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49 of 49 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
a masterpiece on love, in a decaying republic, March 14, 2004
This is an absolutely beautiful and fascinating look into a great passion between a young patrician and a woman with a questionable past. The author's approach - it was really a family enterprise based on the 250-year old letters his father found from a direct ancestor - is to paint a wide tableau of the era from the point of view of two young and doomed lovers. Though this may sound melodramatic, it is the perfect vehicle for an incredible historic narrative, one of the best I ever read.
Andrea Memmo is the scion of an ancient Venetian family, destined by blood and talent to become one of the most powerful politican-functionaries of a dying republic. Memmo is steeped in the ideas that were "in the air" of the Enlightenment and reform, mentored by some of the most brillant men of the era, and friends with such colorful figures as Casanova and Denon, the later founder of the Louvre for Napoleon. Also witty and handsome, he seemed destined for greatness from the youngest age. Then he met Giustiniana, a semi-aristocrat whose mother was Greek and whose father was of "solid stock" from Britain, and Andrea's life took an unexpected turn involving passion, secrecy, and impossible hopes; she was one of the great beauties in the British expatriot circles. However, by tradition that extends to the Venetian bureaucracy, Memmo must marry a "correctly" aristocratic woman by family arrangement.
The author does a brilliant job of placing these two in the context of the times. As the reader, you sympathise with the concerns of all the protagonists, from Andrea's familial obligations to Giustiniana's difficult mother who wants to avoid unneceassy prying into her murky past. These are not two-dimensional characters, but full-bodied people trying desperately to control their destinies while falling prey to their weaknesses and vanities. The vagaries of many intersecting careers of the protagonists and their friends are examined with perfect detail and brevity, an additional window into the life of the times and an exquisite treat. From Venice, the reader is taken on a tour of the major European powers of the time, following Giustiniana and her family as they try to make their way in the decaying world of the old regime and unable to find a suitable place for themselves.
While Memmo more or less fulfills his destiny, it is Giustiniana who emerges as the most original person in the book. Her desires and career, from searching for a rich aristocrat to marry to her later success as a pioneering writer, are as facinating as they are reflections of what a troublesome person she must have been, always stepping into a hornets' nest of conventional expectations but somehow emerging admired and the nucleus of a salon that she built through friendship and talent.
There is not a single boring page in this book, and it is written with a subtle elegance that covers what is happening in the 7-years' war to the rumblings of the French Revolution and the demise of the Venetian Republic, of which Memmo might have become the last Doge. It all adds up to a masterpiece and is based on the personal correspondence of the lovers that were assembled from many different sources.
I read this in Italian, which was very difficult as there are long sections from the letters in the Venetian patois of the time. But the clarity of the writing is truly luminous. I only hope that the writer will produce more. He is truly first rate.
Highest recommendation.
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30 of 32 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Elegant, Sparking, Seductive, October 14, 2003
By A Customer
Eighteenth century Venice, with its gondoliers and masks and gambling halls and theatres, is the fascinating backdrop to Andrea di Robilant's "A Venetian Affair" where he shares with his readers the true story of his ancestor Andrea Memmo's secretive affair with a lovely young Anglo-Venetian woman, Giustiniana Wynne. And so are bustling Paris and the more subdued London of the mid Eighteenth century.
The reader will go the full gamut of emotions while reading "A Venetian Affair". Passion, desire, erotica, humor, jealousy, rage, scandal, and more color the events recounted. This is not just a story of passive emotional suffering. The lovers never stop fighting back at the obstacles imposed on them. They plan and plot and as time and separation - the other two great protagonists in their story - play their parts, the lovers invent new roles for each other.
Besides the alluring story of that clandestine love affair, the reader is also seduced by the fascinating details about the manuscripts that form the basis for the memoir: A stash of letters found in a family attic in a palazzo on the Canal Grande, over a hundred of them, that provide many missing pieces to the mosaic of the love story. The author shares with us the excitement of their discovery, and the family tragedy that ultimately destined him to be the author of this book.
"A Venetian Affair" is not only an beautiful love story well written, but also a carefully researched biography of two very important people in late Eighteenth century Venice. Andrea Memmo was one the last great statesmen of the oldest Republic in the world, and Giustiniana Wynne was an acclaimed author in her time. Memmo is still remembered today for many of his civic endeavors. Giustiniana is a 'lost' woman writer waiting to be rediscovered.
The author's style is simply delightful - sparkling and elegant. A highly recommended read.
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22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A wonderful "affair", August 13, 2004
This is a captivating love story, one that shouldn't be missed. Andrea Di Robilant weaves a superb tale of his ancestor, based upon the letters passed between the two lovers. What seemed amazing to me was that the letters remained for years and years in the library of Randolph-Macon College. (I was also surprised to learn that, incidentally, the author's mother went to the same college I go to, no big feat since it is relatively unknown).
It is the story of the illicit love affair between Andrea and Giustiniana, which began in 1754. Banned from seeing one another, they must communicate surreptitiously, stealing embraces and kisses whenever they can. They must hide especially from the eagle eyes of Giustiniana's Greek- English mother, Anna, who won't allow her daughter to marry a member of the Venetian aristocracy. Di Robilant also puts in excerpts from the two lovers' letters, giving the reader a sense of proximity to this book, which reads more like a novel than a straightforward book on history. The use of masks in 18th century culture is indicative of the way in which Andrea and Giustiniana must conduct their affair.
Its a beautifully written story, one of passion, jealousy, and, especially, love. I was enchanted by the language Di Robilant used to bring this story to life on the page, and by the masterful way in which he carried it out. Di Robilant catches the air of mid-18th century Venice perfectly: the salons, the balls, and the intrigues. It will keep you reading from stormy, sudden beginning to stormy, sudden ending.
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