Birgit Haustedt

Among the numerous visitors to Venice, we find Rainer Maria Rilke who spent many months in Venice over a number of years. Usually, he managed to stay with some rich American or aristocrat. Sometimes, he had to slum it out in bad hotels. Overall, he had quite a good time in Venice as an artistic companion to rich elderly ladies. In fact, he enjoyed life so much that he produced hardly a major work there. The merit of the poems quoted lies less in their artistry than in their touristic quality.

Fortunately, this touristic aspect of Rilke's work is the focus of this nice travel booklet. The author has combined Rilke's travel notes and letters with well chosen pictures of the places and paintings described, offering the reader a pleasant remembrance of Venice or a good impression of what to expect. Only in Venice does a difference of a hundred years account for so little change. Rilke's words remain as a relevant as they were then. Today, though, one pays regular entrance fees to see some of the palazzi instead of bribing the doorman.… (altro)