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Le Rendez-vous de Venise
Les femmes n’étaient pas absentes de la pensée de mon austère vieil oncle. Il les aimait. Je le sais : il était intarissable quand il parlait d’elles. Mais c’étaient toujours des femmes peintes, des tableaux, des portraits… Alors, qui était cette Judith dont il parlait avec tant d’amour et de regret dans le carnet que j’avais découvert après sa mort ? Et lui, qui était-il en vérité ? N’était-ce que l’historien d’art érudit et admiré que j’avais cru connaître ? Et moi, qu’est-ce que je deviens, quand une femme déboule dans ma vie, et qu’elle n’est pas un tableau ?
187 pages, Pocket Book
First published January 1, 2003
5 people are currently reading
93 people want to read
About the author
Philippe Beaussant
35 books2 followersPhilippe Beaussant est un musicologue et écrivain français. Il est spécialisé en musique baroque française et a publié a nombre d'ouvrages sur ce sujet.
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
May 31, 2015
In finishing this book I felt a little as if I had failed as a reader. So many reviews full of praise for this little novella, about Pierre who in searching through the notebooks of his uncle, discovers a secret and sets off on a journey to shed some light on a side of his uncle he would have sworn didn't exist.
Sadly, nothing really quite sat right with me. Not the tone of the first part of the novella in which Pierre recalls conversations with his uncle while reading from his notebook. Conversations about art mostly - something that usually has me wrapped around a finger in no time - yet they felt strangely lifeless, a bit like a force-fed lecture on art wrapped in linguistic romanticisms.
I found the characters in this book so very one-dimensional they seemed almost artificial to me. One might argue that a novella - due to it's limited length and by definition - is not a place for complex character studies. That may be true, but no person with a beating heart is quite as dull as Pierre I would hope.
In short: this wasn't for me. Not the characters, not the language, not the form Beaussant has chosen for his story, nor the build up of it.
Sadly, nothing really quite sat right with me. Not the tone of the first part of the novella in which Pierre recalls conversations with his uncle while reading from his notebook. Conversations about art mostly - something that usually has me wrapped around a finger in no time - yet they felt strangely lifeless, a bit like a force-fed lecture on art wrapped in linguistic romanticisms.
I found the characters in this book so very one-dimensional they seemed almost artificial to me. One might argue that a novella - due to it's limited length and by definition - is not a place for complex character studies. That may be true, but no person with a beating heart is quite as dull as Pierre I would hope.
In short: this wasn't for me. Not the characters, not the language, not the form Beaussant has chosen for his story, nor the build up of it.
March 29, 2016
If you love decorative art & the sacred arts of our European cultural forebears, then you will appreciate this evocation of a series of intimate relationships of like-minded people, around the respected art historian Charles, and his nephew & assistant Pierre. Some of the arch dialogue sparkles; much of the nostalgic narrative reads with the texture of an old oil painting and the triple dimensionality of a classical sculpture! (Pretentious? Moi?!). The translation by husband & wife team, Buck & Petit(!?) oozes sensuality & style, another triumph for the Pushkin Press. I read this in two early morning white nights, when the only cure for sleeplessness is a good read. This was a great read!
December 13, 2022
Pierre’s Uncle Charles, an art historian and aficionado, has died and left all his possessions to Pierre, his only relative. Pierre has spent his adult life with his Uncle as his assistant and thinks he knows everything there is to know about him – until he finds a notebook in which Charles has written memories of a long lost love.
“The pages slip when the notebook is bent slightly.” (pg.1)
Five years later Pierre comes face to face with the woman, Judith, mentioned in his Uncle’s notebook. Then he meets Judith’s daughter, Sarah.
This tiny book of 157 pages, separated in 4 sections, explores Pierre’s memories of the Uncle he thought he knew. Leaving one to ponder – how well do any of us really know another.
I suspect some of the true cadence of this story is lost in the translation but even so it reads like a song; paintings are depicted as if each is a story unto itself; and love and art are intertwined in a slow dance of words.
