Mary Shelley: Valperga: or, the Life and Adventures of Castrucchio, Prince of Lucca
- Graham Allen (University College Cork)
Valperga is a historical novel, influenced greatly by Godwin’s ideas about the relationship between history and imaginative fiction. It is set in fourteenth-century Italy, a period of Italian history dramatized by foreign-rule and internal city-state conflicts. In particular, the novel focuses on the conflicts between the Republican Guelph party and the Ghibeline party associated with the Holy Roman Empire and the various foreign rulers who took or claimed the name of Emperor. As the novel begins the Guelph party, with its base in Florence, is in the ascendancy, and the novel details the early life of the future Ghibeline leader, Castrucchio, Prince of Lucca. Mary’s research into Castrucchio included reading, as she put
First published 02 February 2004
Citation: Allen, Graham. "Valperga: or, the Life and Adventures of Castrucchio, Prince of Lucca". The Literary Encyclopedia. 02 February 2004
[http://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=8586, accessed 30 July 2010.]
8586 Valperga: or, the Life and Adventures of Castrucchio, Prince of Lucca 3 Short Notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.