Venice

Venice is the turning point in the tale of the father of Stefan Zannovich: the city where an itinerant seller discovers that speed, crowds, and the appetite for entertainment can be exploited for profit. It offers him a livelihood unavailable in the countryside, but that livelihood depends on deception and ends with the law pursuing him.

Arrival and the City’s Opportunity

The elder Zannovich leaves Albania for Venice, carrying what he has to sell. The tale presents the move as part of a wider exchange between country and city: some people leave towns for the countryside, while others leave the countryside for towns. In the country, life is quieter and people can spend hours talking, though a successful day may bring only a few pennies. Venice is difficult in a different way. People stand closer together and have less time; coaches and fast horses have replaced the oxen of rural life. The city’s pace creates both risk and opportunity: fortunes can be won or lost quickly.

A Livelihood Built on Entertainment

After selling his wares, the elder Zannovich takes up cards and plays with people in the city. He is described as dishonest, a card-sharp, but also as intelligent enough to understand what his surroundings make possible. His money-spinner is the urban public’s desire to be entertained despite having little time. He supplies that entertainment through card play, and it costs his customers serious money. The episode makes Venice more than a destination: it is the setting in which proximity and hurry become resources for a practiced cheat.

Exposure and Departure

The arrangement lasts until someone suspects that he has been cheated. The suspicion leads to blows and police involvement; the law of Venice pursues him, and he decides to avoid further dealings with it. He escapes with his children, horses, and money, returning to Albania rather than remaining in the city. The departure closes his Venetian career, but not the fortune it produced: back in Albania he buys an estate and a whole village, sends his children to colleges, and eventually dies as a highly respected man. Venice is therefore remembered both as the place where his fortune begins and as the place from whose law he must flee.