“The pages slip when the notebook is bent slightly.” (pg.1)
Five years later Pierre comes face to face with the woman, Judith, mentioned in his Uncle’s notebook. Then he meets Judith’s daughter, Sarah.
This tiny book of 157 pages, separated in 4 sections, explores Pierre’s memories of the Uncle he thought he knew. Leaving one to ponder – how well do any of us really know another.
I suspect some of the true cadence of this story is lost in the translation but even so it reads like a song; paintings are depicted as if each is a story unto itself; and love and art are intertwined in a slow dance of words.
June 15, 2018
Hmmm. Goodreads says I've read this twice (can't figure out how to change that). I've read it once, wouldn't read it again. It's slow and only somewhat rewarding. I stuck with it because Pushkin Press does such a beautiful job with their editions; I love the shape, size and look of this series, very inviting and reader-friendly (had read another in this series and liked that more: Yasushi Inoue's Life of a Counterfeiter). The translation seems decent to very good. Other reviewers have complained about the translation of this novella; I assume a different edition.
June 4, 2017
I feel like I missed the beauty of this. No, not missed it. I saw the beauty, could smell and touch it, yet it didn't quite resonate with me.
November 5, 2018
I enjoyed this but felt the ending was a little rushed and lacked the same care given to the rest of the book. Full of beautiful descriptions of art, history and locations it felt like a wonderful escape from the everyday.
February 19, 2017
haven’t #named the translator for this delightful French novella, because I read it in French. Le Rendez-vous de Venise by Philippe Beaussant was first published in 2003 and when I read Emma’s billet at Book Around the Corner last year I decided with her encouragement to order the French edition, completely forgetting that I already owned the English Pushkin Press English edition (Rendezvous in Venice, 2014, translated by Paul Buck and Catherine Petit) through my 12-month subscription to Pushkin Press. As it turned out, I was very glad to have both. (And for the ease of readers I have referenced the page numbers of the English translation.)
The novella will appeal to anyone who likes art. Pierre Voisin, the narrator, introduces his Uncle Charles as an erudite art historian whose affectionate patronage and skilful mentoring has guided Pierre’s own career as an art historian too. They had a very close relationship, but it was not until after his uncle’s death that Pierre discovers in some old notebooks that Uncle Charles had once been passionately in love with a woman called Judith. Pierre, who has modelled his own austere life on his uncle’s, is astonished, because he thinks that Uncle Charles thinks of women only as portraits. Poor Pierre, he can’t imagine his uncle kissing a young woman in the streets of Venice.
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2017/02/19/l...
The novella will appeal to anyone who likes art. Pierre Voisin, the narrator, introduces his Uncle Charles as an erudite art historian whose affectionate patronage and skilful mentoring has guided Pierre’s own career as an art historian too. They had a very close relationship, but it was not until after his uncle’s death that Pierre discovers in some old notebooks that Uncle Charles had once been passionately in love with a woman called Judith. Pierre, who has modelled his own austere life on his uncle’s, is astonished, because he thinks that Uncle Charles thinks of women only as portraits. Poor Pierre, he can’t imagine his uncle kissing a young woman in the streets of Venice.
How can I imagine my austere old uncle with a woman? I only ever saw him with old Mariette dressed in black, with her blue apron and her hair in a bun, herself resolutely old-fashioned, smiling sometimes, yes, smiling, looking up from her work or into the glass of a window she was busy wiping, and who, I knew, reminded my uncle of Françoise in Swann’s Way? How can I imagine Uncle Charles close to a woman?
Yet, of course, women were not absent from his thoughts. He loved them. I know, I’ve seen it. When he started to talk about them, he just couldn’t stop. But they were always painted women. He talked about them like a lover but, unlike a jealous lover, he gave the impression, while talking about his beloved (the beautiful Eleanor of Toledo, painted by Bronzino, or Giovanna Tornabuoni in the fresco of Sante Maria Novella) that he would have wished you to share his passion and that his dearest wish was for you to fall in love with her too. (p. 26-7)
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2017/02/19/l...
