SOURCE: “Literary Criticism: History and Literature,” in Alessandro Manzoni: The Story of a Spiritual Quest, Edinburgh University Press, 1974, pp. 69-85.

In the following excerpt, Chandler surveys Manzoni's critical writings and his Fermo e Lucia, the precursor to I promessi sposi.

The early 1820s were the period of Manzoni's intensest creative activity as he moved towards the climax and resolution of his spiritual and artistic quest. The Lettre à M. Chauvet sur l'unité de temps et de lieu dans la tragédie belongs to early 1820 and the Discorso sopra alcuni punti della storia longobardica in Italia was begun in autumn 1820 and published in 1822; of his creative works, Marzo 1821, Il Cinque Maggio, Adelchi and La Pentecoste were written in these years. On 24 April 1821, however, Manzoni began work on a historical novel, now referred to as Fermo e Lucia, and completed it on 17 September 1823. From this, I Promessi Sposi was eventually to...