When Don A. and Perpetua return to the fig tree to recover their valuables and discover: “When they got there, they found not the body but the empty grave.” (in vece del morto, la buca aperta.) There seems to be a biblical reference here, when Mary Magdalene and a few otjhers came looking for the body of Christ and finding the tomb empty. Perhaps Manzoni is implying that possessions have replaced God.
For some reason as I read of the return to the destruction in the village, my mind turned to images of people returning to homes after tornados, floods and fires. Acts of god vs acts of Man. The latter bringing a different set of emotions and being invasive even when loss may be similar.
"In the fireplace, they could see the vestiges of wholesale looting, jumbled together like the too many ideas underlying the prose of a stylish writer." Or an unstylish writer. Been there!
“Woe is me!” … “Poor me!” … “I’m in the belly of the beast” … “Right between a rock and a hard place”. Wreckage and ruin at home for sure, but it’s not all about you Don Abbondio. After all, your personal safety has been assured by the beneficence of the Nameless One, and also by the much berated and under-appreciated Perpetua.
This reminded me of Augustine's just war theory: "At every alarm, the Nameless One sent his men out to investigate, and, if trouble was found, he would leave the valley with the men he kept on the alert, and go to where the danger had been reported. They were a sight to behold: a brigade of men armed from head to toe, marching in military formation, but led by an unarmed man."
The portrait of Don Abbondia grows ever more maximalist! Suddenly I wondered if, given Manzoni’s own agoraphobia—essentially a panic condition—there’s not a hint of self-mockery in the fashioning of this character.
A day behind with this, but have a few things to add:
I loved, of course, the humor of Don A's admonitions to the women, "You both need to understand..." etc., when he's the one who does everything he's telling them not to do.
And a beautiful moment of insight into the working of consciousness: "With these images before their eyes one second, and in their minds the next ..."
Also the lit crit aside, observing "the vestiges of wholesale looting, jumbled together, like the too many ideas underlying the prose of a stylish writer." I didn't read this as Manzoni critiquing himself, but imagined "stylish writer" to be a sort of formalist, not writing in the vernacular, but mannered, flowery, and elite -- I think someone who knows the context and the Italian might be able to clarify this?
One more thing too -- the scenes of towns, villages, homes, abandoned, destroyed, filled with detritis and waste from armies camping and passing through, etc. brought current images of Ukraine to mind. This and the next chapter, like so much in this book, are almost shockingly timely.
When Don A. and Perpetua return to the fig tree to recover their valuables and discover: “When they got there, they found not the body but the empty grave.” (in vece del morto, la buca aperta.) There seems to be a biblical reference here, when Mary Magdalene and a few otjhers came looking for the body of Christ and finding the tomb empty. Perhaps Manzoni is implying that possessions have replaced God.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/25/I_promessi_sposi_370.jpg
For some reason as I read of the return to the destruction in the village, my mind turned to images of people returning to homes after tornados, floods and fires. Acts of god vs acts of Man. The latter bringing a different set of emotions and being invasive even when loss may be similar.
"Perpetual gave [Don Abbondio] a piece of her mind..." Thank heavens, though I don't know what good it will do. He is really getting on my last nerve.
"In the fireplace, they could see the vestiges of wholesale looting, jumbled together like the too many ideas underlying the prose of a stylish writer." Or an unstylish writer. Been there!
“Woe is me!” … “Poor me!” … “I’m in the belly of the beast” … “Right between a rock and a hard place”. Wreckage and ruin at home for sure, but it’s not all about you Don Abbondio. After all, your personal safety has been assured by the beneficence of the Nameless One, and also by the much berated and under-appreciated Perpetua.
This reminded me of Augustine's just war theory: "At every alarm, the Nameless One sent his men out to investigate, and, if trouble was found, he would leave the valley with the men he kept on the alert, and go to where the danger had been reported. They were a sight to behold: a brigade of men armed from head to toe, marching in military formation, but led by an unarmed man."
The portrait of Don Abbondia grows ever more maximalist! Suddenly I wondered if, given Manzoni’s own agoraphobia—essentially a panic condition—there’s not a hint of self-mockery in the fashioning of this character.
A day behind with this, but have a few things to add:
I loved, of course, the humor of Don A's admonitions to the women, "You both need to understand..." etc., when he's the one who does everything he's telling them not to do.
And a beautiful moment of insight into the working of consciousness: "With these images before their eyes one second, and in their minds the next ..."
Also the lit crit aside, observing "the vestiges of wholesale looting, jumbled together, like the too many ideas underlying the prose of a stylish writer." I didn't read this as Manzoni critiquing himself, but imagined "stylish writer" to be a sort of formalist, not writing in the vernacular, but mannered, flowery, and elite -- I think someone who knows the context and the Italian might be able to clarify this?
One more thing too -- the scenes of towns, villages, homes, abandoned, destroyed, filled with detritis and waste from armies camping and passing through, etc. brought current images of Ukraine to mind. This and the next chapter, like so much in this book, are almost shockingly timely.