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Two mediocre books in one, neither particularly well developed or integrated.
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Serenissima aka Shylock's Daughter
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Erica Jong reads her dazzling novel in a way that will give you wings to travel through time. She will lure you to the Venice of today and the Venice in its illustrious past.
Hollywood actress Jessica Pruitt, a judge at the Venice Film Festival, senses something mysterious in the air. A captive of Venice wracked with fever and exhaustion, the past and present intermingle and Jessica slips into 16th century Venice to play the greatest role of her life and to experience the sensual love affair she has always been seeking.
Hollywood actress Jessica Pruitt, a judge at the Venice Film Festival, senses something mysterious in the air. A captive of Venice wracked with fever and exhaustion, the past and present intermingle and Jessica slips into 16th century Venice to play the greatest role of her life and to experience the sensual love affair she has always been seeking.
384 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1,1987
This edition
- Format
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384 pages, Hardcover
- Published
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March 1, 1988 by Dell
- ISBN
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9780440201045
- ASIN
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0440201047
- Language
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English
About the author
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Erica Jong—novelist, poet, and essayist—has consistently used her craft to help provide women with a powerful and rational voice in forging a feminist consciousness. She has published 21 books, including eight novels, six volumes of poetry, six books of non-fiction and numerous articles in magazines and newspapers such as the New York Times, the Sunday Times of London, Elle, Vogue, and the New York Times Book Review.
In her groundbreaking first novel, Fear of Flying (which has sold twenty-six million copies in more than forty languages), she introduced Isadora Wing, who also plays a central part in three subsequent novels—How to Save Your Own Life, Parachutes and Kisses, and Any Woman's Blues. In her three historical novels—Fanny, Shylock's Daughter, and Sappho's Leap—she demonstrates her mastery of eighteenth-century British literature, the verses of Shakespeare, and ancient Greek lyric, respectively. A memoir of her life as a writer, Seducing the Demon: Writing for My Life, came out in March 2006. It was a national bestseller in the US and many other countries. Erica's latest book, Sugar in My Bowl, is an anthology of women writing about sex, has been recently released in paperback.
Erica Jong was honored with the United Nations Award for Excellence in Literature. She has also received Poetry magazine's Bess Hokin Prize, also won by W.S. Merwin and Sylvia Plath. In France, she received the Deauville Award for Literary Excellence and in Italy, she received the Sigmund Freud Award for Literature. The City University of New York awarded Ms. Jong an honorary PhD at the College of Staten Island.
Her works have appeared all over the world and are as popular in Eastern Europe, Japan, China, and other Asian countries as they have been in the United States and Western Europe. She has lectured, taught and read her work all over the world.
A graduate of Barnard College and Columbia University's Graduate Faculties where she received her M.A. in 18th Century English Literature, Erica Jong also attended Columbia's graduate writing program where she studied poetry with Stanley Kunitz and Mark Strand. In 2007, continuing her long-standing relationship with the university, a large collection of Erica's archival material was acquired by Columbia University's Rare Book & Manuscript Library, where it will be available to graduate and undergraduate students. Ms. Jong plans to teach master classes at Columbia and also advise the Rare Book Library on the acquisition of other women writers' archives.
Calling herself “a defrocked academic,” Ms. Jong has partly returned to her roots as a scholar. She has taught at Ben Gurion University in Israel, Bennington College in the US, Breadloaf Writers' Conference in Vermont and many other distinguished writing programs and universities. She loves to teach and lecture, though her skill in these areas has sometimes crowded her writing projects. “As long as I am communicating the gift of literature, I'm happy,” Jong says. A poet at heart, Ms. Jong believes that words can save the world.
