Manzoni as letter-writer

On the subject of letter-writing itself, Manzoni claimed in some of this letters that “writing is not saying”: namely, communication via letter cannot have the same ingenuity and transparency as oral communication. In effect, the substantial collection of letters written by Manzoni is itself a monument to the art of reticence, for their skilful concealment of his Ego makes it difficult to identify any kind of confession or manifestation of his more intimate self. This reticence is discernible even in the letters that focus on literary matters. In his letters to Fauriel about his novel, Manzoni does not mention (apart from Scott) any of the numerous novelists that were literary models for the Promessi Sposi. Dominated by his self-control and shyness, his letters make extensive use of elaborate forms and the formulaic expressions typical of letter-writing, indicative perhaps of the neuroses he displayed in daily life via a stammer, agoraphobia and fainting attacks. His letters contain frequent refusals and indications of a need for privacy, formulaic expressions of courtesy and modesty and declarations of his “inferiority” and inability to give an opinion on a work sent to him (almost always an indication of negative appraisal). This curious “fastidiousness” in his correspondence was also projected onto its material facets (choosing letter paper and envelopes, measuring letter size, deciding layout and spelling, carrier quality), accompanied by anxiety rituals and a fear of breaking postal rules.