A young man's education and love amid the intrigues of eighteenth-century Italy on the eve of revolution. Wharton's ambitious historical novel.
Books mentioned in The Valley of Decision (16)
On Crimes and Punishments by Cesare Beccaria: “Civilisation, which had been printed some months previously in Amsterdam, had stirred Italy more profoundly than any book since Beccaria's great work on Crime and Punishment.”
History of Animals by Aristotle: “Here he found his old acquaintance seated in a clean commodious room and reading Aristotle's "History of Animals," the only volume of his library that he had been permitted to carry with him.”
The Aeneid by Virgil: “His imagination took fire over the dry pages of Cornelius Nepos, glowed with the mild pastoral warmth of the Georgics and burst into flame at the first hexameters of the Aeneid.”
The Georgics by Virgil: “His imagination took fire over the dry pages of Cornelius Nepos, glowed with the mild pastoral warmth of the Georgics and burst into flame at the first hexameters of the Aeneid.”
Zaire by Voltaire: “Odo could never forget the youth who first leant him Annibale Caro's Aeneid and Metastasio's opera libretti, Voltaire's Zaire and the comedies of Goldoni; while Alfieri perhaps found in his companion's sympathy with his own half-dormant tastes the first incentive to a nobler activity.”
Lettere Virgiliane by Saverio Bettinelli: “…in the noble household of Valdu, from its lady's name-day to the death of a pet canary; but his own tastes inclined to the elegant Bettinelli, whose Lettere Virgiliane had so conclusively shown Dante to be a writer of barbarous doggerel; and among the dilettanti of the day one heard less of…”
Lettres philosophiques by Voltaire: “he lit one day on a volume which Alfieri had smuggled into the Academy--the Lettres Philosophiques of Francois Arouet de Voltaire.”
The Glories of Mary by Alphonsus Liguori: “…an embroidery in which the pattern repeated itself like the invocations of a litany, and Don Gervaso, near the smoking oil-lamp, read aloud from the Glories of Mary or the Way of Perfection of Saint Theresa.”
The Mental Sorrows of Christ by Battista Varani: “…a world where art was represented by the latest pastel-portrait of a court beauty, literature by Liguori's Glories of Mary or the blessed Battista's Mental Sorrows of Christ, and history by the conviction that Piedmont's efforts to stamp out the enemies of the Church had distinguished her above…”
Italia mia (Ode to Italy) by Petrarch: “heard her recite Petrarch's Ode to Italy, or the latest elegy of Pindamonte.”
Cento Novelle Antiche: “was that Conrad, father of Conradin, whose sayings are set down in the old story-book of the Cento Novelle, "the flower of gentle speech."”
L'America libera (Odes to Free America) by Vittorio Alfieri: “a manuscript copy of the Odes to Free America was being circulated among the liberals in Pianura, and had been brought to his notice by Andreoni.”
Antigone by Vittorio Alfieri: “In ten months of feverish effort he had poured forth fourteen tragedies--among them the Antigone, the Virginia, and the Conjuration of the Pazzi.”
Virginia by Vittorio Alfieri: “In ten months of feverish effort he had poured forth fourteen tragedies--among them the Antigone, the Virginia, and the Conjuration of the Pazzi.”
La Congiura de' Pazzi by Vittorio Alfieri: “he had poured forth fourteen tragedies--among them the Antigone, the Virginia, and the Conjuration of the Pazzi.”
Verona Illustrata by Scipione Maffei: “He brought forth all his treasures for the boy's instruction and the two spent many an afternoon poring over Piranesi's Roman etchings, Maffei's Verona Illustrata, and Count Benedetto's own elegant pencil-drawings of classical remains.”