Novel
The Betrothed
I promessi sposi
Alessandro Manzoni · 1840
Opening lines
Quel ramo del lago di Como, che volge a mezzogiorno, tra due catene non interrotte di monti, tutte a seni e a golfi, a seconda dello sporgere e del rientrare di quelli, vien, quasi a un tratto, a ristringersi, e a prender corso e figura di fiume, tra un promontorio a destra, e un'ampia costiera dall'altra parte […]
That branch of the Lake of Como which turns towards the south, between two unbroken chains of mountains, all bays and gulfs as they jut out and draw back, comes, almost all at once, to narrow and take the course and shape of a river, between a promontory on the right and a wide stretch of shore on the other side […]
Translation by Erostrate
Text quoted from gutenberg.org
Synopsis
In the autumn of 1628, in Lombardy under Spanish rule, two young people from a village on the shores of Lake Como, Renzo, a silk worker, and Lucia, are due to marry. But don Rodrigo, the local lord, opposes the marriage. Forced to flee their village, the betrothed are separated: Lucia finds refuge in a convent, Renzo makes his way to Milan, where he becomes caught up in a riot, then has to flee to Bergamo, while war, famine and plague descend on the country.
Context
A first draft, completed in 1823, was reworked and published from 1825 to 1827 in three volumes. The author then left for Florence in order, in his phrase, to “wash his linen in the Arno”, that is, to recast his language on Florentine speech; the definitive edition, published from 1840 to 1842, came out of this. In French, Yves Branca translated it in Folio in 1995, with a preface by Giovanni Macchia; in English, Michael F. Moore in 2022.
Who it is for
A long historical novel, to be read at one's own pace, in which the story of ordinary people mingles with the great events of the century.
Prizes and reception
The novel is among the most influential in Italian literature and fixed its modern language.
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