Isaac Disraeli, Curiosities of Literature

Disraeli writes that Italian improvisatori have Roman roots, as well as “national genius.” He goes on to describe their “fanciful character,” which is also present in other areas of Italian life.

Performer Name:
 
Performance Venue:
 
Performance Date:
 
Author:
Disraeli, Isaac
Date Written:
 
Language:
English
Publication Title:
The Works of Isaac Disraeli
Article Title:
Curiosities of Literature
Page Numbers:
2:131-2, 479-80
Additional Info:
Ed. B. Disraeli
Publisher:
Routledge
Place of Publication:
London
Date Published:
1858

Text:

[131] The inspiration of national genius alone could produce this phenomenon; and these Extemporal Comedies were, indeed, indigenous to the soil. Italy, a land of Improvisatori, kept up from the time of their old masters, the Romans, the same fervid fancy.

[132] The critics on our side of the Alps reproached the Italians for the extemporal comedies; and Marmontel rashly declared that the nation did not possess a single comedy which could endure perusal. But he drew his notions from the low farces of the Italian theatre at Paris, and he censured what he had never read.

[479] This fanciful character [of the Italians] betrays itself in their architecture, in their poetry, in their extemporary comedy, and [480] their Improvisatori; but an instance not yet accounted for of this national levity, appears in those denominations of exquisite absurdity given by themselves to their Academies!

Notes:

 

Collected by:
AE