Review: Alessandro Manzoni’s “The Betrothed,” Reconsidered

Kes: I'm so excited! Umberto Eco cites _The Betrothed_ as one of the major influences on _The Name of the Rose_, and I have never read it, so now I have a reason to do so, and then I will reread NOTR. The review, which is really more of a description of the author and his motivation in writing the novel, which also illuminates why it is so significant in Eco's work, is worth reading for its own sake.

Italy's Great Historical Novel
Henry James decried the nineteenth century’s “loose baggy monsters,” but a new translation of Alessandro Manzoni’s “The Betrothed” demonstrates the genre’s power.
By Joan Acocella

October 10, 2022
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/10/17/italys-great-historical-novel#main-content