The Betrothed: a Seventeenth-Century Milanese Story Discovered and Rewritten / by Alessandro Manzoni- first published in the Italian in three volumes from 1825 to 1827 - translated by Michael F. Moore- preface by Jhumpa Lahiri.- 2022- 665 Pages

The Betrothed: a Seventeenth-Century Milanese Story Discovered and Rewritten / by Alessandro Manzoni- first published in the Italian in three volumes from 1825 to 

1827 - translated by Michael F. Moore- preface by Jhumpa Lahiri.- 2022- 665 Pages

Alessandro Manzoni-1785 to 1873 - Milan

"I look forward to Manzoni’s The Betrothed reaching and conquering new readers in the English language and to teaching Manzoni to my students again. The timing is ideal. More than ever, we need the grand, reassuring architecture of a novel from the 1800s—which in its own time shed light on the early 1600s—to give us perspective on some of the most tumultuous, troubling, and pressing matters that still pertain to our twenty-first-century world: plague, those who deny scientific evidence of the plague, migration, refugee crises, hunger, foreign occupation, religious hypocrisy, tyranny, corruption, mob mentality, existential anguish, class warfare, incarceration, 1600s—to give us perspective on some of the most tumultuous, troubling, and pressing matters that still pertain to our twenty-first-century world: plague, those who deny scientific evidence of the plague, migration, refugee crises, hunger, foreign occupation, religious hypocrisy, tyranny, corruption, mob mentality, existential anguish, class warfare, incarceration, identity politics, privacy violations, the abduction and silencing of women, and the rights of two people who love each other to be married under the law. Manzoni’s novel—both emotionally gripping and coolly objective, both extremely spirited and deadly serious—will enthrall you and sober you in turns." From The Preface by Jhumpa Lahiri 

Jhumpa Lahiri, as I knew she would, has elegantly accounted for the reasons we should be grateful to Michael F. Moore for opening up Manzoni's masterwork to Anglophone readers. This should be high on serious readers of the 19th Century European novel to be read list.

The unifying theme of The Betrothed is the relationship between Renzo and Lucia, two young lovers whose desire to marry is thwarted by a rich and powerful noble man who wants Lucia as a concubine. They are unable to find a Catholic priest willing to marry them out of fear of reprisal. The clergy, especially Capuchins, play a big part. Lucia is placed in a nunnery from which she escapes.

Milan, the capital of Lombardy in 1628 , is transformed into a necropolis, the dead pile up in the streets, food is very hard to get. (The novel takes place in 1628–30. During this period, the Duchy of Milan—whichencompassed large parts of what is today the Lombardy region—was under Spanish rule, and occupied a key geopolitical position within that empire. Its neighbor, the Republic of Venice, was a sovereign state, extending as far west as Bergamo,about thirty miles from Milan The Duchy was therefore under the Spanish king, Philip IV-from the Historical Background End Notes)

Anyone who is able leaves. Renzo is a skilled silk industry worker and is able to find work. The plague brings out the best in some, the worst in others.

The Betrothed very much follows the history of the period. Moore has included very extensive footnotes as well as an appendix detailing historical figures in the novel.

Alessandro Manzoni (1785–1873) is Italy’s most celebrated writer. His masterpiece, The Betrothed (I promessi sposi), created the modern Italian language and has influenced generations of the country’scountry’s writers and readers. In addition to this novel—written over a thirty-year period and in three distinct versions—he was a poet, playwright, and prolific essayist, writing on subjects ranging from history to language, literary theory, and religion. - from the book

Michael F. Moore’s published translations range from twentieth-century classics—Agostino by Alberto Moravia and The Drowned and the Saved by Primo Levi—to contemporary novels, most recently Live Bait by Fabio Genovesi and Lost Words by Nicola Gardini. Moore is the former chair of the Advisory Board for the PEN/Heim Translation Fund. For many years he was also an interpreter at the United Nations, and a full-time staff member of the Permanent Mission of Italy to the UN.

Mel Ulm