Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 11.djvu/37

* ITALIAN LITERATURE. ITALIAN LITERATURE. I»toria del concilio tridentino), Enrico Caterino Davila (15761631), Guido Bentivoglio (1579- 1(>44. Guerra di Fiandra), Agostino ilascardi (1591-1640). Sforza Pallavicino (1607-67, Is- toria del concilio di Trento), Danielo Bartoli (1608 85, Storia delta Compagnia di Gesit). Mar- cantonio Mambelli (1582-1644) in his Osserva- zioni delta lingua ilaliana, and Benedetto Buom- mattei (1582-1647), in his treatise Delia lingua toscana, gave definite grammatieal rules for the writing of Italian. The greatest credit is to be given to the writers of scientific prose, and above all to Galileo Galilei (1564-1642), whose influ- ence was most potent over the form of the later scientific literature of Italy. About the middle of the seventeenth century, and largely througU the impulse given by Galileo's scientific and lit- erary efl'ort-s. a reaction was attempted against the affectation of the foregoing period. A part was played in it by the painter Salvator Rosa (1615-7.3), the author of satires, odes, and letters; by Vincenzo da Filicaja (1642-1707), and Ales- sandro Guidi (1650-1712), lyric poets who con- tinued the classic manner of Chiabrera and Testi, and by Lorenzo Magalotti ( 1637-1712). known for his Saggi di naturali esperienze and his Lettere familiari and Lettere scientifiche. The imitators of Marini's artificial methods were much more numerous than were the writers gifted with good sense. As has already been intimated, an academy called the Arcadia was founded at Rome, in 1690. by Giovanni Maria Crescimbeni (1063-1728) and Giovanni Vincenzo Gravina (1664-1718), for the purpose of bringing into poetry greater natu- ralness of expression. The means employed therein were too childish, and the Arcadia achieved no reform. It did. however, produce a good deal of poetry, written in its three manners, the first being one in which the sonnet and the madrigal were cultivated, the second that of lovo lyrics fashioned after the model of Chiabrera's, and the third that of the occasional poem, best represented in the work of Carlo Innocenzo Frugoni (1692-1768), with whom the activity of the Arcadia ended. It was as a lyric poet of the second Arcadian manner that Pietro iletas- tasio (1698-17821, the most distinguished of all who shared in the movement, began liis career, but he is now remembered rather for his operatic dramas (Temistocle. Didone. Olitnpiade. Attilia Regolo, Clemen~a di Tito), masterpieces of a time when it was still consideted necessary that the libretto of an opera should be a work of art. Toward the end of the seventeenth century, a not- able French influence is clear in writers of trage- dies. Pier .Jacopo ilartelli (1655-1721) introduced into the drama verses of the French Alexandrine type, called after him, lersi martelliani ; Scipi- one llaffei (1075-1755) wrote a tragedy on the classical subject of Merope: and, with his trage- dies based on Roman history and strongly sug- gestive of the Shakespearean method, Antonio C'onti (1677-1749) heralded the coming of Al- fitri. Although he wrote during the time of tha Arcadia, Niccolo Forteguerri (1674-1735), the author of many satires, stood apart from all contemporary tendencies. For the inspiration for his poem Rieciardetto he went back to Ariosto. The prose style of the period of the Arcadia is still full of affectation, unless when used for purely scientific purposes, as in the histories and learned treatises of Giambattista Vico (1668- 1744), of Giovanni ilaria ilazzuchelli (1707-68), author of the biographical and bibliographical Hcrittori d'ltalia, and particularly of Ludovico Antonio Muratori (1672-1750), who compiled the Annuli d'ltalia and other works of great worth in the development of historical studies. The germs of a new order of tilings destined to result in a revival of Italian literature begin to unfold as soon as the middle of the eighteenth century is passed. From 1750 to 1789, the dato of the French Revolution, Alfieri's tragedies and Parini's verse reflect the contrast between tradi- tional classicism and the course of new ideas; between 1789 and 1815, the date of the Restora- tion in France, Monti and Foscolo, both remark- able lor the classic plasticity of their works, ie))reseut the idea of national independence and unity; fiom 1815 to 1850 extends a time of con- trast between the romanticism of ilanzoni and his followers and the classicism of Leopardi and his school, all united, however, in the struggle against the foreigner. During this whole period from the middle of the century on, the influence of the French philosophical spirit was potent in Italy, which then began also for the first time to pattern itself upon literary models from the Xorth, especially from England and Germany. The revival becomes obvious at once in dra- matic production. The commedia dell' arte is driven from the theatre by the comedies of Carlo Goldoni (1707-93), the gi'eat reformer of the Italian stage, who wrote clever plays in Tus- can, in Venetian^ and even in French. Ability to picture scenes from real life, keenness of observation, skill in the handling of dialogue, and fertility of invention are characteristics of this first great figure of the new era. Opponents of the reform of Goldoni were Pietro Chiara ( 1700- 85) and Carlo Gozzi (1720-lSOO. author of dra- matic Fiahe) ; but Goldoni had many f(dlowers. The influence of Frencli comedy, especially of MoliJre. is clear in the pieces of CJoldoni. as is that of French tragedy in the dramas of Vittorio Alfieri (1749-1803), his great compeer. Though he accepted the French tragic form. Alfieri gave it a peculiarly Italian significance, in- fusing it with a spirit of liberty and national consciousness which inspired the young men of the next generation in their struggle against Austrian oppression. The principles animating the tragedies {Filippo. Virginia. Orrstr. ffaiil, ?,'Jrra) are also present in the other writings of Alfieri. as, for example, in the Satire, the trea- tise Delia tirannidc. the poem Etriiria liberata. the Misogallo directed against the French, his Rime, and his autobiography. Intensity of pa- triotic .sentiment prevails also in the lyrics iOdi) of Giuseppe Parini ( 1729-99) . works high- ly satisfactory in form and expression. Parini's most famous production is the Giorno, a de- scriptive poem in blank verse in which he sat- irizes the idle life of the aristocratic youth. In the Pocsie eanipestri e mariftime of Aurelio Bertola (1753-98) one may see the influence both of the German Gessner and of the Latin bucolic poets, while the patriotic vein runs through the Anini'ili parlanti of Giambattista Casti (1721- 1803). Melchiorre Cesarotti (1730-1808) com- posed much in prose and in verse, but he is now remembered chiefly for his translation of the so- called Ossian and his version of the Iliad. The best jirose writers of this first modem period were Gas- pare Gozzi ( 1713-86) .who modeled his Osservatore on the Sprrtatnr. and in his Difesa di Dante gave