Product Description

Set in Lombardy during the Spanish occupation of the late 1620s, The Betrothed tells the story of two young lovers, Renzo and Lucia, prevented from marrying by the petty tyrant Don Rodrigo, who desires Lucia for himself. Forced to flee, they are then cruelly separated, and must face many dangers including plague, famine and imprisonment, and confront a variety of strange characters – the mysterious Nun of Monza, the fiery Father Cristoforo and the sinister ‘Unnamed’ – in their struggle to be reunited. A vigorous portrayal of enduring passion, The Betrothed's exploration of love, power and faith presents a whirling panorama of seventeenth-century Italian life and is one of the greatest European historical novels.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #51804 in Books
• Published on: 2004-09-30
• Original language: Italian
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 720 pages

About the Author
Alessandro Manzoni was born in 1785 near Lake Como, Italy. Sent to boarding school at the age of five, he felt estranged from his family, particularly when his mother left his father. As a young man Manzoni subscribed to the ideas of the French Revolution, joining his mother in Paris, where he married Henriette Blondel in 1808. He wrote throughout his life, but suffered from a nervous disorder which grew progressively worse through his lifetime. He died in 1873. Bruce Penman was a versatile linguist fluent in four languages, knowledgeable of ten. In 1984 his translation of China by Gildo Fossati won the John Florio Prize for best translation from the Italian. He died in 1986.

Customer Reviews

Outstanding
A landmark in the history of European literature, 'I Promessi Sposi' is historically accurate (and meticulously researched), features excellent, wide-ranging characterisation, and is at times very funny. The backdrop for the love story which it tells is that of the Milan in the early 17th century, and Manzoni sets the story, of two simple people trying to get married, against tyrannical rulers and bread riots, war and plague in Milan. A timeless work.

The classic Italian novel
If you were educated in Italy, this may bring back bad memories of school (as Huckleberry Finn does for me). For everyone else it can just be a pleasure. It's a historical novel, but like anything of the highest class, it transcends genre. Set in the early seventeenth century in and around Milan, it's the story of two betrothed, separated by whim of a local lord, struggling to reunite against a backdrop of great events. There are plenty of great characters along the way (both a nun and a monk play supporting roles); it's often funny; it avoids excess sentimentality; and it's always interesting.

Italy's great nineteenth century literary epic
Manzoni's magisterial work fulfils a similar role in Italy to that of War and Peace in Russia, Middlemarch in England and Moby Dick in the United States; that of its country's great nineteenth century literary epic. And it is the match for any of the aforementioned in quality. Although basically a picaresque love story it is also very much a humorous but sharp satire against all forms of corruption, oppression and tyranny, whether they be state, religious or familial. In an act to save his skin against threats from a local despot, a priest in a mountain village evades carrying out a promised marriage ceremony between two young lovers, Renzo and Lucia. His dishonesty leads to the unfortunate couple having to part and go their separate ways through the turmoil of seventeenth century Spanish-occupied Milan and beyond into the surrounding principalities. Along the way they experience a series of adventures and encounters with local tyrants and saints, and endure the famines, plagues and ruinous wars that marked that region in that epoch. The description of these historical events is at once dramatic, sweeping and deeply sympathetic. It is likely that Manzoni was influenced by Walter Scott but is much superior in every way. Panoramic, colourful, moving, humorous, exciting, authentic; this is one of the masterworks of world literature.