Lineamenti di letteratura italiana. Vol. 3: Dall’ Illuminismo al Verismo

The 18th and 19th centuries represent a crucial moment for Italian literature, crowded with literary movements and cultural events. Among these, it witnesses the birth of the Enlightenment, the rise and fall of Neoclassicism, the Romantic experience, deeply linked with the Risorgimento, and lastly Verism and the Decadent Movement. New genres, such as the novel, which has its masterpieces in Alessandro Manzoni’s I promessi sposi (The Betrothed) and Giovanni Verga’s I Malavoglia, emerge, whereas others renew themselves. It is what happens to the poetic production, which goes through a significant evolution, both in content and in versification, becoming more free and authentic. Dramaturgy undergoes a profound transformation as well, first with the Metastasio-Goldoni-Alfieri triad, then with the eighteenth century opera. This handbook deals with such complexity, proposing a synthetic but precise historic and literary profile, which insists on the mutations of forms and genres, putting the elements of continuity and innovation in an historical and diachronic perspective. Such a manual makes an optimal instrument for university students and beginners alike to easily become familiar with this literary era, complex in and of itself, and to focus on its characteristics, phenomena and protagonists.