Cole Kendall
Cole Kendall
Having started reading him in Italian class (in translation from the original French) I have become addicted to Casanova's endless life story "Histoire de ma vie". The relatively recent French edition (Bouquins) uses the mostly original manuscript that was finally made public. In any event, I was curious about this bit, which takes place shortly after Casanova goes to London in 1763.
[my translation of the first bit...easier for me to type without a French keyboard]
I tried to get used to beer but I had to give it up after eight days. The bitterness that it left with me was unbearable. The wine merchant that Bosanquet had given me furnished me with
des vins de France excellents, parce qu'ils étaient naturels mais je devais les lui payer chers.
[excellent French wines, because they were natural, but I had to pay him dearly for them]
Does anyone have an idea what he means by "naturel"?
The question is a bit complex because Casanova's French is far from perfect and he often uses "italianisms" that the French editors carefully point out (e.g., l'homme que fait X instead of l'homme qui, the former which is perfectly correct in Italian "l'uomo che fa X").
One more bit that amused me: People laughed when I said that I ate at home because in the taverns they did not serve soup. They asked me if I was sick. The Englishman is a "criofage" [his invented word for mutton eater]. He barely eats any bread and he thinks he is economizing from what he saves in not spending on soup and dessert; this made me say that the English dinner had no beginning and no end. Soup is considered to be a great expense because the servants themselves do not want to eat the beef that the bouillon is made from. They say that it is only good for feeding dogs.
[my translation of the first bit...easier for me to type without a French keyboard]
I tried to get used to beer but I had to give it up after eight days. The bitterness that it left with me was unbearable. The wine merchant that Bosanquet had given me furnished me with
des vins de France excellents, parce qu'ils étaient naturels mais je devais les lui payer chers.
[excellent French wines, because they were natural, but I had to pay him dearly for them]
Does anyone have an idea what he means by "naturel"?
The question is a bit complex because Casanova's French is far from perfect and he often uses "italianisms" that the French editors carefully point out (e.g., l'homme que fait X instead of l'homme qui, the former which is perfectly correct in Italian "l'uomo che fa X").
One more bit that amused me: People laughed when I said that I ate at home because in the taverns they did not serve soup. They asked me if I was sick. The Englishman is a "criofage" [his invented word for mutton eater]. He barely eats any bread and he thinks he is economizing from what he saves in not spending on soup and dessert; this made me say that the English dinner had no beginning and no end. Soup is considered to be a great expense because the servants themselves do not want to eat the beef that the bouillon is made from. They say that it is only good for feeding dogs.