A History of Italian Literature

REVIEWS 511 A History of Italian Literature President Ernest Hatch Wilkins' History oj Italian Literature is addressed to English-speaking people, including those who are not acquainted with the literature or the language. (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press [Toronto: S. I . Reginald Saunders and Company Limited]. 1954. Pp. xii, 524. $9.75.) Questions debated by specialists are not discussed. Doubtful matters are called doubtful and left. This is an historical account of works and authors, of facts not theories. Nevertheless, as with all true histories, it is an expression of the historian's mind, the mind that has planned the book and made it. The plan is as orderly and as carefully thought out as would be expected by anyone who knows the writer's other works. The literature is divided, not according to centuries or according to genres, but into twenty periods named after dominant characteristics, authors or patrons, or parts of centuries ; 1640-1690 is a "Stagnant Period." The reasons for this kind of division have been thoroughly discussed in an article, "Periods in the History of a:tii:l'1 Lih~r flt .re." public;:herl in the Romanic Review for February 1954. A list of the "Periods" is given in the Appendix of this book, with the numbers of the chapters corresponding to them; the chapters, however, have appropriate names of their own, so that the system behind them is unobtrusive; an author and his various works are always treated together in the same chapter or chapters. Since the end of the fifteenth century nearly every educated Italian has produced some kind of literature, and the historian has had to decide how many of which authors can be dealt with in less than five hundred pages, and how much space caD be given to each without slighting any of those chosen. These difficult problems have been solved methodically with considered sacrifice and without meaningless lists. "Hosts of minor authors are disregarded," among them Angiolo Silvio Novaro whose "Che dice la pioggerellina ... di marza?" is the most delightful Spring lyric ever written. A list of "Additional Writers" who have been omitted "because of limitations of space," evidently with regret, is given in the Appendix; notable are Chiaro Davanzati, Lodovico Dolce, Benedetto Varchi, Gioberti. Ada Negri, Rovetta, Panzini, Palazzeschi, as well as Maltilde Serao, with whom Mr. Wilkins was personally acquainted. At the beginning of each chapter that corresponds to the opening of a new period there are paragraphs Doting contemporary historical events in Italy and other countries and contemporary developments in the other arts, including music; and "special attention is given to literary relations between Italy and English-speaking countries." These paragraphs are invaluable because they give to the reader the comfort of feeling at home in the period. The Appendix contains a selective list of "English translations and books in English dealing with Italian literature." Noticeable omissions are Bickersteth 's Leopardi and Hall's Short History 0/ Italian Literature. The historical narrative is clear, reliable and admirably contrived, but the permanent value of the book resides even more in the critical appreciative treatment of the works of the authors. This writer understands 512 REVIEWS and appreciates his authors, and his sympathetic interest in their works makes what he says interesting to all readers, those who already know some· thing of the subject as well as the others. There is no perfunctory writing anywhere in the book. Because the previous writings of Wilkins have been chiefly concerned with the older literature it might be expected that the modern authors--especially minor modern authors-would be treated less carefully, but they are not; one example out of many is -the-page devoted to Ippolito Nievo. What does Wilkins do with Petrarch, the author whom he has made peculiarly rus own by monumental published studies? He presents Petrarch as the whole man he was to himself and his contemporaries, a great scholar, a great humanist, a great patriot and orator, the author of extensive works in Latin, and also of exquisite Italian verse which he cherished fondly although he pretended to consider it unimportant. But the importance of the Canzoniere is well recognized here: of the twenty pages that...