![]() ![]() Azzecca-Garbugli, the “paper, pen, and inkpot” with which the host of the Luna Piena attempts to register the names and address of his two customers. The written word crops up in the world of Renzo and Lucia in two ways: as an instrument of power and as an instrument of information.Īs an instrument of power it is systematically antagonistic to the two poor fiancés. Renzo and Lucia cannot read or write in a world in which the written word is always parading before their eyes, and this cuts them off from making their modest dream come true. Not being able to read or write is (or may be presumed to be) a common characteristic of the heroes and heroines of many works of literature before and after them, but I cannot think of another great book in which the fact of being illiterate is so constantly present in the author’s awareness. In I promessi sposi (The Betrothed) this fact is of a decisive importance that I think has never received the attention it deserves. Renzo and Lucia can neither read nor write. Paper read at a conference on Manzoni at the University of Nijmegen, October 1973. ![]() ![]() The uses of literature - Italo Calvino 1986 Manzoni’s The Betrothed: The Novel of Ratios of Power ![]()
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