The Manzoni Family     by Natalia Ginzburg, Translated by Marie Evans Original title: La famiglia Manzoni Original language: Italian Published by Arcade Publishing Pub. Date: 1989 Format: Paperback Dimensions: (in inches): 1.14 x 8.98 x 5.98 ISBN: 1559700300 List Price: $9.95 Buy online from Amazon.com for $9.95 Published by Carcanet Pub. Date: 1987 Pub. Place: UK Format: Hardcover List Price: £16.95 Not available for ordering Published by Grafton/Paladin Pub. Date: 1989 Pub. Place: UK Format: Paperback Not available for ordering Published by Grafton Pub. Place: UK Format: Paperback List Price: £4.99 Not available for ordering

Natalia Ginzburg herself said of this work about the family of Alessandro Manzoni, author of the great Italian classic The Betrothed;

‘I have tried to piece together the history of the Manzoni family; I wanted to rebuild it, recompose it, arrange it systematically in time. I have some letters and some books. I didn’t want to give (my own) comments, but to keep myself to a simple, naked order of events. I wanted events to speak for themselves. I wanted the letters, sad or cold, ceremonious or straightforward, obviously untruthful or undoubtedly sincere, to speak for themselves. And yet it gradually became clear to me that it was impossible not to make some comments. They are, however, rare and brief. I didn’t want the central figure of this long family history to be Alessandro Manzoni. A family history doesn’t have one single protagonist; each one of its members is in the spotlight and then pushed back into the shadows, at various times. I didn’t want him to have more space than the others; I want him to be glimpsed, seen in profile and mixed in with the others, enveloped in the dust clouds of daily life. And yet he dominates the scene, he is the head of the family; and the others undoubtedly don’t have his stature. And also he appears, more than the others, to be strange, tortuous and complex. In some rare instances it was impossible for me not to observe him full in the face and standing apart.’