February 19, 2017
haven’t #named the translator for this delightful French novella, because I read it in French. Le Rendez-vous de Venise by Philippe Beaussant was first published in 2003 and when I read Emma’s billet at Book Around the Corner last year I decided with her encouragement to order the French edition, completely forgetting that I already owned the English Pushkin Press English edition (Rendezvous in Venice, 2014, translated by Paul Buck and Catherine Petit) through my 12-month subscription to Pushkin Press. As it turned out, I was very glad to have both. (And for the ease of readers I have referenced the page numbers of the English translation.)
The novella will appeal to anyone who likes art. Pierre Voisin, the narrator, introduces his Uncle Charles as an erudite art historian whose affectionate patronage and skilful mentoring has guided Pierre’s own career as an art historian too. They had a very close relationship, but it was not until after his uncle’s death that Pierre discovers in some old notebooks that Uncle Charles had once been passionately in love with a woman called Judith. Pierre, who has modelled his own austere life on his uncle’s, is astonished, because he thinks that Uncle Charles thinks of women only as portraits. Poor Pierre, he can’t imagine his uncle kissing a young woman in the streets of Venice.
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2017/02/19/l...
The novella will appeal to anyone who likes art. Pierre Voisin, the narrator, introduces his Uncle Charles as an erudite art historian whose affectionate patronage and skilful mentoring has guided Pierre’s own career as an art historian too. They had a very close relationship, but it was not until after his uncle’s death that Pierre discovers in some old notebooks that Uncle Charles had once been passionately in love with a woman called Judith. Pierre, who has modelled his own austere life on his uncle’s, is astonished, because he thinks that Uncle Charles thinks of women only as portraits. Poor Pierre, he can’t imagine his uncle kissing a young woman in the streets of Venice.
How can I imagine my austere old uncle with a woman? I only ever saw him with old Mariette dressed in black, with her blue apron and her hair in a bun, herself resolutely old-fashioned, smiling sometimes, yes, smiling, looking up from her work or into the glass of a window she was busy wiping, and who, I knew, reminded my uncle of Françoise in Swann’s Way? How can I imagine Uncle Charles close to a woman?
Yet, of course, women were not absent from his thoughts. He loved them. I know, I’ve seen it. When he started to talk about them, he just couldn’t stop. But they were always painted women. He talked about them like a lover but, unlike a jealous lover, he gave the impression, while talking about his beloved (the beautiful Eleanor of Toledo, painted by Bronzino, or Giovanna Tornabuoni in the fresco of Sante Maria Novella) that he would have wished you to share his passion and that his dearest wish was for you to fall in love with her too. (p. 26-7)
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2017/02/19/l...
July 30, 2016
I took a chance on Rendezvous in Venice – I’d heard very little about it, but all the signs were good. The wistful cover image caught my eye when one of my favourite bookish tweeters bought the novel and posted a photo on Twitter. I loved the title with its hint of a secret meeting between lovers and Venice setting (who can resist a novel set in Venice?). It’s published by Pushkin Press, a trusted and reliable source of literature. I seem to do well with their novels, so I snapped it up. Luckily it turned out to be an absolute gem – it’s a beautifully nuanced story and a delight from start to finish.
First published in French in 2003, Beaussant’s novel is narrated by Pierre, a young man with a passionate interest in art. Pierre learnt everything he knows about paintings from his Uncle Charles, a quiet, gentle and solitary art historian who is no longer alive. During the fifteen years he spent working as Charles’ assistant, Pierre acted as faithful and attentive pupil. He was always willing to listen as his uncle recounted ‘the history of the world through the gaze of a painted woman.’
