My Ten Years' Imprisonment

by Silvio Pellico

Overview

It was now my only consideration how to die like a Christian, and with proper fortitude. I felt, indeed, a strong temptation to avoid the scaffold by committing suicide, but overcame it. What merit is there in refusing to die by the hand of the executioner, and yet fall by one's own? -from Chapter XLVIII In 1820, Italian Silvio Pellico, editor of a literary journal, was arrested as a sympathizer of the revolutionary secret society, The Carbonari. He was sentenced to 15 years in the notorious underground prison at Spielberg, and during his incarceration, he wrote several plays and numerous poems, and after his sentence was commuted in 1830, this account of his ordeal. First published in Paris in 1833, it is a classic prison diary, and a timeless treasure of European literature. Pellico's simple, lucid prose makes immediate the indignities of his experience and highlight the hardships faced by political activists of the era. Italian patriot and playwright SILVIO PELLICO (1789-1854) also wrote the tragic plays Francesca da Rimini and Eufemio da Messina.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9789371134354
Publisher:	Double 9 Books
Publication date:	05/01/2025
Pages:	210
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.48(d)

About the Author

Silvio Pellico was an Italian author, poet, and dramatist born on June 24, 1789, in Saluzzo, Piedmont, to parents whose names are not widely recorded in historical sources. He spent his early years in Pinerolo and Turin, receiving his education under the guidance of a priest named Manavella. From a young age, Pellico displayed literary talent, composing a tragedy inspired by Ossianic poetry at just ten years old. He later moved to Lyon to live with his twin sister Rosina and studied French literature for four years. In 1810, he returned to Milan and became a professor of French at the Collegio degli Orfani Militari. His first significant literary success came in 1818 with the tragedy Francesca da Rimini, followed by Euphemio da Messina, though the latter was censored before its performance. He also worked as a tutor to noble families and was a central figure in the literary-political circle around Il Conciliatore, a short-lived publication opposing Austrian rule. In 1820, Pellico was arrested for his involvement in the Carbonari movement and imprisoned by Austrian authorities. His time in prison profoundly shaped his later writing, including his most famous work, My Ten Years' Imprisonment.