The theme of the plague in Italian letters / Vincenzo Traversa.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Traversa, Vincenzo, 1923- author.

Series:

Currents in comparative Romance languages and literatures ; v. 253.

Currents in comparative Romance languages and literatures ; vol. 253

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Plague in literature.

Diseases in literature.

Italian literature--History and criticism.

Italian literature.

Genre:

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Physical Description:

xxxv, 387 pages ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

New York : Peter Lang, [2018]

Summary:

"Several poetic and prose compositions in early Italian literature contain references to the bubonic plague and other illnesses that were used in the language both literally and metaphorically. The first detailed description of a plague epidemic, however, was written by Giovanni Boccaccio in the introduction to The Decameron. It is a precise and dramatic view of the physical, social, and medical conditions of Florence during the epidemic of 1348. The present study follows the subsequent developments, both in poetic and prose works until the time of the plague of Milan of 1630. With the report of Ripamonti and other writers, the plague became not only a medical issue but also a topic involving the laws of the time as they appear in the trials of the presumed untori (spreaders of the disease). A combination of faith, fear and superstition led the legal officials and the populace to imagine that the plague was a divine punishment and was deliberately spread by individuals of criminal nature. Arrests and trials involving interrogations and the use of merciless physical tortures (a legitimate procedure in Europe at that time) brought about a formidable reaction led by early humanitarians, such as Cesare Beccaria and Pietro Verri who determined the eventual changes in the laws and legal procedures. The Plague of Milan of 1630 by Giuseppe Ripamonti, the treatise by L. A. Muratori Del Governo della Peste, 1720, and several interventions contributed to a series of radical changes that appeared in the works of Alessandro Manzoni, such as The Betrothed and The History of the Pillar of Infamy that appear in part or in full in this study"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

The Italian language

The texts

The dawning of a new age

Milan 1630

Giuseppe Ripamonti

Ludovico Settala and Alessandro Tadino

Father Felice Casati

Pietro Verri, Cesare Beccaria and "Il caffé"

Cesare Beccaria

Alessandro Manzoni : I promessi sposi

Alessandro Manzoni : storia della colonna infame

Timor di dio (The fear of god).

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781433151521

1433151529

OCLC:

1050143663

Publisher Number:

99978797748