Following Charles’ death, Pierre makes a startling discovery in one of his uncle’s private notebooks. A line catches his eye: ‘I will never return to Venice…’ Moreover, there is mention of a woman waiting by a canal. At first, Pierre wonders if his uncle’s notes refer to a painting, a tableau by Canaletto, perhaps. But as he reads on, Pierre realises that his uncle’s notes say ‘I’ and ‘me’ – Charles was writing about himself. The woman is for real – her name is Judith, and she is waiting for Charles. Here’s a short extract from Charles’ notebook:
She is waiting for me. And I, from the bridge, I watch her waiting for me. I am still recovering from a bad night in the train. It is cold, that damp cold which is colder than cold. That woolly mist of Venice in the winter penetrates me. I stay up there. From the bridge I contemplate the most beautiful sight a man can imagine, especially if, like me, he is moving towards what one calls ‘maturity’: an attractive young woman, not only attractive but desirable, tender and sweet, who is waiting for him. She seems so absorbed in her waiting that she pays no attention to anything around her, not even to me, already there and looking at her. (pg. 21)
The notebook reveals details of a deep and passionate affair between Charles and Judith, a short-lived but intense romance that appears to have taken place some 25 years ago when Charles was in middle age. This revelation comes as a complete surprise to Pierre as he cannot imagine his uncle in a close relationship with a younger woman. Women were not absent from his uncle’s thoughts, Charles loved them, but they were always women in paintings – Bronzino’s Eleanor of Toledo, for instance.
To read the rest of my review, please click here:
https://jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2015...
First published in French in 2003, Beaussant’s novel is narrated by Pierre, a young man with a passionate interest in art. Pierre learnt everything he knows about paintings from his Uncle Charles, a quiet, gentle and solitary art historian who is no longer alive. During the fifteen years he spent working as Charles’ assistant, Pierre acted as faithful and attentive pupil. He was always willing to listen as his uncle recounted ‘the history of the world through the gaze of a painted woman.’
Following Charles’ death, Pierre makes a startling discovery in one of his uncle’s private notebooks. A line catches his eye: ‘I will never return to Venice…’ Moreover, there is mention of a woman waiting by a canal. At first, Pierre wonders if his uncle’s notes refer to a painting, a tableau by Canaletto, perhaps. But as he reads on, Pierre realises that his uncle’s notes say ‘I’ and ‘me’ – Charles was writing about himself. The woman is for real – her name is Judith, and she is waiting for Charles. Here’s a short extract from Charles’ notebook:
She is waiting for me. And I, from the bridge, I watch her waiting for me. I am still recovering from a bad night in the train. It is cold, that damp cold which is colder than cold. That woolly mist of Venice in the winter penetrates me. I stay up there. From the bridge I contemplate the most beautiful sight a man can imagine, especially if, like me, he is moving towards what one calls ‘maturity’: an attractive young woman, not only attractive but desirable, tender and sweet, who is waiting for him. She seems so absorbed in her waiting that she pays no attention to anything around her, not even to me, already there and looking at her. (pg. 21)
The notebook reveals details of a deep and passionate affair between Charles and Judith, a short-lived but intense romance that appears to have taken place some 25 years ago when Charles was in middle age. This revelation comes as a complete surprise to Pierre as he cannot imagine his uncle in a close relationship with a younger woman. Women were not absent from his uncle’s thoughts, Charles loved them, but they were always women in paintings – Bronzino’s Eleanor of Toledo, for instance.
To read the rest of my review, please click here:
https://jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2015...
May 23, 2015
Rendezvous in Venice is a short book, divided within itself into four smaller sections, each of which reads like a story on its own. In the first Pierre, a young art historian perusing the possessions of his dead uncle, with whom he worked for 15 years, discovers a notebook. In its pages the dead man reveals a long hidden side to himself; a passionate love affair with a younger woman, the discovery late in life of the exuberance of love, and a joie de vivre which the nephew had never glimpsed. Later, in the second part, the nephew realizes he is face to face with this long lost lover of his mentor, and must confront his unwelcome and unexpected jealousy. In Part 3 the story continues as Pierre falls in love with the daughter of his uncle’s lover only to lose her, and in Part 4 all things play out to their, in hindsight, inevitable close (or is it beginning?)
