Status
Available
Call number
Publication
London : Faber, 1993.
Description
Often hailed as one of the best travel books ever written, Venice is neither a guide nor a history book, but a beautifully written immersion in Venetian life and character, set against the background of the city's past. Analysing the particular temperament of Venetians, as well as its waterways, its architecture, its bridges, its tourists, its curiosities, its smells, sounds, lights and colours, there is scarcely a corner of Venice that Jan Morris has not investigated and brought vividly to life. Jan Morris first visited the city of Venice as young James Morris, during World War II. As she writes in the introduction, 'it is Venice seen through a particular pair of eyes at a particular moment - young eyes at that, responsive above all to the stimuli of youth.' Venice is an impassioned work on this magnificent but often maddening city. Jan Morris's collection of travel writing and reportage spans over five decades and includes such titles as Sydney, Coronation Everest, Hong Kong, Spain and Manhattan '45. Since its first publication, Venice has appeared in many editions, won the W.H. Heinemann award and become an international bestseller. 'The best book about Venice ever written' Sunday Times 'No sensible visitor should visit the place without it . . . Venice stands alone as the essential introduction, and as a work of literature in its own right.' Observer… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member DramMan
This is a colourful, detail laden, paean of prose to the city of Venice - it may indeed be "the best book about Venice ever written" , I don't have the depth of knowledge to judge that, but I thoroughly enjoyed and was enormously entertained by Jan Morris's account.. It is by turns erudite,
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amusing, provocative and thought provoking - it certainly added to my education and leaves a lasting impression. Show Less
LibraryThing member antao
I wanted to say I have finally just about finished reading Jan Morris' Venice and the one thing that struck me more strongly about it than any other impression, was how much it reminded me of Hemingway's Death in the Afternoon. Of course, Morris is frequently in the business of evocative, poetic
Tourists set great store by "authentic" experiences but the previous generation's were always more authentic. Jan Morris makes it clear that even sixties Venice was subject to crap that 19th century tourists wouldn't have had to put up with. Yet the city still exercises a powerful attraction for many. I don't think the charm of twisty, cobbled streets is simply to do with their appearance or their age; I think we bring additional cultural meaning and expectations with us when visiting such places, and when thinking about them. Particularly, I think places like Venice create a self-reflective frisson for us- I am here. It isn't, I don't think, purely an aesthetic experience- part of us is bound up personally in how we experience places like this. They seduce us with the weight of history, with their complexity, their own self-containedness. We thrill at becoming a small part of them, for a little while.
And then we go and get a coffee at Starbucks to recover.
Yes, the weight of time and history, and our being a small part of them, work on us, as much as the aesthetic. If I ever make it back to Venice (I went there last year on a cruise) it will almost certainly be as a dreaded tourist which is mostly about how much time you dispose of. Some places, like Venice, Machu Picchu, or the Great Wall were part of my imagination long before I ever got there in their own shadowy way.
For what it's worth I think Venice is closer to "Invisible Cities" or Borges than it is to a "Lonely Planet Guide."
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prose, something Hemingway would never allow himself, but the everyday prose style is very similar. Also the way in which the subject is examined from a number of different points of view, not necessarily making a single complete story or narrative of it, but genuinely adding texture and layer of detail until the whole becomes a sort of onion, skin over skin over skin. Finally, both have the feeling of someone who has not entirely been drawn in, not lost her or his identity to the subject, but has definitely looked deeply into it and loves it dearly.Tourists set great store by "authentic" experiences but the previous generation's were always more authentic. Jan Morris makes it clear that even sixties Venice was subject to crap that 19th century tourists wouldn't have had to put up with. Yet the city still exercises a powerful attraction for many. I don't think the charm of twisty, cobbled streets is simply to do with their appearance or their age; I think we bring additional cultural meaning and expectations with us when visiting such places, and when thinking about them. Particularly, I think places like Venice create a self-reflective frisson for us- I am here. It isn't, I don't think, purely an aesthetic experience- part of us is bound up personally in how we experience places like this. They seduce us with the weight of history, with their complexity, their own self-containedness. We thrill at becoming a small part of them, for a little while.
And then we go and get a coffee at Starbucks to recover.
Yes, the weight of time and history, and our being a small part of them, work on us, as much as the aesthetic. If I ever make it back to Venice (I went there last year on a cruise) it will almost certainly be as a dreaded tourist which is mostly about how much time you dispose of. Some places, like Venice, Machu Picchu, or the Great Wall were part of my imagination long before I ever got there in their own shadowy way.
For what it's worth I think Venice is closer to "Invisible Cities" or Borges than it is to a "Lonely Planet Guide."
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LibraryThing member adrianburke
This book grew on me I have to admit. The enthusiasm was recognisable but the place - not always.
LibraryThing member john257hopper
This is a richly written book by a British journalist who lived in Venice for many years, a mixture of a history, a tourist guide and real life journalistic observations. This melange did not quite work for me, partly because the book was written in 1960, and re-edited in the 70s, 80s and early
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90s, and it often wasn't clear in which decade the real life observations were made, and just when a recently observed event or curiosity had actually taken place. This said, I still enjoyed it, as Venice is such a fascinating place, a republic for over 1,000 years with the trappings and excesses of a monarchy or empire, with a stark juxtaposition of beauty and grotesque horror; the contrast between its vulnerability to its local environment, and the fact that this isolation was also its strength for so long and prevented it being successfully conquered until Napoleon breezed in in 1797 and ended over 1,000 years of independent existence. Yet it cannot be said that the Venetians resisted this takeover; the Republic had been declining for the last two centuries or more and the Grand Council prosaically voted for the dissolution of the state by 512 votes to 30, with 5 abstentions. The author also covers the other islands in the lagoon and the coastal area, shedding light on some little known places and isolated communities, distinct from the city itself. She clearly loves Venice, but also recognises the contradictions and appreciates why others have taken an instinctive dislike to it. Perhaps unselfconsciously, she writes "More slush has been written about Venice than anywhere else on earth, more acres of ecstatic maiden prose. Venice is paved with purple passages" - parts of this book are also like this, and perhaps this encapsulates the extremes of emotions that this most contradictory of cities can evoke. Show Less
LibraryThing member breic
There are a few flashes of brilliant prose, and more than a few details about Venice that were new to me. But more of it is clumsily overwritten, Morris's desire for comprehensive coverage makes it a bit of a slog (and she still misses some of my favorite parts!), and, unfortunately, fair portions
> In the first years of this century E. V. Lucas spent a month eating in every Venetian restaurant in turn, and decided that there was only one he wanted to visit a second time. I have tried about thirty, and shall not feel intolerably misused if denied re-entry to any of them.
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are very dated for modern Venice. > In the first years of this century E. V. Lucas spent a month eating in every Venetian restaurant in turn, and decided that there was only one he wanted to visit a second time. I have tried about thirty, and shall not feel intolerably misused if denied re-entry to any of them.
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Subjects
Awards
Guardian 100 Greatest Non-Fiction (Travel)
Language
Original publication date
1960
Physical description
xii, 320 p.; 20 cm
ISBN
0571168973 / 9780571168972