Records, Fiction, and Power in Alessandro Manzoni's I promessi sposi and Storia della colonna infame

The final edition of Manzoni's major works comprises a novel, I promessi sposi, and a historical investigation, Storia della colonna infame. In so doing, Manzoni behaves as an archivist who assembles a dossier of records. Narrating only events supported by, or consistent with archival records defines Manzoni's novel as an original type of historical narrative. As Manzoni unveils the archive's reliance on power he ends up, in Storia della colonna infame, by exposing the core of invention that lies at the foundation of the archive. He reaches a theoretical impasse that brings about his silence as creative writer after 1842.