Life /
"The theatrical tragedies of Vittorio Alfieri (1749-1803), Italy's greatest dramatist of the late 1700s, feature themes and elegant verse that perfectly reflect his Neoclassical age. Life presents Alfieri's autobiography, detailing a journey that was anything but measured and orderly,...
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| Format: | Book |
| Language: | English |
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Toronto ; Buffalo ; London :
University of Toronto Press,
[2024]
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| Series: | Lorenzo da Ponte Italian library.
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| Summary: | "The theatrical tragedies of Vittorio Alfieri (1749-1803), Italy's greatest dramatist of the late 1700s, feature themes and elegant verse that perfectly reflect his Neoclassical age. Life presents Alfieri's autobiography, detailing a journey that was anything but measured and orderly, giving the modern reader an entertaining and insightful view of both privileged life and travel in pre-Napoleonic Europe and the gradual (and late) development of a cultured, literary mind. Alfieri leads us through childhood humiliations in Torino, introductions to popes and sovereigns, love affairs scandalous and noble, Baltic ice storms, treks across Spain, a late-night duel in London, narrow escape from Revolutionary Paris, venereal inconveniences, and the difficulty of breaking into the literary establishment. A stubborn and proud man, Alfieri's memoirs include enough self-awareness and self-deprecation to make his character engaging and often sympathetic. This new translation, the first in 70 years, includes footnotes describing places, people, and events largely unfamiliar to twenty-first century readers, plus Alfieri's own appendices - letters, poems, early drafts of scenes - translated into English for the first time."-- |
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| Physical Description: | xiii, 348 pages ; 24 cm. Issued also in electronic format. |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| ISBN: | 9781487556341 1487556349 |