Literature and anti-Risorgimento. Novels by Antonio Bresciani

di Nicola Del Corno
in Memoria e Ricerca n.s. 24 (2007), p. 21

In the reactionary Italian publications of the XIX century there was a constant underlining of the similarities between romanticism and liberalism. For themes dealt with and rhetoric used, the novel was considered as the most politically and socially detrimental product of romanticism. The Jesuit review “Civiltà Cattolica” deemed appropriate to contrast the spreading of bad novels proposing good ones, written on purpose by father Antonio Bresciani and aiming at the largest possible public, uniting the useful aspect of the spreading of healthy principles and counter-revolutionary ideas to the pleasure of not too committed a literature, able to entertain its readers. Starting from 1850, Antonio Bresciani composed a series of historical novels that were to enjoy a considerable success as witnessed by the numerous editions of the single works.