Dear Martina, I start with compliments: you have written 4 reviews instead of always spending your free time watching TV, going out with boys, or shopping. You write very well for your age and not just because of your age. You ask yourself questions and answer them critically and not superficially. You have the courage to express your ideas in a context like Debaser where many people speak their minds freely, and where the language isn't always the most refined.
As for the content, some of your complaints about the book reflect those made over time by professional critics, particularly regarding the fatalism of the characters and the fact that everything ends well in a bourgeois sense; from peasant Renzo, he becomes a small entrepreneur, symbolizing a happy endingâhe's quite the self-made man in the American style! The portrayal of women: true, true. However, Gertrude's story is of infinite sadness and serves as a paradigm for all those cases in which parents ruin their children by imposing unwanted paths upon them. Renzoâs arrogance, especially during the bread riot, is a magnificent example of how a man can be overtaken by passion. The conversion of the Innominato... oh my, I get chills just thinking about it; the lyricism reaches the stars. Don Rodrigo's discovery that he has the plague, caught between denial of the truth and the impending panic... the figure of Azzeccagarbugli that you still don't appreciate because you've never been to a lawyer, you've never felt powerless in the face of injustices... Don Abbondio's encounter with the bravi, a treatise on psychology! Even Renzo's statement that contradicts reality when he leaves Azzeccagarbugliâs office, âFinally, thereâs justice in this world!â Too many, too many examples of understanding the human soul and psychological mechanisms to dismiss Manzoni.
Then the comparisons: Dante, Manzoni, and Shakespeare were the greatest in creating metaphors and images that convey ideas in a poetically original and effective way. The language: when I read the book in school, I found it terribly difficult; when I reread it at twenty, it was wonderful, with the flavor of another time. While reading, I was not in Rome and not in my time, but there meeting a girl and to attract her attention saying âQuella giovine...â ! Besides being beautiful and interesting, I found it entertaining and stimulating.
Some of your critiques resonate with me, but I think that a good family writer of the 1800s would hardly have thought differently. Everyone was religious at that time; the fatalism that is perceived was of a society where most people were made up of common folk who worked themselves to death, died young from illness, or because life was short, were oppressed by the powerful, and the only escape they had was in faith.
You say: the bravi would have killed Renzo immediately in reality. Maybe so. But this is a novel; looking closely at many stories, whether written or seen in cinema, you can think âwell! In reality, it would have happened differently,â but then there wouldnât be a story, a construction of events that allows the author to display their talent and communicate their messages and morals.
In short, I hope that down the line, you will reconsider your position. But, I repeat, the fact that you pose questions and make deep reflections is to your credit. I have a 15-year-old daughter of whom I donât complain at all, but I wouldnât mind if she had a bit of the spirit that animates your writings! Bye bye.
