Brodsky, Joseph (Vol. 100) - Authony Thwaite (review date 10 May 1992)
Authony Thwaite (review date 10 May 1992)
SOURCE: "Picture Postcards from Venice," in Book World—The Washington Post, Vol. XXII, No. 19, May 10, 1992, p. 7.
[In the following review of Watermark, Thwaite discusses Brodsky's descriptions of Venice.]
Over the years, Venice hasn't lacked its literary memorialists and scene-setters, some of them almost as familiar as Canaletto's paintings. From Ruskin to Mary McCarthy, from Byron to Ian McEwan, from both Brownings to Thomas Mann and beyond, the city has been described, analyzed, apostrophized, employed as backdrop, symbol, analogue and template. It has probably inspired more postcard-from poems than any other city in the world. Indeed, Mary McCarthy called it "a folding picture-postcard of itself."
Joseph Brodsky has already used it in his two sets of "Venetian Stanzas" (1962):
I am writing these lines sitting outdoors, in winter,
on a...
[The entire page is 709 words long]
Join eNotes
Over 3,500 study guides, question and answer forums, literature criticism, reference content, and much more!
Navigate
