Book reviews: Sicilian Novels; Conversations in Sicily: Operatic voices from an island of anguish

From: Scotland on Sunday | Date: March 9, 2003| Author: | Copyright information

SICILIAN NOVELS

Giovanni Verga

Dedalus, 8 pounds 99 pence

CONVERSATIONS IN SICILY

Elio Vittorini

Canongate, GBP 8.99

BY

BORN in 1840, Giovanni Verga is known nowadays, if at all, through Mascagni's operatic version of his short story 'Cavalleria Rusticana'. Verga transferred Emile Zola's naturalistic style into Italian 'verismo', and the tales collected in Sicilian Novels amply demonstrate his gift for describing hard, often brutalised lives, without condescension or overt moralising. Most of the pieces are romantic tragedies, where irrational impulses and codified ideas of honour explode into ...

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