Edizione Nazionale ed Europea delle opere di Alessandro Manzoni. Vol. XXVII: Carteggio Alessandro Manzoni-Claude Fauriel by Giancarlo Vigorelli , Irene Botta (review)

Abstract

Reviews 850 recent editions of thesources are insufficient and thattheonlytruly useful guidebooks were written byEnglish orAmerican scholars. Simonetti tries tofill this gapbypostulating theexistence ofcertain typographical consortia onthebasisof hisanalysis oftheworks byStBernardino printed inVenicebetween I568 and I583. DespiteGronda's defence ofcertain kinds ofItaliantextual bibliography, the overall toneofthepublished proceedings placesemphasis ona needfor Italy to integrate certain Anglo-American methodologies into its ownbibliological praxis. UNIVERSITY OFEDINBURGH RODNEY LOKAJ Edizione J%azionale edEuropea delle opere diAlessandro Manzoni.Ed. byGiancarlo Vigorelli.36 vols. Milan:CentroNazionaleStudiManzoniani. 2000. Vol.XXVII: Carteggio Alessandro Manzoni-Claude Faurzel. Ed. byIRENE BOTTA. Foreword byEZIOBLAIMONDI. 2000.C1V + 58I PP. s,ooo,ooo lire the set. The complete works andcorrespondence ofItaly's greatest novelist Alessandro Manzoni (I785-I873)arenowbeing published ina newthirty-six volume edition sponsored bytheCentro Nazionale Stud; Manzoniani, with itsDirector Giancarlo Vigorelli acting as general editor. MichaelCaesarrecently introduced to the English-speaking public the first three volumes issued (areview ofVols xv,XVII, and XXVII, appeared inELS,20October 2000,IO-II). Thevolume considered here, edited byIrene Botta, contains Manzoni's correspondence with theFrench scholar ClaudeFauriel(I772-I844),and stands outas a mostaccomplished pieceof scholarship. No adequate edition ofthese letters existed before now.TheSforzaGallavresi edition ofManzoni'sgeneral correspondence (Milan:Hoepli,I9I2I92I ,2 VO1S published) wasnever completed. CesareArieti's edition ofManzoni's Lettere (Milan:Mondadori, 970, 3 vols),laterre-edited andenlarged byDante Isella(Milan:Adelphi, I986,3 vols)? wasnotmeant toinclude theletters ofhis correspondents. However fewFauriel's missives maybe,foronlythirteen have survived against eighty-nine byManzoni,their author's testimony remains of crucial importance fora correct appreciation ofManzoni's Parisian experience (I805-o8,I809-IO)andsubsequent most creative phase, dating from hisdefinitive return toMilan(I8IO) tothepublication ofIpromessi sposi (I827).Botta's edition provides a muchimproved textoftheletters, all butone written in French, accompanied bya detailed textual apparatus. Byavoiding anyundueattempt to silently improve either spelling orsyntax, Bottahasenabled thereader toassess Manzoni's French ina fairer waythaneverbefore (seeonthis specific topicher article inRivista diletteratura italiana, I2(I994),I29-55).Manzoni's free, unpedantic andattimes inconsistent, butonthe whole highly sophisticated useofFrench wasa consequence ofhisfamiliarity with the intellectual circles hehadfrequented inParis with hismother GiuliaBeccaria (Cesare Beccaria's daughter). Itwasthere that he first metFauriel, andthrough himeminent personalities likeMmedeCondorcet, Cabanis, Destutt deTracy, Ginguene, Cousin, Guizot, Sismondi, Fayolle, Somis, Thierry, Constant andmany others. Thisexperience wastoprove decisive for his future literary activity. The Carteggio dealswith a widevariety oftopics: idyllic andpopular poetry, the history ofStoicism, tragedy asaliterary genre, the medieval civilizations ofSouthern Europe, reflections on thecomplex relationship between vrai andvraisemblable in literary works. Noris science missing, revealing thetwomen'syearning fora scientific progress aimedat theimprovement ofpolitical awareness and social welfare. The noblelegacy oftheFrench Enlightenment liveson inthese letters, MLR, 96.3, 200 I 85 I despite andinopposition tothe authoritarian turn imposed inthose years onFrance byNapoleon, whonotoriously ousted Fauriel andhisfriends, known asthe Ideologues, andlater onbythe Restauration. Inhercommentary, Botta hassingled outallthose passages theexpert aswellas thelayreader wouldexpect toseeclarified and/or discussed, managing toshed considerable light on theproblems they raise.She has identified mostofthe documents, letters, books andeven personal copies ofprinted works either cited or simply hinted at in thetext.Thanksto herfirst-hand acquaintance withthe documentation heldinMilanese andParisian libraries shehasalsosucceeded in reconstructing thecontents ofmost ofFauriel's lost letters, re-establishing thereby a kindofvirtual balancebetween thedisproportioned members ofthesurviving correspondence. Thenotes areexhaustive without being prolix, andcontain numerous references toimportant unpublished material brought tolight during research. Bottahad already provided indisputable evidence for Fauriel's involvement inthedrafting of Manzoni's Lettre aM. C.*** (inAnnali manzoniani, n.s.2 ( I 994),3-33).Inthe notes to this Carteggio onecannowreadabout theidentification ofa copy ofDante'sComedy with autograph marginalia byVittorio Alfieri (p.43),thediscovery ofa MS copy of Manzoni's tragedy Adelchi, unknown eventothemost recent editor oftheplay, containing autograph corrections bytheauthor (p.355,andplateI I showing a reproduction ofthe title page), the scrutiny ofFauriel's notebooks revealing methods andachievements ofa great expert onDanteandthe medieval world (seethe Index, under 'Fauriel, Charles-Claude'), andmany other delightful finds. SinceBottais continuing her investigations onthese topics, scholars arenowconfidently expecting from her further major contributions tothe knowledge ofnineteenth-century Italian literature andFranco-Italian relations. UNIVERSITY OFSTANDREWS CARLO CARUSO II Aovecento inglese e italiano. Saggi critici e comparativi. EzraPound, T. S. Eliot, Eugenio Montale, Giuseppe Ungaretti, Mario Luti, Sergio Solmi, F. R.Leavis, Bertrand Russell, Rabindranath Wagore, Stephen Spender ePhzlip Larkin. BYG. SINGH andGABRIELLE BARFOOT. (ZetaUniversita, I)Udine...