Product Description

A new translation of the greatest Italian short-story writer since Boccaccio.

Born into a well-to-do Sicilian family, Giovanni Verga became an active observer of Milanese salon society in the 1870s and 1880s but eventually found in the everyday lives of Sicilian peasants the inspiration for his finest narratives. Love, adultery, and honor are recurring themes in the stories collected here, set against the scorched landscapes of the slopes of Mount Etna and the Plain of Catania.

Verga's rich naturalism and originality of style are faithfully rendered in G. H. McWilliam's superb translations. In addition to the title story, the basis for Pietro Mascagni's operatic masterpiece, this volume includes "Nedda," the groundbreaking narrative of Italian verismo, as well as "Jeli the Shepherd" and "Rosso Malpelo," which D. H. Lawrence considered two of the finest stories ever written.

Translated with an Introduction by G. H. McWilliam

"The landscape will be more or less familiar to anyone who has gone in the train down the east coast of Sicily. . . . And anyone who has once known this land can never be quite free from the nostalgia for it, nor can he fail to fall under the spell of Verga's wonderful creation of it."-- D. H. Lawrence

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #105613 in Books
• Published on: 2000-01-01
• Original language: Italian
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 272 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780140447415
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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Language Notes
Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Italian

About the Author
Born in Catania, Sicily, Giovanni Verga (1840-1922) was a prolific and popular writer of novels, short stories, and plays. His fiction includes Story of a Blackcap, Eva, Royal Tigress, and Eros. G.H. McWilliam is Professor Emeritus of Italian at the University of Leicester, England, and has translated Boccaccio's Decameron for Penguin Classics.

Customer Reviews

One of the Greatest Italian Novelists
Verga is one of the 19th Century's greatest writers, and it's a shame he isn't better known in the English-speaking world. Stories such as Jeli the Shepherd and the She-Wolf are dazzling, deeply moving stories that rank amongst the best stories Chekhov ever wrote. The translation itself is superb. It is easily the best version of Verga in English.

Pictures of a gone world
To paraphrase Lawrence Ferlinghetti, these stories by Giovanni Verga are "pictures of a gone world" by a masterful narrator whose manner is somewhat reminiscent of Turgenev. The title story (source for the opera "Cavalleria rusticana") is ironically the least interesting or remarkable in the collection and Verga should not be judged by it. Some contemporary readers might find the melodramatic turns of events and tragic endings heavy-handed, but Verga's close observation and realistic detail shine through and bring nineteenth-century rural Sicily to life. He presents his themes and characters without moralizing or sentimentality. While often tragic or sad, these memorable stories are not lacking in humor either ("War of the Saints" is hilarious) and have a way of getting under your skin. "Wolf-hunt" is a small masterpiece of suspense. Very much recommended for anyone interested in Sicily who wants to learn more about the Sicilian people, their history and culture.