Giovanni Verga: Shepherd of Jeli

The Italian novelist and playwright Giovanni Verga (1840 - 1922) is often cited as the most important Italian novelist after Alessandro Manzoni. In the novel The Shepherd Rider, the author originally adapted literary Italian to simulate the speech of simple Sicilian peasants. Unlike the naturalists, Verga is gifted with a deep feeling for the soul of the landscape and the atmosphere of the seasons. The life of a simple Sicilian shepherd, Jeli, is rhythmed by the seasons; when a woman enters his simple world, tragedy strikes - Jeli, with his guilelessness, is unable to face the wickedness of the world.