LITERATURE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20330, 11 February 1928, Page 4

LITERATURE.

A NOBEL PRIZE-WINNER. GRAZIA DELEDDA. Grazia Deledda, whose novel, “ La Fuga in Egitto ” (The Flight to Egypt), has been awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, was only 15 when she wrote her first novel, “ Sanguo Sardo” (Sardinian Blood), a rather ragic and fantastic story. Sent secretly to a newspaper of fashions in Rome, it was immediately accepted and published. The appearance of the story made the youthful writer very happy, but made her family and townsfolk quite indignant. No one had ever heard nofote of a woman writer in Is'uoro, nor perhaps in all Sardinia, and that to Sardinians was an omen that spelled evil for the young girl. She was besieged with anonymous letters, some offering kindly advice, others making outrageous insinuations. Her parents were grieved and became objects of sympathy and condolences; and the young writer was subjected to family scenes and insults in order to bring her back to the holy and righteous path. Fortunately, however, Grazia did not yield. She continued writing, though in secret. The townsfolk soon discovered that writing was not inconsistent with the maidenly virtues of a well-bred girl, and as she began to win her reputation and earn some money the hard feelings towards her changed. In order to understand the attitude of her acquaintances, her relatives and her family, we must remember that she was born 52 years ago in Nuoro, near Sassari, on the Island of Sardinia. The little city numbers nearly 6000 inhabitants. It is situated 2000 ft above the sea level, between two big valleys, one of which is cultivated, the other still wild. The streets, except the main one. arc narrow and lined with numerous plain huts built of stone and mud, and little houses painted white, rose colour and blue. Grazia’s father, an energetic and intelligent man, completed his studies at Cagliari, the most important city of the island, then three days’ journey on horseback from Nuoro. After practising law for some time he became an agriculturist and business man. He would rise early in the morning, take care of his correspondence, give orders to his peasants, and sometimes he worked the land with them. , . . When he was about 40 years old, having assured himself of a solid financial future, he decided to marry. He and two of his friends decided not to choose a wife among the richest families of the - town—as was the custom—but to choose the most beautiful and most modest among the poor peasants. His choice fell on a girl of 2 n his junior. She was neither rich nor highly educated, but she was well known for her artistic embroidery o the famous Sardinian designs. Signor Deledda and his young bride lived happily aether and led the patriarchal life of the island so well described by Grazia in her novel “ Animo Onestc (Plain Soul.). Grazia-was born in a house of stone lined with heavy wooden built on the outskirts of the town. On one side of the house there were a court and | a little garden, beyond which stretched j the fields surrounded by mountains; those near were wooded, those further away were barren and rocky; and behind, dominating them all, were the snowy peaks ot Monte Germargentu, the highest mountain in Sardinia. The room m which Giazia spent most of her days was simple, bare, and almost sad. She loved it because of the beautiful view and the dreams she dreamed in it. Sometimes, however, she would spend entire days out in the conn try, roaming through the woods n scented fields and on rocky cliffs. A great love for Nature dwelt in her childish soul and brought new vitality to her sweet but monotonous life. , Thus for 25 years, without once leaving the island, Grazia Deledda lived the nuiet and unassuming life of an almost peasant home, finding her happiness in the love of her family, the affections of her friends and the daily tasks of the little primitive world of a Sardinian town. But her feelings were nurtured by dreams which the winds, mountains, and woods create for those who love, lor as many years the big black eyes of the youthful writjer had seen every aspect of her counti'y and its inhabitants; for years she had heard the strange melancholy music of the popular songs of the island; had absorbed the customs and minds of her fellow-citizens, and had been a constant sharer of their most intimate life. , The Sardinian dialect was her mother tongue, since in Sardinia, as in almost all the regions of Italy, the Italian language is a second tongue studied in the schools. Her education was no better than that which a Sardinian woman of the lower middle class usually receives. Auer having finished the