Book description
The Stones of Florence and Venice Observed are wonderfully vivid and
perceptive descriptions of two great Italian cities, told through their
history and art, revealing Mary McCarthy to be one of literature s
greatest travelling companions. Here she depicts Florence through its
tempestuous past, from the reign of the Medicis to Savonarola s bonfire
of the vanities. Her account is dominated by the splendours of the
Renaissance the statues of Michelangelo and Donatello, the
architecture of Brunelleschi, the paintings of Giotto and Botticelli
but she also shows Florence as a living city with a bustling street
pageant of sounds and smells. A gold idol with clay feet , McCarthy s
Venice is a city of illusion and spectacle, carnival and commerce,
entrancing visitors with its grandeur and richness, its reflection
glittering in the waters of the Adriatic. Mary McCarthy (1912 89). As
drama critic for the Partisan Review (1937 45), she gained a reputation
for wit, intellect, and acerbity. Her novel The Oasis (1949) satirizes
left-wing intellectuals, whereas The Group (1963) satirizes an entire
generation. Her other novels include Cast a Cold Eye (1950), The Groves
of Academe (1952), Birds of America (1971), and Cannibals and
Missionaries (1979). Among her volumes of nonfiction are Venice Observed
(1956), The Stones of Florence (1959), Vietnam (1967), The Mask of
State: Watergate Portraits (1974), Ideas and the Novel (1980), and How I
Grew (1987).
