Writing is a noble profession of expression of thoughts and ideas with the help of not only intellect, literary expertise and subject knowledge but also with a gross understanding of human life. There are different categories of fiction and non-fiction writers who have there own way of writing and among them there are some who have an direct approach towards life and who were able to pen down the realistic approach of life close to the life of common man and women sharing their very woes and triumph of day to day affair. Giovanni Verga was one such realist writer who was able to successfully pen down the portrayed of life through the words in his creations.

Born on 2nd September 1840 in a prosperous family of Catania in Sicily he showed his knack for writing at a very early stage. He was the first son of Giovanni Battista Catalano Verga and Catalina di Mauro. The prosperity of the family was because of the fact that they own large estates in Catania and Vizzini. In fact this helped to shape the writer inside Verga as he could watch the life of peasants and fisherfloks from a very close counter. Through the way of understanding the life and literature Verga developed a unique way of writing known as Verismo or literary realism.

Before we further relish the works and the style of Verga it would be interesting to look into the events in the life of this great and unique writer for it would help us to understand better. Verga spends his youth under the guidance of his teacher Antonino Abate to start writing. In the year 1858 he joined the faculty of law in the University of Catania but only for a short period as he left his studies in the year 1861 to work as a journalist. The next chapter of his life is to join the Catanian national guard where he worked from 1860 to 1864. During this period he traveled to Florence several times where he ultimately settled in the year 1869. These years were never a waste for Verga as he was introduced to the literary circles of some great contemporary writers such as Giovanni Prati, Aleardo Aleardi, Francesco Dall’Ongaro etc. This led to the successful publication of Storia di Una Capinera. From 1872 to 93 Verga lived in Milan and was able to get introduced and recognized to the Scapigliatura members such as Arrigo Boito, Giuseppe Giacosa, Emilio Praga, Luigi Gualdo, Felice Cameroni etc. He was also introduced to the editor Treves who later proved to be extremely important for his career. Years rolled with lot of works parallel to lot of emotional disturbances. In the year 1877 Verga lost his sister Rosa and in the following year his mother. The next decade was again to be considered a bundle of activities. His decision to return to Catania collided with the immense literary activity and also with his relationship with Giselda Fojanesi, the wife of poet Mario Rapisardi. Life showed its fruit in 1884 when his master creation Cavalleria Rusticana got public approval in the Teatro Carignano with the playing actress Eleonora Duse. The next couple of years the writer faced a lot of trouble in the part of the family responsibility. He also won a case against Mascagni and the editor Sonzogno for the rights given to the lyric version of Cavalleria Rusticana. 1889 showed again a spark in life as Verga met Dina di Sordevolo and the relationship lasted till the end of Verga’s life. He spend the rest of his life in Catania along with his family taking care of his parental estate and just two years before he died on 27th January due to cerebral thrombosis he was nominated Senatore del Regno.

It’s not only the shape of Verga’s life which had put words in his creation but also the fact that he lived in an extremely important period of Italian history. It was the time for the political unification wherein he saw the amalgamation leading the country to a political entity. In such an important era Verga saw the abuse of people and the discrimination of Sicily in the growing industrialization of the country. Being a Sicilian by heart he was touched and he expressed his feeing by using local dialect, colloquialisms and tone in his creations. The new usage of dialect was new to the world and slowly but steadily he moved towards the 20th century modernists. Verga’s heroes and heroines were created in the style of the epics and the use of chorus was extensively used to express and notify the sentiments of the town as well as to narrate the events in the story. He never failed to use direct and indirect speech his own viewpoint about the plot without interfering with the character development thus giving full freedom in developing one’s own point of view. One interesting part about Verga’s creation is that he used to take the help of ancient myth to make heroes and heroines out of common people, those who work hard for survival but lay their arms in front of pride and ambition. Two such interesting character is the she-wolf in The Wolf Hunt and the title character of Mastro Don Gesualdo. His one of the most famous creation was The House by The Medlar Tree which was translated into English by D.H.Lawrence. His other creations are – Amore a Patria in 1857, Carbonari della montagna in 1861-62, Sulle lagune in 1862-63, Una peccatrice in 1866, Storia di una capinera in 1871, Eva in 1873, Lettere di arti in 1874, Tigre reale and Eros 1875, Primavera e altri racconti in 1876 which was republished in 1877 by Treves by the name of Novelle, Vita dei campi in 1880, Malavoglia in 1881, II Marito di Elena in 1882, Novelle rusticane and Per le vie in 1883, Drammi intimi in 1884, Vagabondaggio in 1887, Mastro don Gesuldo in 1889, Ricordi del capitano d’arce in 1891, Don Candeloro in 1894, the dramas La lupa, In portineria, Cavalleria Rusticana in 1896, the sketches La caccia al lupo, la caccia alla volpe and Dal fuo al mio in 1906. Verga died before he could finish his five part series I Vinti which could perhaps have another masterpiece in literature. Verga’s Cavalleria Rusticana was practically immortalized by Mascagni by dramatizing it for his opera by the same name. Another such important conversion was Luchino Visconti’s black and white film The Earth Trembles in the year 1948 which was based on Verga’s one of the most popular novels, The House by The Medlar Tree.

For the lovers and fans of Giovanni – the house in which he stayed has been turned into a museum at Via S.Anna # 8 where lot many of hs personal things and things related to his writing are preserved for the outsiders. But for an genuine Verga lover he would love to go to Vizzini, the authentic Sicilian village where many of his stories are set in its beautiful surrounding. For those of Verga lovers the town offers a village tour year-round and dramatic adaptations of Verga’s works are performed during the summer.

Giovanni Verga had a choice of living a luxurious life like any other estate owner and be contented with the system around. Still he decided to take the weapon of words and write about the common mass. The style of his writing was unique and self-created which will be appreciated throughout the ages.