Grazia Deledda Boeken

Brought up as a servant in the austere household of an uncle, Marianna is now a woman of property. But at thirty, she knows little of life. For others in the town of Nuoro and its surrounding hill farms, Sardinia is a harsh and unforgiving place. When she meets a former companion in service, now forced into banditry to support his family, her calm existence is turned upside down. The defining moment of her life has come. Does Marianna love for Simone Sole triumph over her common sense, social convention and what is expected of her by her family? Grazia Deledda explores the layers of temptation and doubt in a novel of Sardinian life coloured with her own intimate knowledge of its beauties and dangers.

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Short "Cosima" tells the story of an aspiring writer growing up in Nuoro, Sardinia during the last decades of the nineteenth century when formal education for women was rare and literary careers unheard-of. Based on Deledda’s own life, the work describes a young woman’s struggle against the dismay and disapproval of her family and friends at her creative ambitions. Yet it also reads like a charming fable with details of family life, rural traditions and wild bandits, and it is as much a novel of memory as of character or action. Deledda’s characters are poor country folk driven by some predetermined force. Their loves are tragic, their lives as hard and as rigidly controlled as nature itself in the hills of Sardinia. Deledda creates memorable figures who play out their lives against this backdrop of mountains and bare plains, sheepfolds and vineyards. Shimmering in the distance is the sea and escape — for a few — to the Continent or America. In 1926 Grazia Deledda became the second woman and the second Italian to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature. She wrote thirty-three novels, including "Reeds in the Wind," and many books of short stories, almost all set on Sardinia. Her work has become well known to English-speaking readers through Martha King’s translations for Italica Press.

Set against an urban backdrop, Grazia Deledda's narrative explores the complexities of human emotions, delving into themes of love, ambition, and the desire for self-importance. With a modern and experimental writing style, she reveals the deep-seated struggles and aspirations that drive individuals, moving beyond her traditional Sardinian roots to capture the essence of urban life and its inherent challenges.

Set in Sardinia, this novel follows Marianna Sirca, a young woman striving to rebuild her life and support her daughter after escaping an abusive marriage. As she establishes a successful embroidery business, she grapples with her tumultuous feelings for Gabriele, who faces his own struggles. The narrative delves into themes of love, loss, and redemption, portraying the characters' quest for happiness amidst life's challenges. With rich depictions of the Sardinian landscape, this timeless tale resonates with readers, reflecting enduring human emotions.

A native of Sardinia, Grazia Deledda's novels are mostly set in the rugged hills around her home town of Nuoro. Her characters reflect the difficult lives of people still constrained by ancient customs and practices. Her voice is powerful, her tone often sombre. But her wide-ranging talent had a sunnier side, revealed in many of her later works. The Christmas Present, first published in 1930, brings together a collection of folk tales, children's stories and personal reminiscences that portray with humour and affection the lighter side of Sardinian life. This is a book that will charm and delight, opening a window on to the Sardinia of old and the formative influences on a Nobel laureate.

The ancient traditions of Sardinia feature heavily in this early collection. The stories collected in The Queen of Darkness, published in 1902 shortly after Deledda's marriage and move to Rome, reflect her transformation from little-known regional writer to an increasingly fêted and successful mainstream author. The two miniature psycho-dramas that open the collection are followed by stories of Sardinian life in the remote hills around her home town of Nuoro. The stark but beautiful countryside is a backdrop to the passions, misadventures and injustices which shape the lives of its rugged but all too human inhabitants.

Taliansku spisovatelku Graziu Deleddovú nemusíme slovenskému čitateľovi predstavovať. Dielko, ktoré sa mu dostáva do rúk, je jedným z mála diel vrcholného obdobia jej tvorby. Komorne ladený príbeh je dôkazom, že slovu v rukách majstra stačí len málo na vyjadrenie tých najkomplikovanejších duševných stavov. Príbeh muža, ktorý chce zostať sám so svojím tajomstvom, jeho márny boj proti láske, vzťah muža a ženy, ktorí sa boja opätovného sklamania, hlboká sonda do myšlienkového sveta duševne chorého človeka — to všetko nájdeme v novele najvýznamnejšej sardínskej autorky. Kde je hranica medzi normálnym „naším“ svetom a tým druhým, svetom iracionálna — kladie sebe i nám otázku. Jej hlavný hrdina Cristiano stráca lásku, ktorej sa najprv bránil a neskôr o ňu bojoval, získava však chuť do života. Vracia sa do „nášho“ sveta. Grazia Deleddová je autorka zemitá, ostrovná, sopečná. Zemité a sopečné — s príkrasami i bez príkras — sú aj postavy jej rodnej Sardinie, ostrova, ktorý zostal tisíc rokov v úzadí európskej civilizácie. Celé jej dielo je epickým dokumentom o živote a práci ľudí na Sardinii od konca minulého storočia do konca tridsiatych rokov nášho storočia.