BIOGRAPHY

Kennard, Joseph Spencer. “Alexander Manzoni.” In Italian Romance Writers, pp. 81-115. New York: Brentano's, 1906.

Biographical sketch of Manzoni that focuses particularly on the sources for and composition of I promessi sposi.

CRITICISM

Biasin, Gian-Paolo. “The Juice of the Story: Alessandro Manzoni, I promessi sposi.” In The Flavors of Modernity: Food and the Novel, pp. 29-42. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1993.

Considers alimentary metaphors and other concerns with hunger, food, and eating in I promessi sposi.

Chandler, S. Bernard. “The Voice of Conscience in Alessandro Manzoni and Some of His Predecessors.” In Rivista di Studi Italiani 12, No. 1 (June 1994): 130-33.

Briefly surveys instances of religious guilt and internal conflict in I promessi sposi.

Cro, Stelio. “Cavour and Manzoni's ‘Liberalism.’” In Romance Languages Annual 5 (1993): 188-93.

Mentions Manzoni's contribution to the doctrine of Italian liberalism in chapter 12 of I promessi sposi and the novelist's ideological affinity with Camillo Benso di Cavour in regard to this subject.

De Lucca, Robert. “Revealed Truth and Acquired Knowledge: Considerations on Manzoni and Gadda.” In MLN 111, No. 1 (January 1996): 58-73.

Probes the impact of Manzoni's theory of poetic verisimilitude on the writings of Carlo Emilio Gadda.

Ferlito, Susanna. “Mapping European Philosophy: The Coy Politics of Manzoni's ‘Lettera a Victor Cousin.’” In Modern Language Quarterly 59, No. 2 (June 1998): 195-226.

Analyzes the rhetorical stance and effectiveness of Manzoni's critique of philosophical eclecticism in his “Lettera a Victor Cousin.”

Gatti-Taylor, Marisa and Steven Taylor. “The God-Man and the Man-God: The Scriptural Matrix of Napoleonic Images in Two Odes by Manzoni and Hugo.” In Nineteenth-Century French Studies 18, Nos. 3-4 (Spring-Summer 1990): 454-62.

Traces biblical allusions in Manzoni's Il cinque maggio and Victor Hugo's “Lui.”

Gladfelder, Hal. “Seeing Black: Alessandro Manzoni Between Fiction and History.” In MLN 108, No. 1 (January 1993): 59-86.

Views Manzoni's Storia della colonna infame and subsequent works of historical fiction as about both the reconstruction of and the reconstruction of truth from earlier works.

Godt, Clareece G. The Mobile Spectacle: Variable Perspective in Manzoni's I promessi sposi. New York: Peter Lang, 1998, 167 p.

In-depth study of shifting points of view in I promessi sposi that additionally comments on Manzoni's treatment of history, landscape, and human psychology in the work.

Haraguchi, Jennifer. “Historical Fact and Literary Invention: The Medical and Social Plagues of I promessi sposi.” In Romance Languages Annual 7 (1995): 268-72.

Enumerates thematic and structural parallels between historical and metaphorical plagues in I promessi sposi.

Illiano. A. “On Manzoni's Disillusionment with Literature.” In Forum Italicum 24, No. 1 (Spring 1990): 111-15.

Discusses Manzoni's departure from literature in favor of historiography as a superior means of accessing moral truth.

Jones, Verina R. “Counter-Reformation and Popular Culture in I promessi sposi: A Case of Historical Censorship.” In Renaissance & Modern Studies 36 (1993): 36-51.

Explores Manzoni's rewriting of the history of the Catholic Church in I promessi sposi.

Papini, Giovanni. “Alessandro Manzoni.” In Labourers in the Vineyard, pp. 131-89. London: Sheed & Ward, 1930.

Studies Manzoni's apologia for the Catholic Church, Osservazioni sulla morale cattolica, his novel I promessi sposi, and his contribution to the Italian Risorgimento.

Pierce, Glenn Palen. “Further Considerations on Manzoni and the Literature of the Seicento milanese: A Note on Don Ferrante's Library.” In Italica 66, No. 1 (Spring 1989): 35-41.

Comments on Manzoni's literary indebtedness to the Milanese playwright Carlo Maria Maggi.

———. Manzoni and the Aesthetics of the Lombard Seicento: Art Assimilated into the Narrative of I promessi sposi. Cranbury, N.J.: Associated University Presses, 1998, 253 p.

Full-length investigation of the influence of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Lombard drama on Manzoni's novel I promessi sposi.