Page 594 - The Rough Guide of Sicily

short stories and novellas are packed with incisive insights into the island’s quirky

ways, and infused with the author’s humane and sympathetic view of its people. The
first to describe the Mafia in Italian literature, he wrote metaphysical thrillers in
which the detectives often turn out to be the hunted; the best known is The Day of the
Owl.

Giovanni Verga Short Sicilian Novels, Cavalleria Rusticana, Maestro Don
Gesualdo, I Malavoglia or The House by the Medlar Tree, A Mortal Sin, La Lupa

and Sparrow. Born in the nineteenth century in Catania, Verga spent several years in
various European salons before coming home to write his best work. Much of it is a
reaction against the pseudo-sophistication of society circles, stressing the simple lives
of ordinary people, with much emotion, wounded honour and feuds to the death. D.H.
Lawrence’s translations are suitably vibrant, with excellent introductions.

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