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Venice Triumphant

The Horizons of a Myth

Elisabeth Crouzet-Pavan
translated by Lydia G. Cochrane

Publication Date
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Winner of the Prix du Budget of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres

Selected as an Outstanding Academic Title for 2003 by Choice Magazine

Perhaps more than in any other city, Venice has been shaped by its environment. The lagoon on which it was built isolated the city's inhabitants from mainland Europe, forcing them to look seaward for their survival and to establish a maritime empire that generated incalculable wealth, making Venice the envy of Renaissance Europe. In Venice Triumphant, Elisabeth Crouzet-Pavan provides a rich, multilayered history of Venice from Roman times to the...

Winner of the Prix du Budget of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres

Selected as an Outstanding Academic Title for 2003 by Choice Magazine

Perhaps more than in any other city, Venice has been shaped by its environment. The lagoon on which it was built isolated the city's inhabitants from mainland Europe, forcing them to look seaward for their survival and to establish a maritime empire that generated incalculable wealth, making Venice the envy of Renaissance Europe. In Venice Triumphant, Elisabeth Crouzet-Pavan provides a rich, multilayered history of Venice from Roman times to the sixteenth century. Instead of employing a rigidly chronological framework, she looks at the history of Venice thematically, focusing on the relationship between the city and its unique physical milieu in a way that emphasizes complexity and continuity.

Central to Crouzet-Pavan's discussion is her concept of l'imaginaire, literally translated as "the imaginary" and here meaning the many symbolic terms Venetians created to describe and understand the peculiar space they inhabited and, by extension, themselves. One key example of l'imaginaire is Venetians' use of the term "the continent" to refer, somewhat dismissively, to Italy, Germany, and other lands beyond the lagoon in order to emphasize their own distinctive maritime identity. As Crouzet-Pavan shows, this sense of exceptionalism impacts every aspect of Venetian history: its art and architecture; its involvement with mainland politics; its commercial, civic, and political institutions; and the shape of daily life in its homes, alleys, and courtyards. Elegantly translated by Lydia G. Cochrane, Venice Triumphant offers a bold new perspective on the world's most beautiful—and remarkable—city.

Reviews

Reviews

Masterful... This elegantly written, even lyrical, work should be the standard for all future books on Venice.

A novel approach to retelling a story that has been told many times... This work will be of value to historians and students of Venetian history.

Crouzet-Pavan has not only produced an original and intriguing overview of Venetian history; she has provided a thoughtful personal review of the mass of scholarly work that has radically changed our understanding of Venice and medieval and Renaissance Italy over the last half century.

This book offers an innovative perspective for reconsidering the history of the identity of Venice... In the rich and endless, though also traditional, literature on Venice, this book is very different. It provides an original methodology and a fascinating approach to the Venetian past.

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About

Book Details

Publication Date
Status
Available
Trim Size
6
x
9
Pages
424
ISBN
9780801881893
Illustration Description
30 halftones, 8 maps
Table of Contents

List of Maps
Introduction
Chronology
1. A City Born in the Water
2. A City Wed to the Sea
3. The Lion and the Land
4. Scenes of Daily Life
5. The State in Motion
6. The People of the City
Conclusion
Note
Glossar

List of Maps
Introduction
Chronology
1. A City Born in the Water
2. A City Wed to the Sea
3. The Lion and the Land
4. Scenes of Daily Life
5. The State in Motion
6. The People of the City
Conclusion
Note
Glossary
Bibliography
Index

Author Bios
Featured Contributor

Lydia G. Cochrane

Lydia G. Cochrane has translated three previous books for Johns Hopkins: On the Edge of the Cliff by Roger Chartier (1996), The Color of Melancholy by Jacqueline Cerquiglini-Toulet (1997), and History of Suicide by Georges Minois (1999). Her other translations include Alain Boureau's The Lord's First Night (1998) and The Myth of Pope Joan (2001), and Renzo Dubbini's Geography of the Gaze (2002).