Travel to Italy

The Stones of Florence

Format: Paperback
Author: Mary McCarthy
ReleaseDate: 04 November, 2002
Publisher: Harvest/HBJ Book
Rating:

Uphill Going
Ms McCarthy begins her book with a long chapter pointing out every fault and flaw of the city of Florence.
Reading "The Stones of Florence" by Mary McCarthy is, unfortunately, like a pedestrian climb to San Mineato, all uphill going. Florence is too hot in the summer, too congested with traffic, the sidewalks are too narrow, the people are too unwelcoming and argumentative, on and on, for about twenty-five relentless pages.

By the time one arrives at the end of Chapter One--similar again to the climb to San Mineato, one is out of breath and wondering if the trip was worth the trouble, and not perhaps as impressed by the lovely surroundings as our erstwhile guide might have intended.

Of course there are other ways of getting to San Mineato (do go, dear traveler and take the bus, please, it is cheap and effective, sit in the nave in late afternoon to hear the monks sing vespers and then watch the sun set as you have dinner at the quaint terrace restaurant just to the left of the Piazzale Michelangelo, where you will find great pasta and refreshing drinks of granita. . . Surprisingly low, good prices and great views of the entire city, before retuning to the old city). And there are other, better ways of reading about Florence than this book which should have been subtitled, "Only I Know Florence So The Rest of You Bums Ought to Stay Away". Nanny nanny boo boo.

For it is only at page twenty-six (chapter two) that McCarthy finally launches into her Ms Know-It-All tone about the city's history. By then the reader is so enervated he or she cares but little about what one will see, or who was who, and either too frustrated or too exhausted or both to pay her much attention. The reader continues reading only because supposed experts have said that this is a book worth considering. Well, what do they know?

It is all too much like having Mummy and Daddy insist "Eat Your Vegetables!" or having your grumpiest crone of an aunt plunk you down in front of a mediocre painting and prod with her cane and insist an appreciative response from you because she is doing it "for your own good". Dreadful.

Maybe Mary was having a bad day, or week, or life, I don't know; but by the time one is done with this dreary work one wonders why Mary wrote the book at all. Maybe she needed the money, badly. One wonders even more why any publisher accepted it. It is rather inconceivable that any editor thought this book worth the time, bother, paper and ink.

Oh, well, yes, there are a few smatterings of truth to all that she says. Florence can be too hot. The last time I was in Florence it was July and the heat was of the record-breaking variety. All the more reason to stroll over to Vivoli's and have a gelato, or two. The traffic was hectic, but then, all the more reason to duck into a shop and come out with something new in gorgeous Florentine leather. The sidewalks are narrow, all the more reason to slow down, and drink in the details of this marvelous, indescribably fascinating city that has surprises for the first time or returning visitor at every turn. One could spend a month just enjoying the vast variety of door knockers on the ancient palaces, or for that matter, sampling the byways that offer relief from the tourist trail. But then, why pretend one is not a tourist--there is nothing wrong with visiting a place to experience it, with all of its surprises and wonders. And as for the people--yes there are street vendors who ought not be there, but on the whole we find the Florentines to be welcoming and pleasant, as we find all of the Italians--who respond to Americans as if their long lost cousin has just stopped in for a visit.

A visitor to any city could produce a long list of dislikes and turn them into a "Ten Things I Hate About You". Mary McCarthy's approach has no sense whatsoever that she loves or even likes the famous center of the Italian Renaissance. What a contrast it is to R W B Lewis' fabulous, thoroughly enjoyable, readable book on the same subject--which I recommend highly to one and all and without qualification as the best single volume about Florence written in modern times. McCarthy is the reader's adversary. Lewis is the reader's friend.

The title of Mistress Mary's book is, of course, a play on dear old Johnny Ruskin and his writings about Venice, but this is not a masterpiece of English literature. Far from it. It is a disappointment from start to finish.
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Renaissance Woman Takes on Renaissance City
This is to use "renaissance woman" in the sense that that tag, "renaissance man," was first applied to the world's most famous artist, Leonardo da Vinci, himself a product of the Italian Renaissance as it took root in Florence. Mary McCarthy(1912-1989), might well be described as a Renaissance woman, in the sense that she was a teacher, and a writer of intelligent and incisive fiction, nonfiction, and criticism. Not only was he an outstanding artist, he was also a scientist, engineer, architect, and all-around technology geek-- the best his times allowed. And Florence, for sure, remains one of the world's great destination cities, bursting with celebrated Renaissance art-- works by Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raphael, and Botticelli-- to name but a few, that's readily accessible to the public. So here we have McCarthy's well-known, greatly-praised take on that city.

The author, a witty and sophisticated writer, published seven novels from 1942-1979, of which the most widely known is the semi-autobiographical,sexually outspoken "The Group,"made into a movie, about the lives of her Vassar classmates. She also published many works of nonfiction, many magazine articles, taught at several colleges, and won many awards. She was born in Seattle, Washington, orphaned at the age of six: her parents were killed in the great flu epidemic of 1918. Her private life was to continue to be eventful; she had many love affairs and several husbands, including, as her second, the esteemed critic Edmund Wilson. She also had a well-publicized friendship with Hannah Arendt, a respected writer-philosopher; and an even better publicized quarrel with the influential writer and playwright Lillian Hellman, of whom she told tv host Dick Cavett in 1980, "every word she writes is a lie, including and and the. " (Hellman sued her for this, but the case was dropped at the playwright's death. )

Florence provided McCarthy with perfect subject matter, and the first thing to be said about this book is that every paragraph displays prodigious learning. Her discussions of the art, politics, geography and history of the city are unparalleled. Be warned though, there is, unfortunately, some repetition, as she's keeping so many subjects in play at once.

McCarthy's thesis is that, although Florence is a treasury of great art and architecture, it is neither easy nor pleasant to view it; after two lengthy visits there myself, Renaissance student that I am, every criticism of hers rings true. The people are as obdurate as their local stone, interested in their own concerns, and not necessarily thrilled by the throngs of tourists clogging their streets. The streets and sidewalks themselves are generally made of stone, very noisy, wherever you are. Sidewalks are just two to three feet wide: if you're forced into the roadway you risk your life under the wheels of the motorbikes and motorcycles whizzing by. You will never find a soft, non-stone bench to rest your feet. And the city grew in the valley of the river Arno: it's suffocatingly hot in summer, chilly, damp, rainy otherwise. Furthermore the Arno is prone to flooding of historic proportions.

Still, to be sure, this city is a magnet for visitors from around the world. If you dream of it too, prepare yourself: read this book first. No English-speaking writer better understood Florence, or had wider, denser scholarship to offer on the subject.

Stones of Florence
This is a book of commentary and Mary McCarthy's observations and knowledge about Florence. I just finished this book prior to a trip to Florence. I found it very useful, and in parts very fascinating. I'd recommend it before taking a trip to Florence.

The beginning is a bit slow. But when it picks up, afer the first chapter or so, it goes much faster. I would have gotten more out of it, and it would have gone faster, if I had already read one of my other books about Florence, say "Florence: Biography of a City" or "Florence A Portrait. " This is because, especially at the beginning, she comments on artists and places I'm not familiar with.

Her commentary about art and artists is really must read information. Especially about Uccello and, later, the Mannerists. There's some great history here, too. I'd STRONGLY recommend reading this book before a trip to Florence. .

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