Summary of The Pope’s Daughter
In “The Pope’s Daughter”, Nobel Prize-winning author Dario Fo recounts the life of Lucrezia Borgia, the famous — or infamous — daughter of the Renaissance pope Alexander VI. The book is written as a rehabilitation of Lucrezia Borgia, portraying her as a woman shaped by violent times and by her own unscrupulous family, rather than the poisoner and incestuous adulteress of popular legend. It can be read as an ode to a woman caught in a male-dominated world, but also as a search for historical truth and a critique of the stream of misinformation — with echoes that resonate in the present day, including modern Italian politics.
Reasons to read The Pope’s Daughter
“The Pope’s Daughter” is an original and engaging work of fiction centred on the historical figure of Lucrezia Borgia. Readers should not expect a conventional historical novel, but rather a novel with theatrical qualities, built on dialogue and passages resembling stage directions. Dario Fo was one of the most influential Italian playwrights of the twentieth century. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1997 and is best known for plays such as “Mistero Buffo”, “Can’t Pay? Won’t Pay!” and “Accidental Death of an Anarchist”. Towards the end of his life, he also wrote two novels: “The Pope’s Daughter” and “C’è un re pazzo in Danimarca”, a historical novel about King Christian VII of Denmark. Both works are illustrated with Fo’s own paintings, inspired by Renaissance originals. Lucrezia Borgia has also been the subject of books by Victor Hugo, Maria Bellonci and Rafael Sabatini.
Original title: La figlia del Papa
Year of publication: 2014
Nr of pages: 241
