Publisher's Synopsis
Francesca Da Rimini is a tragic play written by Gabriele D'Annunzio. The play is set in the 13th century and tells the story of Francesca, a beautiful and intelligent woman who is married off to the deformed and cruel Gianciotto Malatesta. Despite her unhappy marriage, Francesca falls in love with Gianciotto's younger brother, Paolo. The two begin a passionate and illicit affair, but their love is discovered by Gianciotto, who murders them both in a fit of jealousy. The play explores themes of love, betrayal, and the destructive power of jealousy. D'Annunzio's writing is known for its poetic language and vivid imagery, and Francesca Da Rimini is considered one of his masterpieces.1902. From the Introduction: Francesca da Rimini was acted for the first time at Rome, by Eleonora Duse and her company, on December 9, 1901. Has there, since Hernani, been such a battle over a play in verse? The performance lasted five hours, and many of the speeches were inaudible on account of the noise in the theatre. Since then the play has been freely cut, it has been acted with the greatest success in the chief cities of Italy, and has raised more discussion than any play in verse of this century. The translation which follows has been made from the unabridged text. The play is written in blank verse, but blank verse so varied as to be almost a kind of vers libre. This form of blank verse is not new in Italian. It is to be found in the pastoral tragedies of the Renaissance in Tasso�������s Aminta, in Guarino�������s Pastor Fido. We need only open Leopardi to see almost exactly the same structure of verse.This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the old original and may contain some imperfections such as library marks and notations. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions, that are true to their original work.
