Manzoni

The Manzoni Family by Nataila Ginzburg describes the family life of the author of the most famous Italian novel: I Promesi Sposi (The Betrothed). I would say that this novel is not really so famous among English-speaking readers. I have never read it, and have only heard of it in fairly obscure places. I might read parts of it when I have time.

I'm afraid I'm about to abandon the book, 2/3 of the way through. Luggage for our trip home tomorrow is beyond overstuffed. Six months is a long time to be accumulating stuff when you thought you'd be driving home -- and now we are flying. UPDATE: I finished it while sitting beside our swimming pool one last time!

Manzoni's story begins with his mother; she had a fairly adventurous life, despite being pretty rich and somewhat aristocratic. She included her son in her adventures in Paris beginning in 1796 -- in other words, in the end of the Revolution and the beginning of the Napoleonic era. She became friends with some of the minor celebrities of the time. The effect of Napoleon's conquest of the various cities of northern Italy also makes an interesting backdrop to the family drama.

The details of family history are sometimes interesting and sometimes rather tedious. Only a really skilled novelist like Ginzburg (an author whose books I have read) could even get one to keep reading at all about the numerous children who died young, the constant illnesses of the adults, and their problems, quarrels, and rivalries. The hardships of travel she presents are amazing, when one thinks of crossing the Alps on a train or driving through the Mont Blanc tunnel as we've done when going from Paris to Milan or Turin. Bedbugs, damp bedrooms, bad food, storms, and poor roads challenged the traveler back then.

As usual, I looked for evidence about the foods that the family ate, but only occasional references are made to broths and other strengthening dishes fed to recovering new mothers or invalids. Family members want to be sure to have barley water, lemon juice (p. 60) or rose-hip jam (p. 162) for a sick person. At the end of her life, Manzoni's wife, always a hypochondriac but by now very ill, says "Yesterday I ate a lot of fried brains, a little morsel of beef with onions, and two morsels of roast, with a small rice broth, ansd a small lof of fine flour: afterwards I felt hungrier than before." (p. 308) She also could eat "cutlet, soup, and chocolate... a tiny drop of wine, very, very little but very good, white, 30 years old." (p. 309)

Alas, there's almost nothing about the cuisine of these Italian places except occasional brief mentions. A cake called crescenza for New Year's is made by a servant (p. 130). Or at an inn: "The service includes lodging, breakfast, and midday meal; breakfast according to your choice, either coffee, and milk, and butter; or two cooked dishes of your choice." (p. 103) It doesn't get much more specific than that.

I think that the major surprise of this family biography might be the contrast between the upper class comfortable life of the author and the drama of his historical novel, but I have to check this out.