In her groundbreaking first novel, Fear of Flying (which has sold twenty-six million copies in more than forty languages), she introduced Isadora Wing, who also plays a central part in three subsequent novels—How to Save Your Own Life, Parachutes and Kisses, and Any Woman's Blues. In her three historical novels—Fanny, Shylock's Daughter, and Sappho's Leap—she demonstrates her mastery of eighteenth-century British literature, the verses of Shakespeare, and ancient Greek lyric, respectively. A memoir of her life as a writer, Seducing the Demon: Writing for My Life, came out in March 2006. It was a national bestseller in the US and many other countries. Erica's latest book, Sugar in My Bowl, is an anthology of women writing about sex, has been recently released in paperback.
Erica Jong was honored with the United Nations Award for Excellence in Literature. She has also received Poetry magazine's Bess Hokin Prize, also won by W.S. Merwin and Sylvia Plath. In France, she received the Deauville Award for Literary Excellence and in Italy, she received the Sigmund Freud Award for Literature. The City University of New York awarded Ms. Jong an honorary PhD at the College of Staten Island.
Her works have appeared all over the world and are as popular in Eastern Europe, Japan, China, and other Asian countries as they have been in the United States and Western Europe. She has lectured, taught and read her work all over the world.
A graduate of Barnard College and Columbia University's Graduate Faculties where she received her M.A. in 18th Century English Literature, Erica Jong also attended Columbia's graduate writing program where she studied poetry with Stanley Kunitz and Mark Strand. In 2007, continuing her long-standing relationship with the university, a large collection of Erica's archival material was acquired by Columbia University's Rare Book & Manuscript Library, where it will be available to graduate and undergraduate students. Ms. Jong plans to teach master classes at Columbia and also advise the Rare Book Library on the acquisition of other women writers' archives.
Calling herself “a defrocked academic,” Ms. Jong has partly returned to her roots as a scholar. She has taught at Ben Gurion University in Israel, Bennington College in the US, Breadloaf Writers' Conference in Vermont and many other distinguished writing programs and universities. She loves to teach and lecture, though her skill in these areas has sometimes crowded her writing projects. “As long as I am communicating the gift of literature, I'm happy,” Jong says. A poet at heart, Ms. Jong believes that words can save the world.
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I usually like Erica Jong and enter this book expecting the same, especially since I had just come back from a trip to northern Italy and had the luck to be able to spend two whole days in Venice. I figured even if I didn't care for the book, I would enjoy the added insight into Venice. Uh, no.
I think I was mostly frustrated by the tremendous amount of new vocabulary (or rather old, obscure vocabulary). I like to keep track of new words, but I like them to be ones I might have a chance of using in the future.
It has been a while since I read it so this review isn't exactly fair but I do remember it, or I remember the list of words. The story itself? Not really.
I think I was mostly frustrated by the tremendous amount of new vocabulary (or rather old, obscure vocabulary). I like to keep track of new words, but I like them to be ones I might have a chance of using in the future.
It has been a while since I read it so this review isn't exactly fair but I do remember it, or I remember the list of words. The story itself? Not really.
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This was the worst piece of dreck I've ever attempted to read in my entire life. Half way through the book there was still no solid plot and the same thing was going on as in the first chapter. I had to drag myself to pick up the book multiple evenings in a row. I finally gave up on it.
If I could give this book a minus 5 stars I would do so. Total garbage!!! Don't waste your time.
If I could give this book a minus 5 stars I would do so. Total garbage!!! Don't waste your time.
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Quite interesting - the disruption of the film-maker's press conference is pure bedlam...
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Imaginative, rewarding fast read with something to think about afterward. The leading characters are a mature actress and the city of Venice.
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So much fun to read, especially if you love Shakespeare and/or Venice, as Jong plainly does.
A highly personal account of a literary woman's lust for life, including, of course, motherhood!
A highly personal account of a literary woman's lust for life, including, of course, motherhood!
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Always attracted to Venice but really didn't like it when I read it according to the old notebook
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Originally published as Serenissima, this is the erotic tale of an actress who goes to Venice to film The Merchant of Venice. She beomes infatuated with the ancient city and teeters between dreamworld and reality. Are these people she meets real or part of a fantasy...could she be falling for Shakespeare himself?
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