Henry James, Charles Dickens & Me (Us) in Venice
Saturday, January 19, 2019
It is a
great pleasure to write the word; but I am not sure there is not a certain
impudence in pretending to add anything to it. Venice has been painted and
described many thousands of times, and of all the cities of the world is the
easiest to visit without going there.
Henry James
on Italy -1988 by Barrie & Jenkins Ltd – London
We had
floated on, five miles or so, over the dark water, when I heard it rippling, in
my dream, against some obstruction near at hand. Looking out attentively, I saw
through the gloom, a something black and massive – like a shore, but lying
close and flat upon the water, like a raft – which we were gliding past. The
chief of the two rowers said it was a burial-place.
Full of the
interest and wonder which a cemetery lying out there, in the lonely sea,
inspired, I turned to gaze upon it as it should recede in our path, when it was
quickly shut out from my view. Before I knew by what, or how, I found that we
were gliding up a street – a phantom street; the houses rising on both sides,
from the water, and the black boat gliding on beneath their windows. Lights
were shining from some of these casements, plumbing the depth of the black
stream with their reflected rays; but all was profoundly silent. So we advanced
into this ghostly city…
Pictures
from Italy – Charles Dickens
On February
20 my Rosemary and I will be in Venice. On the next day we will go to an
opening at the San Marco The Room – Contemporary Art Space where amidst the
videos, paintings, sculptures and photographs I will have ten of mine on the
wall for a show called Body Language.
I have a
most pleasing but disconcerting problem brought up by Henry James in his book
which I have had since 1988. I found it a bit hard to read. Writer WilliamGibson gave me this advice, “To read James you must read him out loud.” The
problem is I have read 27 of Donna Leon’s novels set in Venice. I feel I know Commissario
Guido Brunetti rather well and his Venice is in my memory. When I read the next
in a series, the places mentioned seem like places I have been to in the
previous ones.
And then
there is one of the loveliest, saddest,
most melancholy novels about Venice ever written, The Dead Lagoon by Michael Dibdin.
And that is
not all. Gore Vidal who was of Venetian extraction wrote a lovely book Vidal in Venice (which I have and treasure).
What am I
to do if the 2019 Venice will be one that will seem alien and not familiar?
I do know
that I will not steal (it is worth around $350) the Vancouver Public Library’s
Pictures From Italy by Charles Dickens. My companion in Venice will be Henry
James.
