« Deviner mon secret » Madame F. et Casanova entre les lignes

This article presents a detailed reading of a famous episode of ­Casanova’s Story of my life: his love affair with Mme F., in Corfu. It focuses on some aspects of what we could call a ­communication “between the lines”. The way Casanova evokes amorous and erotic realities can be linked to the “art of writing” analysed by Leo Strauss in his book, Persecution and the Art of Writing. Both imply ­complicity with the receiver of the discourse and a predilection for oblique expression. The analysis of the Corfu episode sheds an interesting light on the ideal relation that Casanova suggests his reader should maintain with his text.