Jean Laforgue (11 January 1782,

Marciac Marciac (, , ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Gers Departments of France, department, Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, southwestern France. It is known for its annual international music festival, festival Jazz in Marciac, ...

– 6 November 1852,

Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...

) was a French scholar living in

, mainly known for having edited and censored the first edition (known as ''Édition Laforgue'') of

Giacomo Casanova Giacomo Girolamo Casanova (; ; 2 April 1725 – 4 June 1798) was an Italian adventurer who was born in the Republic of Venice and travelled extensively throughout Europe. He is chiefly remembered for his autobiography, written in French and pu ...

's memoirs, ''

Histoire de ma vie ''Histoire de ma vie'' (''The Story of My Life'') is both the memoir and autobiography of Giacomo Casanova, a famous 18th-century Italian adventurer. A previous, expurgation, bowdlerized version was originally known in English as ''The Memoi ...

''.

Biography

Jean Laforgue was born in

, in the

Gers Gers (; or , ) is a departments of France, department in the regions of France, region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Southwestern France. Gers is bordered by the departments of Hautes-Pyrénées and Pyrénées-Atlantiques to ...

department in southwestern

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, on 11 January 1782. From 1822 to 1827, he was a

French language French ( or ) is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European family. Like all other Romance languages, it descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire. French evolved from Northern Old Gallo-R ...

teacher in

Ritter-Akademie (Dresden

knight academy Knight academies were first established in Western European states in the late 16th century. They prepared aristocratic youth for state and military service. It added to the hitherto rudimentary education of the aristocratic youth natural science, ...

). In 1825, he was given the task of preparing the first French edition of Casanova's memoirs by the publisher

Friedrich Arnold Brockhaus Friedrich Arnold Brockhaus (4 May 1772 – 20 August 1823) was a German encyclopedia publisher and editor, famed for publishing the '' Conversations-Lexikon'', which is now published as the Brockhaus encyclopedia. Biography Brockhaus was edu ...

. His translation is heavily criticized today not only for having made a lot of changes to the original manuscript, but also for its dull literary style. In approximately 1831, Laforgue gave back the manuscript to Brockhaus, without four chapters whose fate remains unknown as of today. After 1831, he resumed giving French lessons at the

Ritter-Akademie.

Laforgue rewritings of Casanova's manuscript

Laforgue not only modernized the

orthography An orthography is a set of convention (norm), conventions for writing a language, including norms of spelling, punctuation, Word#Word boundaries, word boundaries, capitalization, hyphenation, and Emphasis (typography), emphasis. Most national ...

of words and nouns, but also rewrote the most part of the original text in what he considered to be a better French. He also watered down passages he judged licentious, or to the contrary rewrote those he considered too elliptic. Furthermore, he added or cut entire passages from the text, depending on his own convictions. He judged Casanova's original text too favorable to

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...

and

Ancien Régime ''Ancien'' may refer to * the French word for " ancient, old" ** Société des anciens textes français * the French for "former, senior" ** Virelai ancien ** Ancien Régime ** Ancien Régime in France {{disambig ...

, and too hostile to the French Revolution and democracy. For example: * ''Je baise l’air, croyant que tu y es (I kiss the air, thinking you are there)'' becomes ''Je lance mille baisers qui se perdent dans l’air (I give a thousand kisses that get lost to the air)'' * ''Sûr d’une pleine jouissance à la fin du jour, je me livrai à toute ma gaieté naturelle (certain to make love at the end of the day, I engaged in my natural cheerfulness)'' becomes ''Certain d'être heureux (Certain to be happy)''

Bibliography

* Antoine-Alexandre Barbier, Joseph-Marie Quérard, et al., ''Dictionnaire des ouvrages anonymes'', éd. Féchoz et Letouzey, 1889, p
152
*

, ''Mémoires de J. Casanova de Seingalt'', ed. Garnier Frères,

880 __NOTOC__ Year 880 ( DCCCLXXX) was a leap year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * Battle of Cephalonia: A Byzantine fleet, under Admiral Nasar, is sent by Emperor Basil I to the Ionian Isl ...

t. I, « Notice » from Garnier, p
III
*

, ''

'', ed. Robert Laffont, coll. Bouquins, 1993, t. I, introduction by

Francis Lacassin Francis Lacassin (; 18 November 1931 – 12 August 2008)« The History of Casanova's Manuscripts at Dux »
* Philippe Monnier, ''Venise au XVIII siècle'', ed. Complexe, 2001, p
272
* ''Pages casanoviennes'', n° 3, 1925, p. 86

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Laforgue, Jean 1782 births 1852 deaths French scholars

Biography

Laforgue rewritings of Casanova's manuscript

Bibliography

See also

References