Oh, remember in thy woe
All the joy that waits for thee
All the peace thy heart would know.

Germont, La Traviata de Giuseppe Verdi
First presented in Venice, March 6, 1853.

Venice

Donna Leon - Books

Wednesday, October 22, 2003

Children and teens Hide and seek and steal Don't look now, says Jan Mark, but this story of child thieves flitting around Venice is a German gem

Saturday June 22, 2002
The Guardian

The Thief Lord
by Cornelia Funke, trans Oliver Latsch
350pp, The Chicken House

When writers for adults contemplate Venice they behold decay, dereliction and death. Thomas Mann, Daphne du Maurier, LP Hartley and Salley Vickers have all dispatched hapless protagonists to Italy, where they see Venice - and die.

Cornelia Funke observes the city with a child's eye. "There were so many hiding places, so many narrow alleys with names no one could remember - some of them with no names at all. Boarded-up churches, deserted houses... the whole city was one huge invitation to play hide and seek." But for the children who flit through this maze, hide and seek is no game. In the disused Stella cinema lives a gang of runaways, Hornet, Mosca and Riccio, who have recently acquired two new members: orphaned brothers Prosper and Bo, who are fleeing their aunt because she would separate them, adopting the cute little one and sending the other to boarding school.

Life in the Star Place, as they call it, is precarious. The children support themselves by scavenging and stealing. They are protected by their mysterious mentor, Scipio the Thief Lord, who comes and goes by night, insisting on secrecy and passwords - part Zorro, part Robin Hood. In spite of his carnival mask and his high-heeled boots, the children are aware that he can barely be older than themselves. Nevertheless, they believe his tales of high crime, and he has the loot to prove it. As it turns out, Scipio is another unloved child, dangerously living out his fantasies.

Before long the fragile security of this little band comes under threat from adults, particularly the detective hired to find Prosper and Bo. Victor Getz catches up with them just when Scipio accepts a commission for a daring robbery, and the plot, which has been gradually slipping the surly bonds of earth, becomes fully airborne. For despite the apparent dirty realism, this is actually magic realism as it has traditionally flourished, unnoticed, in children's books: vigorous, compassionate, funny and deeply serious by turns. The children are not abused victims or feral delinquents; within the family they have forged they are loyal, kind, generous and, paradoxically, good. There is no simplistic suggestion that all adults are the Enemy or that childhood en-compasses all the virtues; every character has to be accepted on his or her terms. The only real heavy is the fence, Barbarossa, and he is more ludicrous than evil; even his red beard comes out of a bottle. Getz becomes an ally and Ida Spavento, the target of Scipio's intended robbery, a co-conspirator.

As a presiding genius over all this stands the winged lion, totem of the city, on his column in the Piazza San Marco and as a figure on a fabulous long-lost round about in a convent orphanage. It is the aborted robbery that brings Scipio, the child who would be a man, face to face with adults seeking to recover their lost childhood, and ultimately delivers an ambiguous retribution to Barbarossa and the heartless aunt.

To say more would give away the plot - hectic, labyrinthine and at once logical and preposterous in its antic examination of childhood and adulthood. The humane and masterly work of this German writer and her scrupulous respect for her readers show up much of our home-grown fantasy for the derivative, manipulative dross that it is becoming.

· Jan Mark's novels include The Eclipse of the Century (Scholastic)

*

A terrific book for kids and adults alike (A reader's opinion)
I read this book aloud to my two sons, ages 7 and 8. We all enjoyed it on different levels. As an adult, I enjoyed the wealth of well-defined characters, from the older, slightly grumpy detective, Victor, to the pre-teen title character. There was well-paced action throughout, with an unexpected introduction of magic and mysticism at the end. And therein lies my criticism of this book. In no way was the reader set up to expect the magical elements in the book's final 50 pages. What had started out as a suspenseful, character-driven book had, by book's end, turned into a different monster altogether. It felt as if Funke changed directions on us. By the same token, the author also changes the book's focus upon just who is the main character. The title notwithstanding, Scipio, the self-named Thief Lord, was a supporting character throughout most of the book, with the bulk of the action revolving around Prop and Bo, as they attempt to hide from their aunt in the alleys of Venice. By the end, however, The Thief Lord is the one who goes through the most radical changes, thereby truly becoming the book's main protaganist. This fuzziness on Funke's part is problematic because we haven't truly focused on Scipio's relationship with his father, which is what is ultimately driving Scipio's actions and decisions. It almost feels as if Funke started the book, got about half-way through its writing, put it away for a year, and finished it in a totally different manner from where she had begun.
Oh, well... these problems notwithstanding, it made for a great read. Funke has a great book inside of her. The Thief Lord may ultimately prove to be its predecessor.

Thursday, November 20, 2003

Fashion Now (first draft)

I love her afternoons
when she blindly swarms
like a headless bird;
When at her meadow,
invaded by robots,
she commands her energy,
wearing a little red hat
and shutting one eye.

Anwar Al-Ghassani
Thursday, November 20, 2003

Friday, November 21, 2003 Schumann's Lieder and LWT

Robert Alexander Schumann (1810-1856), the Zwickauer and Leipziger. Where is The schumannstrasse? Look it up in the lost map.

Perhaps it is not love or admiration that I feel towards him, but rather solidarity, since he was a co-citizen of my beloved and abused Leipzig. He is very German and romantic, and I am making him very Iraqi, inviting him to my open home.
Listen to his Kinderspiele, or his Lieder. There is Dichterliebe, op. 48, words by Heinrich Heine (1797-1856) and Liederkreis, op. 39, words by Josef Freiherr von Eichendorff (1788-1857).
The first two from Dichterliebe "Im wunderschönen Monat Mai" and "Aus meinen Tränen spriessen", I want to listen to them alone, or, better: only and only in the company of LWT. She would first throw herself on me, hug me with her honey-brown eyes and listen in absolute silence to their interpretation by Dietrich Fisher-Dieskau (baritone) and Alfred Brendel (piano). Then when these tiny songs are over, she will try them on the piano, and if I have luck, she again will sing "signor, signor..."

Here is the text of these early wintery Leipzig evenings in German and English:

1. Im wunderschönen Monat Mai

Im wunderschönen Monat Mai,
Als alle Knospen sprangen,
Da ist in meinem Herzen
Die Liebe aufgegangen.

Im wunderschönen Monat Mai,
Als alle Vögel sangen,
Da hab' ich ihr gestanden
Mein Sehnen und Verlangen.

2. Aus meinen Tränen spriessen

Aus meinen Tränen sprießen
Viel blühende Blumen hervor,
Und meine Seufzer werden
Ein Nachtigallenchor.

Und wenn du mich lieb hast, Kindchen,
Schenk' ich dir die Blumen all',
Und vor deinem Fenster soll klingen
Das Lied der Nachtigall.

1. In the wonderfully beautiful month of May

In the wonderfully beautiful month of May
When all the buds are bursting open,
There, from my own heart,
Bursts forth my own love.

In the wonderfully beautiful month of May
When all the birds are singing,
So have I confessed to her
My yearning and my longing.

2. From my tears sprout forth

From my tears sprout forth
Many blooming flowers,
And my sighing become joined with
The chorus of the nightingales.

And if you love me, dear child,
I will send you so many flowers;
And before your window should sound
The song of the nightingale.