et de l’adaptation de Jean Laforgue

Abstract

The aim of this study is to determine the role of Jean Laforgue’s adaptation of Giacomo Casanova’s memoirs in the construction of a fictional, almost mythical character. To achieve our purpose, we have compared an extract of Casanova’s original text to the corresponding extract of Jean Laforgue’s version. The analysis is based on Gérard Genette’s theories of hypertextuality, including transtylization and excision, as well as on Yves Gambier’s theory of adaptation, and Julie Sanders theories of adaptation and appropriation. Although the two versions of the memoirs were published in Casanova’s name, they constitute a hypotext and a hypertext, or in other terms a source and a target text as in the process of translation. Our study emphasizes typical aspects of the rewriting of Casanova’s Histoire de ma vie by Jean Laforgue. These show how the target text censors an important part of Casanova’s narrative and personality, in order to create a fictional hero capable of pleasing the readership of 19th century France.