Take A Break In Venice

If the prospect of spending spring break in Cincinnati sounds grim, why not join John Drury, professor of English, for his “Literary Venice Tour”? Participants will leave Cincinnati on Thursday, March 17, and return on Friday, March 25.

They will stay at the Pensione Bucintoro, where 19th century artists such as Whistler, Sargent, and local favorite, Duveneck, painted from its windows. While in Venice, travelers will visit museums, churches, palaces, and synagogues and go on walking tours.

They will also take boat rides to islands like Murano with its glass-blowing factories and Torcello with its cathedral that is more than 1,000 years old.

The focus of their explorations will be literature written about Venice and authors who included it in their works: writers like William Shakespeare, Lord Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Robert Browning, Henry James, Marcel Proust, and even Erica Jong. Students registered for the tour will receive a packet of readings from the professor, who will host several get-togethers at his house so people will have a chance to prepare for the trip by watching film clips and talking about Venice and its literature.

Drury thinks the city attracts so much attention from artists and writers because of its uniqueness: “It’s the best city in the world for walking, since there are no cars and since the city is full of fascinating and beautiful things to see. When people finally get tired from walking, they can take a waterbus along the Grand Canal or sit in a café. The author Gore Vidal says that people who come to Venice are usually looking for something they can’t find elsewhere. It’s a magical, dream-like place.”

Graduate and undergraduate students can receive spring quarter credit for taking the tour and registering for 15-ENGL-575. The total cost for the trip will be about $2,000, depending on the exchange rate of the dollar to euro and on the amount of spending money each traveler wants to take. Grants to support student travel are available from the Institute for Global Studies and Affairs and the Charles Phelps Taft Memorial Fund. The professor will assist students in applying for grants. The process begins in early January.

The tour is open to the public, as well as registered students. Those who are interested should contact Drury by Dec. 16 at the very latest. His e-mail address is

john.drury@uc.edu

.