DELEDDA Grace (Deledda Grazia)

September 27, 1871, Mr.. - August 16, 1936
Italian writer Grazia Deledda was born in the village of Nuoro in Sardinia. Her father was quite wealthy lawyer, thrice been elected mayor. Like many women of this mountain village, the mother of the writer, nee Francesca Kampos, was illiterate. Although by local standards, the family D. was one of the wealthy - they have a press to produce olive oil and a winery - the life of a young AD, her two brothers and four sisters were rather primitive. Later D. called Nuoro, a place where life has not changed for centuries, 'the settlement of the Bronze Age'. Village life was so closed that the locals were not speaking in Italian, but in logudoresskom dialect, very near the Latin language. In accordance with local patriarchal practices or AD, nor her sisters almost never released some of the house. Yet because of the fact that the house D. a kind of center of the local community, a girl from an early age been able to communicate with different segments of the Sardinian population.
Until the age of 10 D. attended a local primary school and took private lessons in French and Italian languages. In addition, the girl read a lot - especially the XIX century Russian prose. and the novels of Hugo and Balzac. She is also fond of ballads and legends of Sardinian. At the age of 8 years of Grace began to write poems and stories based on local folklore. D. was 15 years old when her story 'Sardinian blood' ( "Sangue sardo") appeared in the pages of an illustrated magazine Roman. In 1892, Mr.. Her first novel, 'Flower of Sardinia' ( "Fior di Sardegna") was favorably received by critics. In 1895, Mr.. Book D. 'Honest soul' ( "Anime oneste") came out with a preface by the Italian literary Ruggiero Bongs.
At this time, D. continued to live in Nuoro. After his father's death she was engaged in the family winery and at the same time conducted an extensive correspondence with writers and critics. However, unexpectedly received a large sum for the French translation of 'Honest souls', D. transferred control of wine to his brother, Andrea, and in 1899. at the invitation of Maria Munk, editor of the journal 'Donna Sarda' ( "Donna sarda"), on the pages that often appear works novice writer, goes to the capital of Sardinia Cagliari. Here she meets with Palmiro Madesani, an official of the Ministry of Finance, for which in 1900. married. In the same year, when her husband was transferred to Rome in the Ministry of War, D. making his first trip outside of Sardinia. Young couple settled in Rome, where he lives and in the future, bringing up two sons.
Throughout later life D. wrote about one novel per year. Despite the fact that life in Rome, appealed to the writer, the effect of her books are in Sardinia, her best novels are vivid illustrations of simple and austere life of the inhabitants of the island, - a life that does not have anything to do with modernity. 'I know and love Sardinia - once noted novelist - her people - my people, its mountains and valleys - is part of my own. Why do we look for the theme somewhere miles and miles away, when the human drama played out before our eyes Sardinia and asks the pages of my novels'.
While creativity D. difficult to fit into a particular literary movement, . her mature works can be viewed in the context of motion naturalists, writers, naturalists, . such, . as Emile Zola, . Theodore Dreiser, and others, . were strongly influenced by the teachings of Charles Darwin, . Herbert Spencer, . other philosophers and scientists-positivist,
. According to naturalists, human behavior is determined by heredity and environment that is the fact that from the man himself does not depend. Typically, the protagonists of naturalists are members of the lower classes, who had not previously been awarded the attention of writers. These heroes are unhappy because of the social conditions and their own unruly passions. Until the early 20-ies. in the work of Dr.. There were elements of naturalism, though the poetry and the integrity of its products atypical for writers of naturalistic school. Furthermore, in contrast to the naturalists, who tend to keep to the socialist beliefs, D. was completely apolitical.
The hero of her first, which took a great success of the novel 'Elias Portulu' ( "Elias Portolu", 1903), failed to survive the love, becomes a priest, but eventually realizes that to serve God is not suitable. Being unable to resolve the conflict between their own desires and demands of society, he must share the fate of many other heroes of AD: it goes from innocence to sin and guilt, and ultimately finds redemption through suffering.
. During the next decade, the popularity of the D
. in Italy is growing rapidly. 'Ashes' ( "Cenere") - a novel about a lonely woman who sacrifices himself for his illegitimate child - appeared in 1904. In 1916, Mr.. in this novel the movie was made with the Italian actress Eleonora Duse, for which the main role in this film became the first and last role in film. During these years, D. is also involved in processing a scene for his novel, 'Ivy' ( "L'edera", 1908), the play was staged at the theater in 1909. The basis of the libretto 'Grace' ( "La grazia"), which was written by Vincenzo Michetti in 1923, formed stories D. Other significant works of this period include the novels 'Doves and hawks' ( "Colombi e sparvien", 1912) and 'reed in the wind' ( "Carina al vento", 1913).
. According to most critics, the culmination of a realistic period in the work of Dr.
. was novel 'Mother' ( "La madre", 1920), which was set in a remote Sardinian village throughout the two days. Local priest fell passionately in love, his mother, seeing the suffering of her son, experiencing unbearable suffering. Although the characters and plot are fairly simple, they are depicted with the brightness and expressiveness of classical tragedy.
After the novel 'Mother' style D. undergoes substantial changes. Writer overcomes early pessimism, fascinated by the idea of redemption through love. Novels of this period, according to critics, not so fortunate compared to previous. They have lost a colorful description of Sardinian life, that was the main force of the D. as a writer, but now D. more interested in economic and physiological aspects of modern life. These works include 'The secret of a lonely man' ( "Il segreto dell'uomo solitario", 1921) and 'living God' ( "Dio dei viventi", 1922).
In 1927, Mr.. D. received the Nobel Prize for literature in 1926. 'for poetic compositions, in which with plastic clarity describes the life of her native island, as well as the depth of approach to human problems in general'. Presenting the award, Henrik Shuk, a member of the Swedish Academy, said that the D. 'depicts nature as few people in the European literature'. He also said that the Italian novelist typical 'serious and deep understanding of religious issues ... her works are often sad, but never pessimistic '. D. took the prize, saying a few words, the traditional Nobel lecture, the writer did not say
A few months after receiving the Nobel Prize in D. was discovered a malignant tumor in the breast. The writer continued to work hard nine years, she died of cancer on Aug. 16, 1936, Mr.. Rome.
D. was modest, retiring woman who wrote the internal needs without any claims Intelligent. Although the effects of most of its most striking works are in Sardinia, an Italian critic Giuseppe Ravenyani absented D. the authors 'local color'. 'In his art - he wrote - D. explores the lives of all the insight and sensitivity, which only can a woman '. In his opinion, the best works of the D. 'is something from the Bible ... breathes patriarchal grandeur of the Old Testament '. Az. Lawrence wrote that the D. describes 'provincial common people with the skill of Thomas Hardy'. In the preface to the novel 'Mother' Lawrence, however, observed that the D. 'not able to penetrate into the nature of human suffering and passion', as it is not the great geniuses. Nevertheless, he finds that the novelist could 'get into the psychology of primitive man'.
As for more modern critics creativity AD, the literary critic Thomas J. Bergin in 1980. noted that 'in recent years, its prestige declined slightly'. Nevertheless, he continued, 'despite the fact that the manner of D. now somewhat dated, described her human relationships touched so far, and unpretentious style still sounds convincing. "