In partial answer to Paul Schwabe's enquiry (passed on to list by Sylvester
Pollet) concerning Pound's favourite places in Venice, the English art
critic Adrian Stokes wrote privately to Donald Davie (the first to publish
on his relationship with Pound at length) in the 1950s that 'All I remember
about visual art shared in common was inducing him to come and see things
in Venice'. This was in 1928 or 1929. Michael Rabate [e acute] has argued
(in French, 1988), I think convincingly, that Stokes helped to shape
Pound's tastes for and evocations of Venice (from Canto XVII and perhaps
beyond), though the differences are to me as interesting as the
similarities. I therefore suggest that a traveller to Venice with Pound in
mind might benefit from reading Stokes's STONES OF RIMINI (1934) and
VENICE: AN ASPECT OF ART (1945), published respectively in the first and
second volues of THE CRITICAL WRITINGS OF ADRIAN STOKES, ed. L. Gowing, 3
vols, Thames and Hudson, 1978). The latter book, particularly, would 'get
one off the beaten track' to see interesting fifteenth-century buildings
that Pound might well have relished too, though not all of them are
approachable without a gondola. I think the former book was republished in
America together with Stokes's THE QUATTRO CENTO: A DIFFERENT CONCEPTION OF
THE QUATTRO CENTO (1932; it contains a powerful evocation of lychen and
organic process on the marble of the tower at Pisa) in Schocken books at a
date post 1978. I mention this because the Thames and Hudson volumes might
be bulky for travelling if unreduced (within legal copyright limits!) by
photostat. Alternatively, I think these works (see also Ruskin below) are
to be found in the Marcian library, next to the mint and opposite the Ducal
Palace, though whether this extraordinary building is still open to the
public as it used to be I don't know.
 
A fascinating, as I thought it, BBC documentary on Venice of a few years
ago with contributions by Venetians had left- and right-wing locals
agreeing that Pound's contemporary acceptance in that city is due less to
his poetry than to his decision to live there in later life. I can't
remember where he lived, but it shouldn't be hard to discover from
biographies. Perhaps his tastes for things Venetian expanded greatly when
resident. A possible clue to his reading, remembered or renewed, was given
me by someone years ago (and whose identity alas I can't remember) who
claimed that he saw the very elderly Pound gazing in rapt concentration at
a nameplate on a house which turned out to be John Ruskin's. Pound's modest
grave, of course, is on the cemetry island of San Michele approached by
vaporetto from the Fondamente Nuove. There are other significant graves
there.
 
Richard Read.
 
 
 
 
>>From: "Schwabe, Paul" <[log in to unmask]>
>>To: "\"Sylvester Pollet\" " <[log in to unmask]>
>>Subject: I'm Going to Venice
>>Date: Thu, 31 Dec 1998 08:48:00 -0800
>>MIME-Version: 1.0
>>
>>Sylvester, here is another post for the Pound List.
>>
>>I am going to Venice in one week. I will be departing from Portland, OR on
>>January 7. I will have about five days in Venice, three days in Rome, and
>>several days at points in between. I am wondering where did Pound live in
>>Venice
>>and what were some of his favorite places. I would like to check them out. I
>>was
>>there in 1997 and went to San Michelle and saw tkey sights like the
>>basilica,
>>the palace, and the Academy. So, I am looking to get off the beaten path
>>this
>>time. I also hope to get to Pisa, just for a look at the tower and the
>>cathederal.
>>
>>I noticed that Kenner talks about Pounds sacred places in Italy, like
>>Ravenna
>>and Rimini. Are these places just ancient sites or is there some other
>>significance to these places.
>>
>>Anyway, I am interested in hearing what experiences people had visiting
>>these
>>places. You can respond to the list. I can read the list, but cannot write
>>to
>>the list.
>>
>>Paul Schwabe
>>[log in to unmask]
>>
 
 
 
------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
Dr Richard Read                            Email [log in to unmask]
Senior Lecturer
School of Architecture and Fine Arts
The University of Western Australia
Nedlands WA 6009                        Tel +61 8 9380 2140
Australia                               Fax 8 9380 1082