Edmondo De Amicis (1846–1908) was a progressive intellectual open to socialist ideas. Besides
Cuore
(Heart), he wrote travel books like
Spagna
(Spain, 1873) and novels like
Amore e ginnastica
(Love and gymnastics, 1892).
Sull’oceano
(On the ocean, 1899) is an account of the terrible conditions in which Italian immigrants traveled by sea to America.
Primo maggio
(May day), one of his most significant accomplishments as a writer of “socially minded” literature, was published only in 1980.
67
Pagine sparse
(Milan: Treves, 1911),”.
68 Camporesi, introduction, xi-xx.
69 See
Igiene di epicuro
(Epicurean Hygene [Naples: Società editrice partenopea, 1910], 72). The subject is treated at length in Mantegazza’s earlier book,
Igiene della cucina
(Hygiene in the kitchen [Milan: Brigola, 1867]) from which the preceding quote is derived (36–7). A a bon vivant who personally shopped for his food, and who happily recognized Artusi’s competence in selecting cooks (”the new cook Orsolina is the best I’ve had in all my life. Every day she prepares a new a dish and they are all, or almost all, excellent. Every day I praise my friend Artusi who recommended her to me”). See his
Giornale
, 10 Dec. 1894, quoted by Capatti and Pollarini. See their edition of Artusi,
Autobiografia
(Milan: II Saggiatore, 1993, 136). Paolo Mantegazza was born in Monza in 1831 and died in La Spezia in 1910, one year before his esculent friend. He is a perfect example of Italian neo-positivistic thinking. In his book
The Physiology of Pleasure
(1854), pleasure is divided into three very neat categories: senses, emotions, intellect. Mantegazza’s passion for taxonomy leads him to some revealing subdivisions. For example, the first category is broken down into three classes of tactile experiences (plastic, epidermic, sexual), followed by taste, smell, music, sight, and three kinds of inebriation (from coffee, alcohol, and drugs). These types of pleasure are then “measured” on various, and somewhat undefined, ethnic groups ranging from Greeks, to Bolivians, Chinese, Guaranis. Each group is graded with a scale of signs of descending value: 2, 1, +, -. Indians, for instance, pull a 2 in plastic tactilism, together with the Belgians, while Italians, Germans, Chinese, Dutch, and French people have to content themselves with a 1. Worse still fare the Brazilians and “Northamericans” (+), while Argentines, Spaniards, and Arabs flunk altogether (-). Other books by Mantegazza (a truly “impressive” list of publications) include:
Fisiologia dell’amore
(Physiology of love, 1873J;
Fisiologia del hello
(Physiology of beauty, 1891);
Fisiologia della donna
(Physiology of woman, 1893),
Elogio della vecchiaia
(In praise of old age, 1895), etc. In 1887 he published
Testa
(Head), a novel written “in response” to De Amici’s
Cuore
. A pioneer in numerous scientific endeavors, he was among the first to experiment with artificial insemination. Flattered by the interest shown for his book by such an illustrious personage, Artusi thanks him profusely in his “Story of a Book That Is a Bit Like the Story of Cinderella”:
after so many setbacks, a man of genius suddenly appeared and took up my cause. Professor Paolo Mantegazza, with that quick and ready wit that is his trademark, immediately recognized that my work indeed had some merit… He said: “With this book you have done a good deed; may it have a thousand editions.”
”Too many,” said I. “I would be happy with two.” Later, to my great astonishment and surprise, he praised the book and recommended it to the audience at two of his lectures.”
Mrs Mantegazza was also an admirer. A letter of praise she sent to Artusi on 14 November, 1897, complements the one he cites from Olindo Guerrini at the conclusion of “A Few Health Guidelines.” See pp. 21–3 below.
70 The straw that broke the camel’s back was the reduction of workers’ wages, which had been decreed concomitantly
Cuore
(Heart), he wrote travel books like
Spagna
(Spain, 1873) and novels like
Amore e ginnastica
(Love and gymnastics, 1892).
Sull’oceano
(On the ocean, 1899) is an account of the terrible conditions in which Italian immigrants traveled by sea to America.
Primo maggio
(May day), one of his most significant accomplishments as a writer of “socially minded” literature, was published only in 1980.
67
Pagine sparse
(Milan: Treves, 1911),”.
68 Camporesi, introduction, xi-xx.
69 See
Igiene di epicuro
(Epicurean Hygene [Naples: Società editrice partenopea, 1910], 72). The subject is treated at length in Mantegazza’s earlier book,
Igiene della cucina
(Hygiene in the kitchen [Milan: Brigola, 1867]) from which the preceding quote is derived (36–7). A a bon vivant who personally shopped for his food, and who happily recognized Artusi’s competence in selecting cooks (”the new cook Orsolina is the best I’ve had in all my life. Every day she prepares a new a dish and they are all, or almost all, excellent. Every day I praise my friend Artusi who recommended her to me”). See his
Giornale
, 10 Dec. 1894, quoted by Capatti and Pollarini. See their edition of Artusi,
Autobiografia
(Milan: II Saggiatore, 1993, 136). Paolo Mantegazza was born in Monza in 1831 and died in La Spezia in 1910, one year before his esculent friend. He is a perfect example of Italian neo-positivistic thinking. In his book
The Physiology of Pleasure
(1854), pleasure is divided into three very neat categories: senses, emotions, intellect. Mantegazza’s passion for taxonomy leads him to some revealing subdivisions. For example, the first category is broken down into three classes of tactile experiences (plastic, epidermic, sexual), followed by taste, smell, music, sight, and three kinds of inebriation (from coffee, alcohol, and drugs). These types of pleasure are then “measured” on various, and somewhat undefined, ethnic groups ranging from Greeks, to Bolivians, Chinese, Guaranis. Each group is graded with a scale of signs of descending value: 2, 1, +, -. Indians, for instance, pull a 2 in plastic tactilism, together with the Belgians, while Italians, Germans, Chinese, Dutch, and French people have to content themselves with a 1. Worse still fare the Brazilians and “Northamericans” (+), while Argentines, Spaniards, and Arabs flunk altogether (-). Other books by Mantegazza (a truly “impressive” list of publications) include:
Fisiologia dell’amore
(Physiology of love, 1873J;
Fisiologia del hello
(Physiology of beauty, 1891);
Fisiologia della donna
(Physiology of woman, 1893),
Elogio della vecchiaia
(In praise of old age, 1895), etc. In 1887 he published
Testa
(Head), a novel written “in response” to De Amici’s
Cuore
. A pioneer in numerous scientific endeavors, he was among the first to experiment with artificial insemination. Flattered by the interest shown for his book by such an illustrious personage, Artusi thanks him profusely in his “Story of a Book That Is a Bit Like the Story of Cinderella”:
after so many setbacks, a man of genius suddenly appeared and took up my cause. Professor Paolo Mantegazza, with that quick and ready wit that is his trademark, immediately recognized that my work indeed had some merit… He said: “With this book you have done a good deed; may it have a thousand editions.”
”Too many,” said I. “I would be happy with two.” Later, to my great astonishment and surprise, he praised the book and recommended it to the audience at two of his lectures.”
Mrs Mantegazza was also an admirer. A letter of praise she sent to Artusi on 14 November, 1897, complements the one he cites from Olindo Guerrini at the conclusion of “A Few Health Guidelines.” See pp. 21–3 below.
70 The straw that broke the camel’s back was the reduction of workers’ wages, which had been decreed concomitantly
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