Grazia Maria Cosima Damiana Deledda was an Italian writer who received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1926 "for her idealistically inspired writings which with plastic clarity picture the life on her native island [i.e. Sardinia] and with depth and sympathy deal with human problems in general". She was the first Italian woman to receive the prize, and only the second woman in general after Selma Lagerlöf was awarded hers in 1909.
I started this book before a trip to Sardinia and finished it afterwards. Though it appears that it took me months to read it, given that these are short stories, I could pick it up and put it down at will. Deledda's prose is magical. Full of description evoked by strategically chosen words, both for their rhythm and sound, as for their precision and efficacy: creating a vision for the reader that is subtle and beautiful.
In addition to wonderful writing, Dekedda captures the Sardinian way of life through her choice of subject, never expistulating, always telling a story.
Korta berättelser från Sardinien på en klar och vacker italienska. Detta är ett litet urval från Deleddas hundratals utgivna noveller. Urvalet är brett och speglar allt från Sardiniens natur och människor, om vidskepelse och tro och smärtsamma känslor när kärleken pockar. Lättlästa sköna texter även för mig som inte har italienska som modersmål.