The Betrothed
by Alessandro Manzoni · I promessi sposi
Assigned by 1 of the 9 reading lists, catalogue entry only
- Written
- 1827, revised 1840-1842
- Form
- Novel
- Language
- Italian
- Length
- Epic · 700 ppover 700 pages
- Difficulty
- Moderate2 of 5 for a first-year reader
We recommendThe Betrothed, translated by Michael F. MooreModern Library, 2022The first new translation in fifty years, readable and complete; Bruce Penman's Penguin version is the older standard.
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A historical novel set in Lombardy under Spanish rule in 1628-1630. Renzo and Lucia, two silk workers in a village on Lake Como, are about to marry when the local lord Don Rodrigo, who has a bet on seducing Lucia, frightens the parish priest Don Abbondio out of performing the wedding. The couple flee separately; Renzo is caught up in the Milan bread riots, and Lucia is kidnapped for Don Rodrigo by a great criminal called the Unnamed, whose sudden conversion frees her. Famine, the passage of foreign armies and the plague of 1630 follow, and the lovers are reunited in the plague hospital. The book is the national novel of Italy.
No reading guide yet
The catalogue entry above is complete: the dates, the form, the themes and every program that assigns The Betrothed are verified against each program's published list.
What is missing is the part that takes real work: the summary, the key passages, and a recommended translation. The edition named below is the one most programs assign, so the buy links are useful already.
