Under the Shadow of Etna

The most famous Sicilian short-stories by Giovanni Verga translated into English. The charm of the six short stories bound up under the inclusive title of Under the Shadow of Etna lies in their reflection of Sicilian scenery, life, and character, with which all of them deal. They are translations from the Italian of Giovanni Verga by the practiced hand of Nathan Haskell Dole, and smoking Etna overhangs them all as does Fujiyama the romances of Japan. One of the six, Cavalleria Rusticana, has already been made widely familiar by the musical setting of it in Mascagni’s opera. All are tales of human passion, love, sin, and sorrow, grimly real sometimes, slight in touch, dramatic, artistic, now and then sunshiny, and full of realism. -The Literary World: A Monthly Review of Current Literature, Vol. 2 The Sicilian tales are selected as but representing the varied work of Verga, a realist in literature. The stories are strong and brilliant, and Mr. Dole’s translation pellucid as it should be. -The Book Buyer, Volume 13