The World of Venice

I used to read travel narratives on a regular basis. I'm not sure exactly when I stopped, but I realized I still had several on the shelf unread so decided to read them. Reading The World of Venice by Jan Morris reminds me why I used to love them so. It's a beautifully descriptive book, evocative of place and time. It was written in 1960 when the author was still James Morris. The copyright renewal in 1988 is under the name Jan Morris. This book's revision and foreword were written by Jan Morris. The author is 86 as of this writing and, according to Wikipedia, lives in Clevedon, Somerset, England, and considers herself Welsh. (I love Wikipedia as a starting place.)

My only difficulty with the book is picturing the author, who lived in Venice with his wife and children during the period this book was written. I had a few schizophrenic moments during my reading while I was trying to place the author in the scenes so vividly described. I don't have a strictly binary view of gender, but my reading experience with this book is illuminating to me. The Independent has an article on her personal life, which is interesting and informative. Though I don't tend to care about the personal lives of public figures, the name change made me curious, so I have read a bit about hers.

There are a few maps and some photographs in this edition. Ruskin is mentioned a few times. Many landmarks, works of art, deaths of visiting notables, and historical events are mentioned, which is expected, but the personal touch is always there, connecting us with the time and place. It names the Gobbo di Rialto (photo here) as "one of the best-known images of medieval Venice":

Morris describes it this way:

He stands now, abandoned and neglected, among a mass of boxes and old vegetables: a small hobbled granite figure of a man, supporting a flight of steps and a squat marble column. He used to be called a hunchback, but he is really only bent with burdens, for in the hey-day of the Rialto his responsibilities were great. Upon his pedestal the decrees of the Republic were promulgated, in the days when Venetian law was written in blood annd enforced with fire: and to his steps men convicted of petty crimes were forced to run naked from St. Mark's, hastened by a rain of blows, until at last, breathless, bleeding and humiliated, they fell chastened at his knobbly feet and embraced him in blind relief.

from the back of the book:

The World of Venice is a classic book that offers an incomparable take on an incomparable city. Jan Morris's new foreword brings readers up to date on 1990s Venice, a city "jam-packed with its admirers, jangling its profits, flaunting its theatrical splendors, enlivened once more by that old Venetian aphrodisiac -success." Incorporating the best aspects of travel writing and popular history, Morris transcends both genres by creating a composite portrait of Venice, artfully blending the fabled city's rich past with its current reality. Writing with singular zest and perceptiveness, Morris explores each of the city's aspects in all of its seasons, evoking the character of this unique locale through its arts, its food, and the personality of its people.

The Independent says,

In 1960, he published a cultural history of Venice, which established him as a major writer, and which has never been out of print. Its success brought in enough money for a switch from journalism to writing books full time. She has published about 40