Venice for Lovers [Hardcover]

Louis Begley (Author), Anka Muhlstein (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 2008

Every year for all the thirty they have been married, Louis Begley and Anka Muhlstein have escaped to Venice to write. In Venice for Lovers, the couple has fashioned an homage to the City of Water. In her essay, Muhlstein charmingly describes how becoming friends with restaurateurs has been an unsurpassed means of getting to know the city and its inhabitants—Venetians like Ernesto, whose restaurant they have dinner in every night for many years, and who tells them of the great flood that nearly destroyed the beautiful city.  They spend blissful hours at Da Fiore, named by The International Herald Tribune one of the ten best restaurants in the world but which retains its rustic simplicity.

In his novella, Begley writes a story of falling in love with—and in—Venice. His twenty-year-old protagonist is lured to the city by the older woman he adores, only to be left to fend for himself. But he later discovers a lasting love for Venice itself—not an uncommon occurrence, as Begley's brilliant portrayal of the city's place within world literature demonstrates: Henry James, Marcel Proust, and Thomas Mann were all illustrious predecessors in whom Venice inspired dreams of love and passion.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

For decades, biographer Muhlstein (Letters from Russia) and her husband, novelist Begley (Matters of Honor), have traveled to Venice to spend their summers writing. This evocative collaboration—three short works, which together celebrate their beloved home away from home—translates the original, German edition released in 2004. In the first section, an essay, Muhlstein reflects on how they came to know the city through its people, in spite of the couple's strict, self-imposed rules against making friends during their sabbaticals. Their guides were the owners of the four charming restaurants that became their staples. Particularly memorable is Muhlstein's passage about Ernesto, who describes the devastating flood of November 1966. In the second section, a novella by Begley, the reader encounters Venice from the perspective of an American college student who travels there in pursuit of an older woman. She soon rejects him; however, in romance's stead, a deeper, more lasting affection for Venice and a friendship with a classmate develop. In the third section, Begley writes a treatise on Venice's role in the works of three authors he admires: Henry James, Marcel Proust and Thomas Mann. This triptych of works draws on the best of both worlds: the dazzled, fresh eyes of a pilgrim and the insight of a perennial resident. This book works less as a straightforward guide to piazzas and palazzos than as a stimulant to travels real and imaginary. (Nov.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* Begley and Muhlstein are husband-and-wife writers: he a well-received novelist, and she an equally well-regarded biographer. Their Italian attachment is to the city of Venice, la serenissima, as it is referred to in Italian. Every year for two decades, they have taken a two-week holiday in Venice to concentrate on writing as well as absorb more of Venetian customs and color. She writes about her and her husband’s repeated patronage of four restaurants that they have taken “unreservedly to their hearts.” It is a rich, humorous evocation of Venice’s draw, and it is matched with sensitive synchronicity to Begley’s novella about a young man’s love of a woman that is ultimately transferred to a love of Venice. In addition, Begley writes a nonfiction piece addressing the presence of Venice in the fiction of Henry James, Marcel Proust, and Thomas Mann. Readers who have never been to la serenissima cannot help but feel an incompleteness of soul. --Brad Hooper

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 216 pages
• Publisher: Grove Press (November 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802118755
• ISBN-13: 978-0802118752
• Product Dimensions: 7.2 x 5.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,936,156 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars LOVE ITALIAN STYLE, November 5, 2008

By 

Gail Cooke (TX, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Venice for Lovers (Audio CD)

Looking for a good romantic story quite unlike those you've read and heard before? Here it is. Venice for Lovers reveals not only the love shared by a man and woman but also their mutual love for a place, one of the world's most beautiful, storied cities - Venice. Where better to evoke feelings of love and passion?

Working together (to my knowledge for the first time) noted novelist Louis Begley and his biographer wife, Anka Muhlstein, have penned a meritorious story. Add to this a stunning, finely nuanced reading by Malcolm Hillgartner and the result is an audiobook to dream on.

For the past 30 years Begley and his wife have spent their summers in Venice. They go there to write and have pretty much established a rigorous writing schedule for themselves. For one thing, they avoid social occasions. Thus, when she describes Venice it is much as seen through the eyes of the owners of restaurants where they repeatedly dine. Few listeners will forget Ernesto and his memories of the dreadful 1966 flood.

When it is Begley's turn he offers Venice through the eyes of a young man who comes to the city hoping to win an older woman with whom he has fallen in love. She spurns him but as it often is with youth there is more for him to discover.

Those who have been to Venice will welcome this opportunity to revisit it, and those who have not may well begin packing their bags.

Highly recommended.

- Gail Cooke

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Dash those great expectations, December 11, 2008

By 

K. Doak "esprit d'escalier" (Concord, NH USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Venice for Lovers (Hardcover)

Any book about Venice attracts me. Without reading the one other review, I have to say that the publisher who told Begley he had the kernel of a book (after reading paper he, Begley, presented at a Venice preservation symposium)may not have gotten what he hoped for.
First, high marks for the first vignette about food and the chefs by his French wife ( and for the translator.) They should have had her write the whole book. While smacking of one-upmanship [really, how many of us have spent the last twenty years spending a month every year in Venice at a hotel (even a small hotel,) eating most of our meals at certain eating places {some grand, others modest} and developing personal relationships with the owners and or maitre d's?,] it was, nevertheless fun. As a food lover as well as Venice lover, it worked for me , no little of which was due to the nice writing style.

The second piece, a short story by Begley, crashes on the shore. A big let down after the first gem. Perhaps it is in tune with the times - a la some (The) New Yorker prose these days, but it wouldn't or shouldn't win Second Prize in the Prima Short Story Contest. Stoopid.

Then the last (third) piece [from his talk, one presumes.] It just seemed rather pointless or at best a stretch. Sure, three great writers used Venice as a backdrop in their stories, but it seems unlikely that a doctoral dissertion advisor would ever encourage his charge to consider this a serious project. It's more a throw away junket that might appeal to the gathering at the "Save Venice" or whatever group he addressed. Boring? Perhaps. Interesting? Not to this reader.

Bring on some more stories, books by the wife!!!