Giacomo Casanova Casanova soon abandoned his military career and returned to Venice. At the age of 21, he set out to become a professional gambler, but losing all the money remaining from the sale of his commission, he turned to his old benefactor Alvise Grimani for a job. Casanova thus began his third career, as a violinist in the San Samuele theater, "a menial journeyman of a sublime art in which, if he who excels is admired, the mediocrity is rightly despised. ... My profession was not a noble one, but I did not care. Calling everything prejudice, I soon acquired all
Casanova (novel) gives more scope to his own proven powers of imagination in his next book.". Casanova (novel) Casanova is the second novel by English author, Andrew Miller, released on 3 September 1998 through Sceptre. The novel was relatively well received by reviewers and was shortlisted for an Encore Award in 1999. Set in 1763, this novel centres round the historical figure of Giacomo Casanova and loosely follows his autobiographical "Histoire de ma vie". The plot of the novel concerns Casanova falling for a woman and having, for the first time, to deal with rejection and the pain which it causes him.