The Betrothed by Alessandro Manzoni: Day 10
Chapter 8 (through p.130: “the others filed behind him.”)
The Italians refer to this episode as “La notte degli imbrogli”—The night of [question mark]. I struggled to find an equivalent for “imbroglio,” which in Italian refers to a tangled mess. The English “imbroglio” is too cute for the series of mishaps and misunderstandings that occur on this night. The best I could come up with is “The Night of Trials and Tribulations,” to capture its rocking energy.
Page 121. How I love the way Agnese entices Perpetua away from the rectory. “‘I’m coming from… and she named a nearby village. ‘And wouldn’t you know it,’ she continued, ‘I stayed longer than I expected, all on your account.’” And Perpetua’s, “Wouldn’t you know it! Oh, that liar! That big fat liar! Tell me her name!” Agnese delivers the coup de grace with: “Please don’t ask. I don’t want to cause any trouble.” I think she deserves her own novel. To translate this conversation, I remembered how my aunts used to talk, the exclamations and the laughter, the way they drew everyone into a story.
Page 123. Quite remarkable, and damning: Don Abbondio counting out the money that Tonio owes him.
The Bergamo accent is quite distinct, and is sometimes described as someone speaking through a mouthful of hot polenta.
So far the English sense of "imbroglio" seems apt enough -- all in all pretty comical -- so far, anyhow.
And so much so that what struck me most today were two small moments --
First, Don Abbondio's "My, how suspicous the world has become" -- bringing to mind the way I feel now whenever I see some amazing image on facebook or the like, whether of unlikely creatures or light shows or weather systems or whatever, let alone political alt-facts, and I have to ask myself (and google) is this real or faked or made by a bot? (You mean the world has been suspicious all along and thinks it's something new?)
And then the narrator's moment of charming interruption, "In the midst of all this pandemonium, I cannot resist pausing for a moment of reflection..."
Cheers!
Tangled mess indeed! It turns out that “the idiot” Gervaso and “ducks and drakes” Menico both showed up for their appointed duty and neither blew up the show. Rather it was Lucia, whose heart was never in the wedding by ambush scheme, whose hesitation appears to have been fatal.