My only complaint about this book has nothing to do with the author or the writing, but the tiresome and obtuse marginalia of my used copy. Don’t write in books unless you have something to say. The same goes for writing books. Brodsky at least has something interesting to say even if his readers are dull-witted.

“La bellezza non può essere programmata, essendo sempre l’effetto secondario di altre ricerche, spesso molto normali”.

Letto fra l’andata e ritorno di un breve soggiorno a Venezia (fine settimana alla Biennale), questo libretto mi lascia tanta ammirazione per la scrittura di Brodskij ma in fondo poco coinvolgimento nel suo amore per Venezia. Le note sul ruolo dell’occhio, sull’arte e sulla bellezza risultano - per me - più memorabili di quelle sulla nebbia e sull’acqua. Ma forse devo lasciar sedimentare questa lettura e riprenderla magari in occasione del prossimo passaggio in Laguna. ( )

What a delicious little meal! 4.5 for sure, but though absolutely wonderful a bit short of a full feast. Full of gems, and I will reread on a regular basis. ( )

I read Joseph Brodsky's essay on Venice before and during my recent trip there. As well as being my first time in Venice, it was the first of Brodsky's books that I had read. However, it was not my first book on Venice that I had read – Italo Calvino's Invisible Cities is one of my favourite books and had in great part inspired my desire to see this fabled city, along with Ruskin's Stones of Venice on the city's architecture, and of course Thomas Mann's Death in Venice.
Brodsky's essay is very different to Calvino's fictional homage, in that it is made up of his own impressions from the 17 or so winters he spent there during his lifetime love affair with the city. Though it is billed as an essay, it actually takes the form of many small sections, mostly self-contained, a paragraph to a few pages in length. Each of these cover a train of thought on something particular, or in most cases not that particular, relating to the city. It is a very good book to dip in and out of. The general tone is reflective, poetic, wandering – like the canals themselves, musing, and revealing very much the spirit of the city. Brodsky is frequently amusing, and occasionally quite clever, but never authoritative in the way that Ruskin is, nor quite as poetic as Calvino. However he does write with a particular type of knowing wit that is his own, and his philosophising though often given to sentimentality is not lacking in insight of a kind.
Add this to the worthwhile list of books to read on Venice, whether you have been yet or not, and soak up the unique atmosphere of this island labyrinth. ( )

Watermark is powerful prose poetry, sometimes flashing a vivid image before the reader’s inner eye, sometimes wrapping its pearls tightly inside almost haiku-like sentences. “One is what one looks at,” Brodsky says, and I am glad I looked at this. ( )