MANZONI, Alessandro FrancescoTommaso Antonio (1785-1873), founder of the romantic school in Italian literature, was born at Milan, March 7, 1785. Don Pietro, his father, then about fifty, represented an old family settled near Lecco, but originally feudal lords of Barzio, in the Valsassina, where the memory of their violence is still perpetuated in a local proverb, comparing it to that of the mountain torrent. The poet’s maternal grandfather, Cesare Beccaria, was a well-known author, and his mother Giulia a woman of some literary ability. Manzoni’s intellect was slow in maturing, and at the various colleges where his school days were passed he ranked among the dunces. At fifteen, however, he developed a passion for poetry, and wrote two sonnets of considerable merit. On the death of his father in.1805, he joined his mother at Auteuil, and spent two years there, mixing in the literary set of the so-called “idealogues,” philosophers of the 18th century school, among whom he made many friends, notably Claude Fauriel. There too he imbibed the negative creed of Voltairianism, and only after his marriage, and under the influence of his wife, did he exchange it for that fervent Catholicism which coloured his later life. In 1806-7, while at Auteuil, he first appeared before the public as a poet with two pieces, one entitled Urania, in the classical style, of which he became later the most conspicuous adversary, the other an elegy in blank verse, ou the death of Count Carlo Imbonati, from whom, through his mother, he inherited considerable property, including the villa of Brusuglio, thenceforward his principal residence....
Manzoni’s marriage in 1808 to Henriette Blondel, daughter of a Genevese banker, proved a most happy one, and he led for many years a retired domestic life, divided between literature and the picturesque husbandry of Lombardy. His intellectual energy at this period was devoted to the composition of the Inni Sacri, a series of sacred lyrics, and a treatise on Catholic morality, forming a task undertaken under religious guidance, in reparation for his early lapse from faith. In 1818 he had to sell his paternal inheritance, as his affairs had gone to ruin in the hands of a dishonest agent. The beautiful villa II Galeotto, where he had spent his childish years amid the scenery he afterwards immortalized, then passed from his hands, to his great regret. His characteristic generosity was shown on this occasion in his dealings with his peasants, who on settling their accounts were found heavily indebted to him. He not only cancelled on the spot the record of all sums owing to him, but bade them keep for themselves the whole of the coming maize harvest.
In 1819 Manzoni published his first tragedy, Il Conte di Carmagnola, which, boldly violating all classical conventionalisms, excited a lively controversy. It was severely criticized in the Quarterly Review, in an article to which Goethe replied in its defence, “one genius,” as Count de Gubernatis remarks, “having divined the other.” The death of Napoleon in 1821 inspired Manzoni’s powerful stanzas II Cinque Maggio, the most popular lyric in the Italian language.
The political events of that year, and the imprisonment of many of his friends, weighed much on Manzoni’s mind, and the historical studies in which he sought distraction during his subsequent retirement at Brusuglio, suggested his great work. Round the episode of the Innominato, historically identified with Bernardino Visconti, I Promessi Sposi began to grow into shape, and was completed in September 1822. The work when published, after revision by friends in 1825-27, at the rate of a volume a year, at once raised its author to the first rank of literary fame. In the interim of its composition in 1822, Manzoni published his second tragedy Adelchi, turning on the overthrow by Charlemagne of the Lombard domination in Italy, and containing many veiled allusions to the existing Austrian rule.
With these works Manzoni’s literary career was practically closed. The end of the poet’s long life was saddened by domestic sorrows. The loss of his wife in 1833 was followed by that of several of his children, and of his mother, to whom he was fondly attached. In 1837 he married his second wife, Teresa Borri, widow of Count Stampa, whom he also survived, while of nino children born to him in his two marriages, all but two preceded him to the grave. The death of his eldest son, Pier Luigi, on April 28, 1873, was the final blow which hastened his end; he fell ill immediately, and died of cerebral meningitis, May 22, aged eighty-eight. His country mourned him with almost royal pomp, and his remains, after lying in state for some days, were followed to the cemetery of Milan by a vast cortège, including the royal princes and all the great officers of state. But his noblest monument was Verdi’s Requiem, specially written to honour his memory.
Manzoni’s position in literature is unique; for, while the romantic Renaissance produced in other countries a galaxy of genius, in Italy it remained embodied in him alone, since none of his disciples came near enough to be classed with him. Scott declared I Promessi Sρosi the finest novel ever written; and, if we take as our standard loftiness of aim combined with ingenuous simplicity of style, and Titianesque power of character painting relieved by an undercurrent of subtle irony giving point to every trivial incident, we need scarcely dispute his verdict. It occupies the same place in Italian as Don Quixote in Spanish literature, overshadowing in similar fashion the whole field of subsequent fiction. Manzoni’s poetry cannot be classed so high, and, despite its nervous diction and epigrammatic intensity of thought, it is as a great master of Italian prose that he will go down to posterity.
Of exalted private character, Manzoni furnishes an almost solitary instance of a poet whose life contains no note of discord with the loftiest standard presented by his works. The highest genius, disciplined by still higher moral self-control, produced in him the rare spectacle of a perfect equilibrium of forces in a powerful mind. His presence was impressive, and his speech, though retarded by a slight impediment, so full of wisdom that Tommaseo declared he had learned more from his conversation than from all the books he had ever read. At the same time he had that exquisite courtesy in listening which gave to those who addressed him the sense of having spoken well. No man ever attained to greater honour from his contemporaries, or sought it less, and few have joined such rare intellectual gifts to so much gracious humility of mind and manners. His warmth of affection, tenderness of sympathy, and universal benevolence endeared him to his friends and fellowcitizens, while by his countrymen at large he was revered as the sage and patriarch of Italian letters.
In addition to the works already named, he wrote La Storia della Colonna Infame, and a small treatise on· the Italian language. I Promessi Sposi, laboriously revised by the author in accordance with the Tuscan idiom, has gone through 118 Italian, 19 French, 17 German, and 10 English editions.
Biographical sketches of Manzoni have been recently published by Cesare Cantiι (1882), Benedetto Prina, Giulio Carcan∩, Angelo de Gubernati*, Antonio Stoppant (his early years), and others. -Some of his letters have been published by Giovanni Sforza, and a work entitled, Commento Storico su I Promessi Sposi, by Cesare Canth. See also the essay on “Fauriel” in Sainte-Beuve’s Portraits Contemporains, vol. iv.
[1,269 words — estimated reading time: 8 minutes]