I believe his assessment was that Orlando Innamorato was inferior in quality and overly prolix. It was a brave assessment to make from someone who wrote a 22-volume history of Italy, but of the two charges Montanelli made, I think only the latter could be leveled back at him. Of course, comparing history and fiction is...well...not to be done.
In comparison to Ariosto, Boiardo may indeed be inferior, but that would be like arguing that Juvenal was inferior to Vergil in writing verse. Boiardo's Orlando focuses on different things than does Ariosto on occasion and he writes good, if not great, verse.
Illusions fall like the husk of a fruit, one after another, and the fruit is experience. - Narrator, Sylvie
Je suis méchant.
Je suis méchant.
Trying to decide which of these is the best shared-world writer...
- 23/12/2012 02:23:35 AM
964 Views
I have heard of the Bertrand fella, and the Twelve Paladins but I haven't read any of his works
- 23/12/2012 02:58:41 AM
712 Views
I do intend to read Orlando Furioso (and Gerusalemme Liberata) at some point.
- 23/12/2012 08:30:03 AM
737 Views
What does Gerusalemme Liberata have to do with it?
- 23/12/2012 02:49:41 PM
683 Views
Never had a formal lesson in Italian
- 23/12/2012 05:17:48 PM
714 Views
I actually believe Italian to be the easiest Romance language
- 23/12/2012 07:26:43 PM
671 Views
It certainly isn't the hardest (Romanian and then French might be that)
- 23/12/2012 07:42:38 PM
810 Views
Romanian always seemed quite easy to me
- 24/12/2012 02:08:17 AM
660 Views
I think we're interpreting this a bit differently here
- 24/12/2012 04:15:46 AM
859 Views
So by "purity" you really mean the simplicity and limitation on vowel sounds...
- 26/12/2012 01:20:40 AM
767 Views
Yes, although I prefer it being in reference to a lesser range of variation in vowel sound to letter
- 26/12/2012 04:33:06 AM
774 Views
Eh, they're both famous Italian epics? 
- 25/12/2012 07:06:37 PM
773 Views
- 25/12/2012 07:06:37 PM
773 Views
You make it sound as though Medieval Italian is radically different from Modern Italian.
- 26/12/2012 01:15:24 AM
796 Views
From the aesthetic point of view I think that Ariosto is recognized as the best.
- 23/12/2012 02:54:43 PM
801 Views
I agree (all but the Bar-Sur-Aube I've read in the original language, with translations to help)
- 23/12/2012 05:16:04 PM
795 Views
Since it's a short book I might just buy a paperback and hope Dumbarton Oaks issues a hardcover.
- 23/12/2012 07:29:52 PM
689 Views
It'll be a few months at least before I tackle Mommsen in any language
- 23/12/2012 07:44:42 PM
668 Views
I took a chance and ordered Orlando Furioso a week ago from amazon.it
- 24/12/2012 02:14:02 AM
970 Views
Hopefully it'll be what you want
- 24/12/2012 04:19:32 AM
861 Views
Io sono trasportato di gioia
- 28/12/2012 12:32:21 AM
696 Views
And I just ordered their Tasso.
- 28/12/2012 01:09:08 AM
654 Views
Very strange indeed
- 28/12/2012 04:46:26 AM
815 Views
Montanelli was not a fan
- 28/12/2012 05:40:14 AM
858 Views
True
- 29/12/2012 02:41:02 AM
1130 Views
Excellent! 
- 28/12/2012 04:45:42 AM
795 Views
- 28/12/2012 04:45:42 AM
795 Views
The books are not as rigid as a cardboard-style hardcover, but they aren't very supple.
- 28/12/2012 05:36:35 AM
704 Views
I agree about the Old French and Catalan - it makes sense when you think about it.
- 25/12/2012 07:18:35 PM
718 Views
Having finished re-reading the Pulci, I think that one might interest you as well
- 25/12/2012 08:59:38 AM
715 Views
Saw the title of this and immediately thought: Tite Kubo. haha 
*NM*
- 03/01/2013 10:27:22 PM
889 Views
*NM*
- 03/01/2013 10:27:22 PM
889 Views