Disasters and Disease in the Work of Giovanni Verga

Abstract

In Giovanni Verga's world of I Vinti people are overcome by a variety of forces: fate, the struggle for existence, life itself. Two of the factors that contribute toward this conquering of man are natural disasters and disease, to which little attention has been given in Verga criticism. Giovanni Sinicropi has dealt with the sea and the sciara as elements of nature, both benign and malevolent, which accompany man's struggle in life, but has centered attention upon them as forces which affect the fate, good and bad, of the Malavoglia family. Nature in her fury, dealing devastating blows to man, seems to have been passed over by scholars, possibly because the cases of natural disasters in Verga are not numerous, although they are important in the instances in which they occur. As for disease, it has been taken for granted as part of the life of the civilization which Verga is portraying, and it has been accepted as a narrative device, with little thought given to its profound effect upon his characters. This study will accordingly examine the role of natural disasters and disease in the narrative work of Verga and consider their significance in the formation of Verga as novelist and thinker.