Constructing and using genetic apparatuses. The case of Manzoni’s The Betrothed

This essay examines the challenges involved in constructing genetic apparatuses for Alessandro Manzoni’s I promessi sposi, a work whose complex compositional history extends across multiple drafts, manuscript witnesses, proofs, and printed editions. Focusing on the critical editions of Fermo e Lucia, Gli sposi promessi, and the 1827 edition of the novel, it discusses the editorial compromises required to represent intertwined phases of revision in a readable form. Particular attention is devoted to the limitations of the two-tier apparatus adopted for the 1827 edition, which can obscure the chronology and direction of Manzoni’s revisions. The essay finally proposes a digital, TEI-XML-based model capable of integrating the different witnesses while supporting flexible visualization, linguistic analysis, and comparison across texts, works, and authors.