The Betrothed: I Promessi Sposi (Penguin Classics) [Paperback]

Alessandro Manzoni (Author), Bruce Penman (Translator, Introduction)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 6, 1984 | Series: Penguin Classics

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.

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English, Italian (translation)

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.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Paperback: 720 pages
• Publisher: Penguin Classics (March 6, 1984)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 014044274X
• ISBN-13: 978-0140442748
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.1 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (34 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #134,369 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

124 of 126 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the very greatest historical novels ever written, February 6, 2003

By 

Robert Moore (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Betrothed: I Promessi Sposi (Penguin Classics) (Paperback)

Allesandro Manzoni's THE BETROTHED is rightfully considered one of the great novels in Italian history, if not the greatest. It is also one of the greatest historical novels ever written. Manzoni magnificently blends together a score of memorable characters with a string of vividly rendered historical events to provide an epic story of frustrated lovers in Italy during the Thirty Years Wars in the early 17th century when the state of Milan was occupied by the Spanish Habsburgs. The result is a great story placed against the background of a turbulent period in Italian history. The choice of that period of time is fascinating in itself. Instead of dealing with one of the more glorious periods of Italian history, such as the 15th or 16th centuries, Manzoni chose the relatively undistinguished 17th, during a time when much of Italy suffered under foreign rule, while many of the other city states were in a period of decline.

Few novels that I know deal with historical topics as magnificently as this one. One has to go to a writer like Tolstoy to find scenes as memorable as the tremendous scene in the Lazaretto in which Fra Cristoforo admonishes Renzo for his desire for revenge, with thousands of people dying of the plague surrounding them. Nearly as powerful is Manzoni's masterful depiction of the bread riots in Milan or the way he describes the progress of the German army in its passage through the region on its way to Mantua. Although one hardly reads the novel for the history lessons it provides, one learns an unusually large amount.

I am a bit perplexed as the criticism that the novel contains too much in the way of Christian redemption in the latter part of the novel. Of course it does. As much as an historical novel, THE BETROTHED is a religious novel, in which Manzoni in his own way tries to justify the ways of God to men. If one compares the novel to the historical works of someone like Hugo or other French historical novelists, one will be struck by the sharp divergence in the depiction of the Church and the clergy. In France, an anti-clericalism characterizes many or most of the novels. Manzoni is much more balanced. Some of his religious figures, such as the Nun of Moanza or the Lecco parish priest, are either ridiculous or treacherous, but by and large the great heroes in his book are either monks (Fra Cristoforo), clerics (the Cardinal), or converts (the Unnamed). The theme of the novel is a religious one: "All things work together for good for those that love God." Given the central theme of the novel, the religious themes are not an unwanted accretion, added on arbitrarily by an author otherwise summoning up a tremendous yarn, but integral to the novel as a whole. To dampen or eliminate the religious themes would have been to make it into another novel entirely.

Most of all, THE BETROTHED is just a flat out great story. Separated lovers, devious villains, mysterious figures: who wouldn't fall for all this? Manzoni is a masterful storyteller, and frequently one is left with a powerful impatience to know what is going to happen next. Anyone looking for a great novel could hardly hope to do better than this great masterpiece.

52 of 52 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Masterpiece of Historical Fiction, August 4, 1999

By 

"rayniro" - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Betrothed: I Promessi Sposi (Penguin Classics) (Paperback)

Twenty years ago I went through a graduate program in Comparative Literature and read literally thousands of novels, plays, poems, etc. Of all that I read then, The Betrothed (I Promessi Sposi) is one of the few works that stand out. Scott, Hugo, and other novelists were familiar, but Manzoni was a new name to me then. He has become a favorite companion in the ensuing years. I am currently reading this novel for the 7th or 8th time (lost count). Written with compassion and humor, Manzoni offers an enthralling story of a peasant couple swept up in the political, social and religious turmoil of early 17th century Italy. There are many subplots involving characters of every rank and station, all vividly portrayed. What brings me back to this novel repeatedly are: 1) the author's masterful handling of plot--everything fits and flows (super)naturally; and 2) his ability to capture the beauty, wonder and horror of life in eloquent and moving prose. It is a mystery why this novel is not better known in the U.S.

31 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Simply great, August 8, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Betrothed: I Promessi Sposi (Penguin Classics) (Paperback)

This is the most famous book in Italian literature. Most students hate it, but their opinion just doesn't count because for them it is but brutal forced reading. Manzoni's "The Betrothed" can be enjoyed on various levels. In the first place, it is packed with action: there's the good guy, the imperiled damsel, the arch-villain, the saintly friar and various comic characters like the cowardly priest and his spinster-servant. The plot is tipically Nineteenth Century: the loving couple can't get married because the arch-villain gets in their way and starts all the tribulations. On the other hand, the whole plot can be seen as a religious parable (and that is why students hate this book: they are forced to see the whole matter from this point of view ONLY.) on Providence. Thirdly, the book can be seen as an authoritative historical text about the Sixteenth Century. Unlike his colleague Walter Scott, whose Middle Ages look like a Hollywood movie starring Liz Taylor, Manzoni wrote "The Betrothed" after a serious hystorical reserach: almost every episode is historically based and he made use of Sixteenth-century chronicles and laws as a basis for his story's context. On top of this, the characters aren't mere literary creations. They are alive and pop out of every page as living creatures with all their humanity. Everything in them denounces Manzoni as a keen observer of the human heart. I highly recommend this book. Buy it and enjoy it!