Manzoni e Bossuet by Luciano Parisi (review)

Abstract

264 Reviews Miguel da Silva, the apparently obscure Portuguese diplomat and humanist touched upon subtly and sporadically throughout Motta's volume. Obscure in our own time he may be, but, in much the same way that Motta had cleverly analysed the minor poetasters ofthe period to reveal contemporary attitudes to the Montefeltro, so his ex? amination of da Silva's reputation among his contemporaries as humanist and literary patron, both in Italy and elsewhere, shows that Castiglione's choice was intelligent and appropriate for his wider purpose. Motta's essay here contains much informa? tion concerning literary trends and figures useful to set the Cortegiano in context but almost forgotten nowadays by all but the most conscientious researchers into these minor writers. As Dionisotti and Weiss made clear, such figures were not so minor in the eyes of their contemporaries; the dedicatee Miguel da Silva is a similar case. Motta points out da Silva's influence in the cultural life of Rome and Florence, and notes his importance in his native Portugal, faced by literary and linguistic problems not dissimilar to those debated by Castiglione, in particular those associated with Italy's questione della lingua. Ties of scholarship and of friendship had linked Castiglione's interests to the activities of the Portuguese nobleman since their firstacquaintance in 1515. Da Silva provided a European figurewith no political baggage, whereas yet an? other dedication to some minor Renaissance princeling, sated with such sycophancy, would have few financial or political rewards to offerCastiglione, by 1528 Bishop of Avila. It was another way in which Castiglione could extend his ideas beyond the minor principates he had so long experienced, in order to target a wider European audience. The dedication, effected when the text of the Cortegiano had already been printed, was a further example of the author's newly invented disinvoltura, a move which set the seal on Castiglione's literary ambition and no doubt surprised his po? tential patrons as it does his readers today. Uberto Motta's erudite contribution to Castiglione criticism follows in a long and glorious Milanese tradition of studies on Renaissance and later courts, a tradition which entered the modern era with the work of the venerable Giuseppe Billanovich. The Department of Literature at the Universita del Sacro Cuore became renowned for its courses on courtly language and culture under the inspired leadership of Francesco Mattesini and more recently Claudio Scarpati, both of whom findworthy mention in the rich bibliography visible in the footnotes ofthis volume. To their illustrious names I would crave Professor Motta's indulgence in order to add my personal homage to Cesare Mozzarelli, three of whose important contributions also find mention here. Mozzarelli was another stalwart of the Sacro Cuore, though in the Department of History. For some thirty years he was the dynamic secretary and organizer of the Centro Studi Europa delle Corti, in whose fiftyor so volumes of essays and minutes he was a driving force as editor and contributor. He died tragically young in 2004. Magdalen College, Oxford J.R. Woodhouse Manzoni e Bossuet. By Luciano Parisi. (Saggi e testi di letteratura italiana, 7) Alessandria: Edizioni dell'Orso. 2003. 153 pp. ?15. ISBN 88-7694-673-x. Luciano Parisi's philosophical study of Manzoni (1785-1873) and Bossuet (16271704 ) proposes to analyse the influence of the French philosopher on the literary output of the Italian author. Manzoni's firstbiographers, Cantu, Giorgini, and his stepson Stefano Stampa, confirmed Manzoni's enthusiasm for Bossuet, Massillon, Nicole, and Pascal. Parisi claims to illustrate the place of Bossuet in Manzonian stu? dies with a greater degree of clarity than has been achieved in the past. Manzoni's Catholicism and its Jansenist tendencies have sparked discussion and disagreement among critics since his own times. In the firstpart ofthe Osservazioni MLR, ioi.i, 2006 265 sulla morale cattolica(i8ig), written as a reply to Sismondi's criticism of the Catholic Church, Manzoni defends the Church's authority. His declaration of the superiority of the moral over the contemplative dimension of spiritual life, and his treatment of divine grace alongside the themes of free will and providence, place him within a tra? dition advocated by his spiritual adviser, the...