Il mago delle Alpi; ossia l'anello incantato| allegoria storica| farsa, commedia, melodramma e tragedia nel gran teatro del mondo| per passatempo ed istruzione degli italiani in America [The Magician of the Alps, or The Enchanted Ring, Historical Farse, Comedy, Melodrama and Tragedy in the Great Theatre of the World, for the Recreation and Instruction of Italians in America][Facsimile]. New York: Copyright 1889, by Augusto Bassetti, [Right of Translation Reserved], 1889.

Il mago delle Alpi; ossia l'anello incantato| allegoria storica| farsa, commedia, melodramma e tragedia nel gran teatro del mondo| per passatempo ed istruzione degli italiani in America [The Magician of the Alps, or The Enchanted Ring, Historical Farse, Comedy, Melodrama and Tragedy in the Great Theatre of the World, for the Recreation and Instruction of Italians in America][Facsimile]. New York: Copyright 1889, by Augusto Bassetti, [Right of Translation Reserved], 1889.

The work contains "argomenti dei capitoli" (4 pp.)("argument of the chapters") prior to the full text; the story takes place 400 years ago, and was designed to appeal to Italian immigrants' preference for the romantic and chivalric tales that were a regular feature of the residual oral culture in which most Southern Italians lived.

From his grammars, and the story he weaves around them in his thinly veiled propaganda work of fiction, Amor Focoso, q.v., it is clear that Bassetti was acutely aware of the residuary oral culture from which the average Italian immigrant came.This work would seem to be designed to appeal to just such an audience. Bassetti had his own bookstore, Libri D'Oro, from which he sold his grammars, dictionary, and two novels.

See the entries for other works by Bassetti for more about his biography.

Augusto Bassetti

Copyright 1889, by Augusto Bassetti, [Right of Translation Reserved]

1889

22 x 15cm; 76 p.

Italian