Following the celebrations of 1878 for the centenary of Voltaire, Italian newspapers announced the imminent publication of an unpublished translation in ottava rima of the Pucelle d'Orleans by the great poet Vincenzo Monti. The version, promised by the Livorno publisher Francesco Vigo, was said to be a masterpiece. Scholars had long been aware of its existence, but most believed it to be lost, destroyed fifty years earlier by a handful of religious fanatics. In post-unitary Italy, the case of the Pucelle was not the only instance of instrumental exhumation of the unpublished works of a great writer, orchestrated for political purposes. Taken together, the names of Voltaire and Monti were, however, sufficient reason for condemnation by the Italian confessional universe of the late nineteenth century, both in terms of biography, artistry, and ideas. A combination that was likely to trigger a scandal even a century later. This goes to show how complicated it could be, even in secular, monarchic, post-unitary Italy under constitutional rule, to (re-)publish the satirical, blasphemous, and especially anticlerical Voltaire; and how easy it was for an edition of unpublished literary works to become a political and religious provocation.
Le Centenaire de Voltaire en Italie. Carducci et la première édition de la «Pucelle d’Orléans» dans la version de Monti (Livourne 1878)
G. Tocchini
In corso di stampa
Abstract
Following the celebrations of 1878 for the centenary of Voltaire, Italian newspapers announced the imminent publication of an unpublished translation in ottava rima of the Pucelle d'Orleans by the great poet Vincenzo Monti. The version, promised by the Livorno publisher Francesco Vigo, was said to be a masterpiece. Scholars had long been aware of its existence, but most believed it to be lost, destroyed fifty years earlier by a handful of religious fanatics. In post-unitary Italy, the case of the Pucelle was not the only instance of instrumental exhumation of the unpublished works of a great writer, orchestrated for political purposes. Taken together, the names of Voltaire and Monti were, however, sufficient reason for condemnation by the Italian confessional universe of the late nineteenth century, both in terms of biography, artistry, and ideas. A combination that was likely to trigger a scandal even a century later. This goes to show how complicated it could be, even in secular, monarchic, post-unitary Italy under constitutional rule, to (re-)publish the satirical, blasphemous, and especially anticlerical Voltaire; and how easy it was for an edition of unpublished literary works to become a political and religious provocation.
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