The Reasonable Romantic Essays on Alessandro Manzoni

The great European writer Alessandro Manzoni, 1785-1873, known primarily for his masterful novel I promessi sposi (The Betrothed), remains relatively unknown and insufficiently appreciated outside the rather narrow confines of Italian studies. Yet, his artistic and theoretical contributions to the Romantic debate and to Western literature were important ones, and influential throughout Europe. The seventeen studies collected in this book analyze and assess Manzoni's divers literary roles: poet, dramatist, novelist, linguist, historian, religious thinker, aesthetic theorist. The articles are written in English, and all quoted Italian passages are also given in English translation. Thus, the book offers the English reader who may not be acquainted with this very important writer an introduction to the beauty, the richness, and the complexity of his wide-ranging writings. And yet, all the articles are original, never-before-published contributions on specific aspects of Manzoni studies which will be of interest to Manzoni scholars everywhere. The contributors (Jean-Pierre Barricelli, Larry H. Peer, Sante Matteo, Murray R. Low, Roberto Severino, Robert A. Hall, Jr., Gregory Lucente, Alfonso Procaccini, Stelio Cro, Clareece Godt, Steven C. Hughes, Massimo Verdicchio, S.B. Chandler, Franco Triolo, and Steven Sondrup) hail from different disciplines - Italian studies, comparative literature, history, linguistics - and include widely recognized experts on Manzoni as well as new voices in the field.