Alessandro Manzoni is the chief exponent of Italian Romanticism both as a poet and a novelist.
His novel “I Promessi Sposi”, 1825-27, (The Betrothed), is considered one of the great masterpieces in Italian fiction.
What pushed him to write a historical novel was the great popularity Scott’s novel enjoyed.
I Promessi Sposi is set in 17th-century Lombardy during the period of the Milanese insurrection against Spanish domination and in the time of the plague.
It is a sympathetic portrayal of the struggle of two peasant lovers whose love is opposed by the local tyrant who is supported by the cowardly local priest. They are separated and finally reunited after many adventures.
Manzoni’s patriotic involvement in the Italian Risorgimento also made him revise his novel to help establish the Florentine dialect as Italy’s national tongue.
The revised edition was published in 1842.
Manzoni’s narrative style is characterised by a well-organised plot, fluency and humour.
His concern for the poor and his Christian faith gained him fame and praise in Italy and abroad.
Walter Scott
Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832) brought to the novel his interest in history and placet.
He set his novels in various historical periods and sometimes in different countries. For example, Ivanhoe is set in 12th-century Britain at the time of Richard the Lionheart, while The Talisman is set in the same period but in the Holy Land.
In Ivanhoe Scott presents the contrast between the followers of John, Richard the Lionheart’s brother, who was usurped the throne, and the faithful followers of the rightful king. He did not portray history, however, through the experience of noble heroes, but through ordinary people who are not strong partisans of either side. In this way Scott was able to portray the complexity of day-to-day reality in a particular historical setting of time and place.
By taking a whole historical period as his subject matter, and making it live through his narrative, he revolutionised fiction, not only in England but throughout Europe.
Manzoni’s I Promessi Sposi was inspired by him in the portrayal of the life of common people in a crucial historical period such as the 17th century in Lombardy.
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