The Roman Question

Edmond AboutProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.3

Word count: 381K words
Chapters: 39

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.The Roman Question by Edmond AboutAuthor: About, Edmond, 1828-1885,Language: English, Class: DG: History: General and Eastern Hemisphere: Italy, Vatican City, Malta, Release Date: Dec 19, 2004

Editor's review

The Roman Question is a study by the French writer Edmond About on the dispute between the papacy and the new Italian state during the nineteenth-century unification of Italy, focusing on whether the pope should retain temporal power—a core issue in European politics and public debate of the time. Its value lies in its argumentative style, which makes complex historical and legal disputes clear and readable: it traces the origins of the dispute and presents the positions and differences of the parties involved, making it an important reference for understanding church-state relations after Italian unification. For Chinese readers today it is more like a window: it shows how nineteenth-century European opinion discussed the relationship between ecclesiastical authority and the secular state, and how political writing can combine factual statement with the expression of a position. Note the author's own leanings and the time of writing; his judgments carry the polemical color of the day and should be read against scholarly works on church history and Italian unification, not taken as neutral conclusions.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in the history of Italian unification and the fate of the Papal States
Those studying modern church-state relations and church history
Readers interested in nineteenth-century European political writing
Those who want a focused study to understand the religious and political currents of Europe

Not a good fit for

General readers looking for purely narrative history
Beginners without background in modern European religion and politics
Readers expecting the author to be completely neutral

Reading tips

Learn the basic timeline of the Italian unification movement and the end of the Papal States before reading, to grasp the issues more easily.
Record the book's arguments separately from the positions of the parties, to identify the author's stance and rhetorical strategy.
Read alongside works on church history or Italian unification to test the book's judgments.
When meeting legal and doctrinal terms, clarify their meaning first, then return to the paragraph to follow the argument.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

What exactly is the "Roman Question"?

It generally refers to the dispute over the pope's temporal power and between the papacy and the Italian state during nineteenth-century Italian unification. It involved both territory and sovereignty and legal and public debate over church-state relations, and was a major issue in European politics of the time. This book discusses that dispute.

Is the book's stance neutral?

Not entirely. The author writes argumentatively, with clear judgments and leanings, in the manner of nineteenth-century polemic. It helps readers understand the positions of the time, but should not be taken as objective conclusion; read it against works of different viewpoints.

Can it be read without a background in religious history?

Yes, but some background is needed first. Learn the general history of the Papal States, the key stages of Italian unification, and the basic concepts of church-state relations; otherwise many legal and doctrinal terms will obstruct understanding. With that background, the book's argument is quite clear.

As a public-domain eBook, how is it best used?

It suits supplementary research: use search to locate keywords and arguments, excerpt the author's positions by theme, and compare them with historical scholarship. For general reading, proceed in segments and note terms and names as you go, so the argumentative style does not make you lose the thread.

Comments

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About the author

Edmond About Author · French · 1828–1885

Edmond About (1828–1885) was a French novelist, journalist and critic, born in Dieuze, Lorraine. He graduated from the École Normale Supérieure in Paris and later attended the French School in Rome, after which he wrote for newspapers such as Le Figaro. About was known for his satirical and humorous style, and his works range across science fiction, social manners and religious and political themes. His representative works include The King of the Mountains, The Man with the Broken Ear and The Roman Question; The Man with the Broken Ear is notable for its fantastical imagination and witty narrative. In 1884 he was elected to the Académie française and died the following year. Nine of his works are held in this collection.