The Manzoni Family: A Novel - Softcover

Ginzburg, Natalia

3.44

388 ratings by Goodreads

9781628728972: The Manzoni Family: A Novel

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1628728973 ISBN 13: 9781628728972

Publisher: Arcade Publishing, 2019

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Winner of the Bagutta Prize, The Manzoni Family set in ducal Italy and post-revolutionary France, captures the story of Alessandro Manzoni―celebrated Milanese nobleman, man of letters, and author of the masterpiece of nineteenth-century Italian literature, I promessi sposi (The Betrothed)―and the women of his life.

Against the background of Napoleonic occupation, the reestablishment of Austrian hegemony, and the stirrings of the revolutionary urge for unification and independence, Ginzburg gracefully weaves the story of the Manzoni dynasty, a family that seems to grow autonomously around the life of the writer, effortlessly incorporating the epic tumult and emotion of the age. Ginzburg explores this fascinating true story and celebrated author with the elegance that has assured her rightful place among history’s acclaimed literary titans.

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Review:

Praise for The Manzoni Family:

"As social history, with something of the flavor and immediacy of fiction, this story of a famous family stretching from 1762 to 1907 is interesting and well done. The book skillfully stitches together biographical facts and numerous family letters." Publishers Weekly

"Although Tolstoy maintained that 'happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way,' contemporary readers of this work will identify with the illnesses of children, deaths of relatives, and all-too-frequent filial requests for money that confronted Italian literary giant Alessandro Manzoni, author of I Promessi sposi. Based on the family's voluminous correspondence, Ginzburg's portrayal is personal rather than literary, focusing on Manzoni family members; but a vivid picture of 18th- and 19th-century Italy and the literary scene in 19th-century Paris also emerges." Library Journal

"The difference between this family saga and the ordinary family saga is the difference, say, between War and Peace and Dallas." Boston Globe

"Italian novelist Ginzburg uses the epistolary technique to craft a brilliant biography of four generations of a complex, frequently tortured family . . . an extraordinarily moving and evocative book.” Kirkus Reviews

"Original, engrossing, appalling." bestselling author and literary critic Mary McCarthy
Praise for Natalia Ginzburg's work

"Clarity, precision and wit mark the work of Natalia Ginzburg." The New York Times Book Review

"I wish more people would read the Italian writer Natalia Ginzburg." Mary Gordon, Mother Jones

"Natalia Ginzburg must surely be one of literature's most provocative and moving writers." Elle magazine

"Realistic, anchored by vivifying detail, crowded with wonderfully vibrant characters, luminous with deep feeling, responsiveness, and sympathy." Publishers Weekly

"Ginzburg draws her readers into her deceptively charming essays with cascades of alluring, everyday detail, then stealthily broaches moral questions of great weight and complexity. Wryly witty, acutely observant, and unfailingly valiant, Ginzburg is a revelation, a spur, and a joy." Booklist

"A glowing light of modern Italian literature . . . Ginzburg's magic is the utter simplicity of her prose, suddenly illuminated by one word that makes a lightning streak of a plain phrase. . . . As direct and clean as if it were carved in stone, it yet speaks thoughts of the heart." The New York Times Book Review

About the Author:

Natalia Ginzburg was born in Palermo, Italy in 1916. She was an Italian author whose work explored family relationships, politics during and after the Fascist years and World War II, and philosophy. She wrote novels, short stories, and essays, for which she received the Strega Prize and Bagutta Prize. Modest and intensely reserved, Ginzburg never shied away from the traumas of history, whether writing about the Turin of her childhood, the Abruzzi countryside, or contemporary Rome―all the while approaching those traumas only indirectly, through the mundane details and catastrophes of personal life. Arcade has published several of her works, including The Little Virtues,All Our Yesterdays, and The City and the House.

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