The Gnome King reviewed Rilke's Venice by Stephen Brown
Review of "Rilke's Venice" on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
There is no doubt whatsoever that Venice is a special place, the beautiful buildings, the waterways and the ability to float endlessly around the city has inspired artists and writers for hundreds of years. Rilke was one of those poets who fell in love with the place as soon as he first visited. During his many visits there he wrote a lot of poems about what he saw, in this day and age he would have been perfect as an advertisement for coming to Venice. He spent so much time exploring that he could recommend the best places and describe them in such a way that you would adore the place before you even got there.
I haven't read any of Rilke's books, I've only read snippets in other books, but his poems seem to be quite unique, the focus is not on people or his experiences but the heart …
There is no doubt whatsoever that Venice is a special place, the beautiful buildings, the waterways and the ability to float endlessly around the city has inspired artists and writers for hundreds of years. Rilke was one of those poets who fell in love with the place as soon as he first visited. During his many visits there he wrote a lot of poems about what he saw, in this day and age he would have been perfect as an advertisement for coming to Venice. He spent so much time exploring that he could recommend the best places and describe them in such a way that you would adore the place before you even got there.
I haven't read any of Rilke's books, I've only read snippets in other books, but his poems seem to be quite unique, the focus is not on people or his experiences but the heart and soul of Venice itself, the poetry flows well and gives you a picture perfect image in your head.
This book is 11 walks around Venice with reference to places Rilke visited or stayed, this is a bit misleading as it does not contain structured walks, each chapter gives you an area, highlights a few places of interest on the map and gives you the history of the area and how Rilke spent time there.
The book gives you the freedom to explore by yourself just like Rilke did, I reckon he would have loved that. The highlight for me was the Ghetto, I never knew this part of history and that Jewish people were forced to live in these places way before the Nazis made them. The Ghetto contains one of Rilke's short stories and having all the background information before starting the story creates a fascinating read.
A brilliant little book which is ideal for an Armchair Traveller like me.
Blog review: felcherman.wordpress.com/2020/12/01/rilkes-venice-by-birgit-haustedt/