The enduring vision of biodeterministic Sardinian inferiority in the works of Grazia Deledda

Abstract

This article examines Grazia Deledda's problematic relationship to the positivist school of criminal anthropology. It is generally acknowledged that Deledda's early novels are indebted to the vision of Sardinian biological inferiority propounded by two southern disciples of Cesare Lombroso, the scientists Paolo Orano and Alfredo Niceforo. Orano and Niceforo met and impressed the young Deledda while visiting Sardinia on a mission to collect data for anthropological monographs on Sardinian biology, so much so that Deledda dedicated her 1896 La via del male to the two scientists. While several critics contend that Deledda cast aside Orano and Niceforo's biodeterministic view of Sardinians once she realized its implications, this article, examining six of Deledda's works, shows that Deledda's debt to the positivist scientists extends well beyond her early novels and is in fact a dynamic presence throughout her oeuvre.