The House by the Medlar Tree
by Giovanni Verga
One of Italy’s greatest writers is Giovanni Verga, best known for the style of writing he helped to create, known as verismo or literary realism. Verga was a leader not only in his use of free indirect style but also in the way in which he portrayed the Sicilian people of the late 19th/early 20th century. Considered one of the outstanding writers of modern Europe, often compared to Flaubert and Zola, his writings have been translated into many languages and have even been dramatized. Mascagni immortalized Verga’s Cavalleria Rusticana in music when he dramatized it for his opera of the same name. The House by the Medlar Tree is generally considered Verga’s finest work.