Partita in Venice

In this comic-tragic novel, we follow Tommy M., who has written speeches for
some Very Important People, in his so-suave, so-certain sophistication toward his
so-boorish, so-certain downfall. As Tommy becomes more uncertain; as he encounters
tall Aunt Maria and her gypsy potions; as he is physically tripped - no less - by the
"chief rabbi of Venice," who claims to have posed for a canvas by Antonio Canaletto;
as he watches faces disappear and reappear along the Venetian calle and waterways - as
all this leaves him more uncertain, we become more certain. A doom stretching straight
from Grecian times is after you, Tommy, isn't it? And all your male nonchalance
and coy humor won't help the least when its long,
fine talons grab hold. . . .


Genre: General Fiction