So easy to describe, and yet so difficult to do justice. Underlying the story here is a recurrent theme: we cannot know the secret lives within. We can peer at a painting or the face of a stranger on the street and build a story for them, a destiny of sorrow or joy, but the people sitting right beside us, the people with whom we share our lives, will have their own internal worlds and histories we could never imagine. The story is framed by art and the city of Venice gives the perfect background to this theme, overrun by tourists but yielding its hidden treasures to the lovers who take the time to seek them out. The paintings, like the city and the people within it, ask us to look closer, to make time to imagine the story behind the story.
Rendezvous in Venice is a story about falling in love, and the joy and pain that it can bring. It is also a story about art, and about people. Pierre’s unbidden jealousy when he realizes that Judith, his uncle’s former lover, shares memories that he thought were his alone, was powerfully rendered. Charles’ secret life convinced me. If there was a flaw to the book for me, it was Pierre’s character. He seemed too old. I didn’t believe that he could be in his 30s. Perhaps I have had too frivolous a life and he too serious! But it was pleasure to read, and I suspect will yield more enjoyment on the second time around.
So easy to describe, and yet so difficult to do justice. Underlying the story here is a recurrent theme: we cannot know the secret lives within. We can peer at a painting or the face of a stranger on the street and build a story for them, a destiny of sorrow or joy, but the people sitting right beside us, the people with whom we share our lives, will have their own internal worlds and histories we could never imagine. The story is framed by art and the city of Venice gives the perfect background to this theme, overrun by tourists but yielding its hidden treasures to the lovers who take the time to seek them out. The paintings, like the city and the people within it, ask us to look closer, to make time to imagine the story behind the story.
Rendezvous in Venice is a story about falling in love, and the joy and pain that it can bring. It is also a story about art, and about people. Pierre’s unbidden jealousy when he realizes that Judith, his uncle’s former lover, shares memories that he thought were his alone, was powerfully rendered. Charles’ secret life convinced me. If there was a flaw to the book for me, it was Pierre’s character. He seemed too old. I didn’t believe that he could be in his 30s. Perhaps I have had too frivolous a life and he too serious! But it was pleasure to read, and I suspect will yield more enjoyment on the second time around.
July 23, 2012
There are times when a book comes along and it slides into your life without a hiccup, without causing abrasions, without any jarring whatsoever; it just sits down beside you, takes your hand, slips between the sheets. I've just had that pleasurable experience. Rendezvous in Venice by Philippe Beaussant hit the spot. At a time when I had been writing about Italy and the art found within it I bought Rendezvous at a charity book stall; the timing was just perfect.
It is written perfectly, each sentence is thought out, there is not a word out of place. Sometimes perfectly constructed prose can be boring, tedious, send you crawling for the nearest piece of trash 'lit' or even the television. It is possible that if I had read this book at any other time I would have found myself slumped in front of an episode of Eastenders, or god forbid one of the Spanish soaps (you cannot get deeper in the barrel of poor TV than Spanish soaps). As it was I was swept along on the rush of words, through the swirling rapids and into the dead calm of the lagoon where language and I both drew breath.
The romantic me was stimulated a few sentences. It captured the essence of the looks of love that one has either been lucky enough to be a part of or has spent many an idle hour dreaming of.
"I thought it was only in the paintings of the great masters that lovers could look at each other for eternity, without the night ever falling, without old age creeping in, without tiredness, fatigue or boredom ever appearing. I had just discovered that the stillness of eternal lovers[...] could give way to looks, fleeting smiles and momentary glances".
Originally written in French, the translator clearly has a very good grasp of the author's feelings. It is a very inspirational read.
It is written perfectly, each sentence is thought out, there is not a word out of place. Sometimes perfectly constructed prose can be boring, tedious, send you crawling for the nearest piece of trash 'lit' or even the television. It is possible that if I had read this book at any other time I would have found myself slumped in front of an episode of Eastenders, or god forbid one of the Spanish soaps (you cannot get deeper in the barrel of poor TV than Spanish soaps). As it was I was swept along on the rush of words, through the swirling rapids and into the dead calm of the lagoon where language and I both drew breath.