elementary school Grazia took a dozen lessons in Italian and French. Her teacher took her willingly because he found her so passionately t fond of learning, but lie soon left Nuoro ( and Grazia had no more lessons. But | she kept on practising the literary compositions which her teacher had begun to give her. The first book that came into her hands, as far as she can remember, was a book dealing with the customs of ancient Rome; after that she read a French novel and a work on India. These three volumes not only enlarged her field of dreams, but revealed to her also that art of writing which lay latent in her. Thus at the age of 15 she wrote her first novel, ‘‘Sanguo Sardo” (Sardinian Blood). When she was 24 years old she met at Cagliari a civil officer of the Ministry of War—Signor Madesani, —whom she married a year later, moving to Rome, where they live now. Her husband has just retired from the public service. For Grazia Deledda writing is a necessity. If she doesn’t write she becomes restless. So every day, after luncheon and a mid-day nap, she writes four pages regularly and methodically. In one month 120 pages. Within nine years, from 18 to 27, she published three volumes of short stories and seven novels. She has now written 30 novels. The short stories are almost always living analyses of emotional crises, idylls, or rustic drama, pictures of Sardinian customs and family scenes. The larger part of her novels deal with Sardinian life, and to these the writer owes her reputation. Grazia Deledda has put all her ingenuousness and her instinctive powers of narration in describing what she saw and felt for so many years on the island. She it was who succeeded in revealing Sardinia, unknown to most Italians, os an island of mystery, adventure, and wonders, a land of strange and primitive customs and manners. The success of the first novels of Grazia may be attributed more to the artistic revelation of an almost unknown people than to the worth of the writer herself. Few there were then who realised the great possibility of Deledda and who could see that the psychological analysis of the writer was something more than a simple description of types; that the drama between her characters was not merely a contrast between men and environments, but the profound insight of a gifted soul. However that may be, the literary success of Grazia continued for years, and while in Rome she sacrificed a little of her quiet family life in order to frequent a few intellectual salons, where she met other authors and foreign critics who had discovered her genius. Nevertheless, she never lost her usual calm, and continued always to follow the example of her mother —dedicating her mornings to household duties, to the kitchen, and to the care of a little niece, Mirella, and to a domesticated old crow. Lately Deledda came to the conclusion that her readers attributed their interest in her writings rather to the subject than to her ability as an author. She promptly began to write about nonSardinian peoples and subjects. She even modified the theme of her novels. Writing always about women, whom she analyses with rare discernment, she reveals them as struggling against sin and temptation on the ground of honour and family duties rather than because of pride or remorse as in her earlier works. Grazia Deledda has been compared to George Sand, but to a George Sand without her romanticism; closer to the Russian writers than to the French. Her ingenuousness and instinct lead her always to idealise and transform her characters or landscapes. For this reason Grazia has never changed her style, and has not run after fashions or modern “ tendencies ”in literature. The creatures of her latest novels are always the sisters in their sorrows, their joys, their spiritual troubles, of those characters who made the writer famous.

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NOVELS WORTH READING

THE A.B.A.i-.Z. LIST. This list has been compiled by a selected committee of competent judges nominated by the Associated Booksellers of Australia and New Zealand. It is issued to serve as a guide to fiction of merit. There are no recommendations for “ Books of Literary Merit ” this month. BOOKS FOR POPULAR READING. “ In a Yunnan Courtyard,” by L. J. Milne. “By Request,” by Ethel M. Dell. " Forlorn River,” by Zane Grey. “ The Sentimentalists,” by Dale Collins. “ The Secret of Father Brown,” by G. K. Chesterton. “The Nuptials of Corbal,” by Rafael Sabatini. “The Mixer,” by Edgar Wallace. “ Miss Torrobin’s Experiment,” by H. A. Vijchell. “ Bitter Heritage,” by Margaret Pcdler. “ The Slave Junk,” by Frank L. Packard. “Aristocratic Miss Brewster,” by Joseph G. Lincoln. “ Onslaught,” by Joan Sutherland.