Venice: The Lion, the City and the Water

The critically acclaimed Dutch novelist, poet, and travel writer Cees Nooteboom pays tribute to Venice–the city, its history, and its treasures Mr. Nooteboom … [has] a highly distinctive voice–and often a new angle of vision… . The whole book is the illuminating testimony of a man who cannot look away and so sees things that others, even those with more specialist knowledge, have missed. –Gregory Dowling, Wall Street Journal

For over fifty years, celebrated author Cees Nooteboom has been captivated by the city of Venice, that absurd combination of power, money, genius and great art. Beginning with his first visit in 1964, Nooteboom deftly weaves together his many travels to the floating city, vividly bringing to life the destination he discovered and admired from the alleys, locked gates, and countless canals. Surrounded by the dead, he pays homage to the painters and writers who lived and worked there, to the palaces, bridges, painting, and sculpture that give the city a kind of immortality.

With his ability to penetrate to the core of his destinations, Nooteboom produces a radiant tribute to Venice, in the vein of Steinbeck, Forster, or Theroux.