Il romanzo della speranza. Enzo Noè girardi studioso di Manzoni

This essay aims to chronologically analyze Girardi’s studies on Manzoni. In accordance with Girardi’s theoretical assumptions, these studies were mostly focused on I promessi sposi, where reality and the ideal textually converge. The study takes into account his main novelties, that today are still as fruitful as ever: the dualism as a fundamental element of Manzoni’s whole literary history and in particular of his I promessi sposi; the recognition of the 17th century chroniclers’ Christian realism on the novel’s composition; the dislocation of the sacred as a narrative procedure; the definition of «romanzo della speranza» (hope novel) that gets over the infertile contraposition between Manzoni’s optimism and pessimism.