‘Incognita’ is a delightful piece of late seventeenth century writing, a romance and a masquerade, a story of mistaken and assumed identities. Set in Florence during nuptial festivities, the story sees the heroes Aurelian, and his Spanish friend, Hippolito, arriving in the city, Aurelian’s native city. But Aurelian does not want his father to know he’s returned yet. The two young men attend some festivities, including a masquerade. Hippolito borrows a costume, and the two of them arrive as strangers. Separating for the rest of the night, they fall under the spell of two women. But all four of them are masked and costumed. And so begins a series of deceptions. Hippolito discovers that the costume he borrowed belongs to a man who has killed someone else and has thus brought down promises of revenge on his head. The young woman he encounters, Leonora, sees his costume and believes him to be her cousin, warning him that he ought to leave before someone takes revenge. He doesn’t correct her mistake and they leave, after which he asks how he might contact her the next day.

Aurelian has fallen for a different woman who delights him with her quick wit, and who offers him the choice of knowing her name, or seeing her face. He asks to see her face, only later realising that without her name, it will be difficult to find her.

When the two men meet up later, Hippolito reveals that Aurelian is to be married off to a woman named Juliana to end the feud caused by Leonora’s cousin. Hippolito has been writing letters to Leonora trying to explain that he’s not her cousin, when Aurelian suggests that they swap identities as far as their new mistresses are concerned. Hippolito will claim to be Aurelian and vice versa, thereby keeping Aurelian’s father and the unwanted marriage at bay. And so the intrigue continues, but news of the planned marriage of Aurelian crushes Leonora’s hopes, since she believes the man she has met is now promised to someone else. Aurelian’s father meanwhile hears that his son is back in the city and is determined to find him and have the marriage performed as soon as possible.

There’s an inevitability to the proceedings, and the reader will no doubt guess where things are going as far as the ending is concerned. The journey there involves twists and turns that might seem somewhat contrived, and yet everything that happens fits perfectly within the story. The prose itself is beautifully written. Occasionally the narrator speaks to us in asides, and draws our attention to some point or piece of background information. It’s easy to imagine this story performed on a stage as a seventeenth century romantic comedy, which is not surprising given the later career of the writer. According to Congreve himself, it was “an essay begun and finished in the idler hours of a fortnight’s time.” ‘Incognita’ serves as a reminder of what Congreve was capable of, and what literature lost when he abandoned his career.

Kara Kellar Bell is a film and media graduate from the West of Scotland, with a passion for European novels, French films, silent cinema, and Brazilian music (everything from Daniela Mercury and other pop stars through to bossa nova). As a writer, she likes to have room to move around creatively, so she’s not located in one genre. She writes realism and also stories of a more fantastic nature, usually grounded to some extent in the real world. She also takes delight in writing across the sexual spectrum, and as a bisexual, considers it important to remind people that things are not always black and white, either/or, in sexuality or in gender. For a selection of Kara’s writing on the Showcase section of this site, click here

© 2005 Laura Hird All rights reserved.