Venice: A Traveller’s Reader

Venice: A Traveller’s Reader by John Julius Norwich, published by Little, Brown on September 12, 2017, is a comprehensive anthology that explores the diverse perspectives on Venice through the ages. This 432-page book presents a collection of writings from notable figures such as Byron, Goethe, and Mark Twain, capturing their varied reactions to the city. The anthology spans from the sixth century to the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, illustrating the evolution of Venice as seen by both its citizens and visitors.
Readers will find a rich tapestry of historical insights, art, and architecture woven throughout the selections. The book includes maps and engravings, enhancing the exploration of everyday life in Venice. By showcasing the contrasting views of the city—from its early lagoon-dwellers to the vibrant culture of later centuries—this edition invites a deeper understanding of Venice’s multifaceted identity.
Official synopsis Publisher
Henry James wrote of Venice: ‘You desire to embrace it, to caress it, to possess it . . .’ whereas Mark Twain found St Mark’s ‘so ugly . . . propped on its long row of thick-legged columns, its back knobbed with domes, it seems like a vast, warty bug taking a meditative walk’.
Reactions to Venice have been, throughout the ages, astonishingly different. John Julius Norwich has put together a dazzling anthology, drawing on the writings of Byron, Goethe, Wagner, Casanova, Jan Morris, Robert Browning and Horace Walpole, among many others.
The pieces range from the sixth century, when the early lagoon-dwellers lived ‘like sea-birds in huts, built on heaps of osiers’ to the exquisite city of eighteenth-century revellers and nineteenth-century art lovers. The city’s many diferent guises are shown as both its citizens and visitors saw them.
This wonderful volume from the Traveller’s Reader series also contains maps, engravings and notes on history, art, architecture and everyday city life.
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