The romantic me was stimulated a few sentences. It captured the essence of the looks of love that one has either been lucky enough to be a part of or has spent many an idle hour dreaming of.
"I thought it was only in the paintings of the great masters that lovers could look at each other for eternity, without the night ever falling, without old age creeping in, without tiredness, fatigue or boredom ever appearing. I had just discovered that the stillness of eternal lovers[...] could give way to looks, fleeting smiles and momentary glances".
Originally written in French, the translator clearly has a very good grasp of the author's feelings. It is a very inspirational read.
December 9, 2012
Rendezvous in Venice is a treasure of a novella. I can't really embellish on the reviewers quoted on the cover, who call it a subtle, elegant, tender, perfectly written, graceful meditation on art and the blindness of admiration.
All I will add is that a book described as the above could easily have been a poncy, aggravating, self-regarding, airy-fairy, empty excuse for a waste of paper, but in managing not to be any of those things it verges on the sublime. There is one thing I could pick at, but not without giving away more than I'd like to, so I simply won't. It doesn't matter.
Final thought: it probably is easier to be faultless when being brief, but how many authors know to stop when they ought? Not enough.
All I will add is that a book described as the above could easily have been a poncy, aggravating, self-regarding, airy-fairy, empty excuse for a waste of paper, but in managing not to be any of those things it verges on the sublime. There is one thing I could pick at, but not without giving away more than I'd like to, so I simply won't. It doesn't matter.
Final thought: it probably is easier to be faultless when being brief, but how many authors know to stop when they ought? Not enough.
November 23, 2024
Philippe Beaussant’s novella, Rendezvous in Venice, is told in four parts that circle elegantly back into each other. Pierre Voisin discovers a diary his uncle wrote before he died. Pierre thought he knew everything about his art historian uncle, but the diary reveals that Charles had a lover some decades before Pierre started working for him...
Read the rest of my review at A Bookish Type. I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley for review consideration.
Read the rest of my review at A Bookish Type. I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley for review consideration.
May 30, 2015
Pierre worked with his uncle for many years and felt that he knew him well, so is intrigued to discover after his uncle’s death that he had had a passionate love affair with a woman called Judith. He determines to uncover the truth about the relationship but in so doing finds his own life is turned upside down when he meets Judith’s daughter. A meditation on love, art and memory, elegantly and lyrically written, with a wonderful and atmospheric evocation of Venice, the novel nevertheless failed to engage me and I found it a bit too subtle for its own good.
July 21, 2015
A beautiful but alas very poorly translated novella (hence the 3 stars only for this edition; should have been 2,5 really.) It's as if these translators understood nothing about substantial differences of flow, sentence structures and general sensibilities of narratives in French language versus narratives in English. Should have picked up the original, instead. If you read French even a little bit, make sure you pick the book up in the original language.
July 8, 2015
I received this as a galley from the publisher.
I really enjoyed this book. First of all it helped toward my goal of reading more books in translation this year, and second it was a really good read. I thought the author's descriptions of place and character were delightful. This read like short stories in part but by the end fit together nicely as a unit. A quiet but good read.
I really enjoyed this book. First of all it helped toward my goal of reading more books in translation this year, and second it was a really good read. I thought the author's descriptions of place and character were delightful. This read like short stories in part but by the end fit together nicely as a unit. A quiet but good read.
December 7, 2015
"There was so much melancholy that I spent the entire novel kind of vacillating between feeling the chill of a lack of emotion and being annoyed by the frequent invitations to the self-pity party" read more: http://likeiamfeasting.blogspot.gr/20...
June 12, 2014
The nurse's description at the beginning of the book is beautiful!
Great book!
Great book!
July 28, 2015
Un peu faible (délavé).
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews