In the first weeks of June 2020 we’re reading Giovanni Verga’s unputtdownable romp through a nineteenth century Sicilian fishing community, ‘I Malavoglia’. Share your progress / Join the discussion by scrolling down to the bottom of this page and leaving a comment on this page – comments will be pre-moderated – your email address will not be published or used for any other purpose.
Resources
For people who want to read the original, it’s available free online! here, here, or here.
For those who like to listen, there’s an audio version here. It’s probably abridged, I couldn’t say as I haven’t listened to it.
If the original’s beyond your current level in Italian, why not buy our, very short and simplified, ‘easy reader’ ebook, which also has audio. Click here to view it in our online shop. Please download and read/listen to the free sample chapter before you buy the full version – that way you’ll know that ours is a fraction of the length of the original, which is, of course, absolutely deliberate.
Original or ‘easy reader’, the fun of a book club lies in being able to share your progress with other people, rather than reading alone.
Share your opinions and ideas by scrolling down and completing the comment form.
Comments will be moderated to prevent spam, so may not appear immediately. Your email address is required but will not be visible to others or used for any other purposes.
Daniel says
Welcome, Book Clubbers, to a small fishing village in nineteenth century Sicily. With 250 or so pages of Giovanni Verga’s original text to read, I’m sure we’re going to have a great time!
I’ve cheated a little by starting a few days early, working to the same target as last time, twenty pages a day, so aiming to finish within a couple of weeks.
Be aware that the first chapter or two can be a little confusing, in particular because of the author’s use of names, nicknames and titles, or family relationships, to refer to characters, as well as unfamiliar words such as ‘comare’ (THIS TIME ONLY you can look it up in the dictionary…)
I’d suggest getting a sheet of paper and pen and making a note of who’s who as you go through the first chapter or two – being both lazy and rather busy, I didn’t, but now wish I had!
On the positive side, once you get a few dozen pages into the book, things start to make more sense. And this one is far from boring – Verga crams an event or morsel of gossip into every line, so creating a wild ride of hope and despair for his varied cast of characters…
Enjoy!
minou says
buongiorno!
I’m fascinated by the WORDS and the phrases in I Malavoglia like ‘quelcheduno’ (per ‘quel che d’uno’) e ‘sicchè’ (per si che), ‘galantuomo’ ,’perciò’, ‘famigliuola’, etc. Anche, verb tenses come “conchiuse” (= ha concluso) e “mangiar” (= mangiare). Tutto questo è arcaico? I did a little research and la mia conclusione è sì, è arcaico – although i have noticed shortened forms like ‘mangiar’ in contemporary writing I think. Is this conclusion on track? Comunque, I’m absolutely in love with figuring out the words and they ‘feel’ very colloquial to me.
Sorpresa! la famiglia ha iniziato a fare male perché “Ora che i cristiani hanno imparato a mangiar carne anche il venerdì” (capitolo 1). Che cosa! Già in sicilia hanno mangiato carne il venerdì nel 1881? Qui, negli Stati Uniti, I cattolici romani erano [limited] a mangiare pesce il venerdì well into the 20th secolo. Who knew!
E, a la fine di cap.2, “‘Chi ha il cuor contento sempre canta’ conchiuse — padron ’Ntoni.” A calm sentiment before the storm!?
Buona lettura a tutti!
Laura says
Benvenuta di nuovo, minou! Sempre hai osservazioni molto interessanti! Pensavo che mangiare pesce venerdì è successo solo il venerdì prima di Pasqua per i cattolici. Ma quando ho letto il tuo commento, ho chiesto a mio marito e lui ha confermato che la sua famiglia cattolica mangiato pesce ogni venerdì mentre cresceva.
Ho anche una buona notizia! Per me è molto più facile leggere i tuoi commenti in italiano che quando abbiamo letto Il nome. Sto imparando e facendo progresso!
Lynne F says
Ciao a tutti I too made an early start over the weekend. I have read the first two chapters and feel like I have met the whole village! Gold star for me Daniel I did start making a list of characters . (Perhaps because I have recently started tracing family trees my mind is now trained into that way of thinking.). But it certainly helps to remember who is who particularly at this early stage of the book . I am engrossed so far and can’t wait for today’s instalment.
Simeon says
Ciao Daniel — Another really interesting choice. You seem determined to show off the full variety of Italian literature ! ‘I Malavoglia’ is set in a fishing village Aci Trezza, about ten km north of Catania. My wife and I were there briefly last September. Now it is very much like other marinas and marinellas in Sicily — a lot of boats for leisure and tourism and a very small fishing fleet. The faraglioni which feature in the book are still there; legend has it that these are the rocks the blinded giant Polyphemus threw at Odysseus in book 9 of The Odyssey ! But if you want a sense of what the place used to be like and how it operated as a full scale fishing village, then look out the film ‘La Terra Trema’ (1948, available on You Tube),which is close to the book in its style and feel even if it is rather different in its story line — it is also a magnificent, if rather grim film.
Lynne .F says
PS to my last comment if useful to others I can share the list of.characters
Martha says
Certo!, sto per iniziare a leggerlo oggi (Ho letto solo delle linee ieri. Grazie!
Susan says
Hello, I’m new to this kind of thing! Looking forward to reading this book and maybe listening.
Thanks, Daniel for your hard work in producing this and your newsletters.
Love the news stories, your son has a lovely clear voice and the stories are interesting and diverse.
Guess I’m a fan!
Diane Doban says
There is a film, made in the 1957 called “La Terra Trema”. It’s based on Malavoglia. Beautifully done, and they used all Sicilian natives as actors, including the fishermen. Even though it’s an Italian movie, they needed to have subtitles in Italian because the Sicilian is too difficult to understand.. Very powerful film. I’m lazy and haven’t been reading this book, but now I think I should. I usually read libri gialli, and also love reading Camilleri’s books – the Montalbano series. Your book club has inspired me to read something different. Also makes me want to revisit the film as well.
Daniel says
Welcome Diane!
Laura says
Simeon and Diane,
Thanks for the information about the film!
Laura
Laura says
So far I’m only halfway through Capitolo 1, but I promised myself I would follow Daniel’s advice of no dictionary and no English version this time! Dovete augurami buona fortuna o dirmi “in bocca di lupo” o tenermi in preghiera, per favore! 🤣 I have the feeling this book is going to go a lot quicker for the rest of you!
Daniel says
Once you get to about p.50, everything will start to speed up, you’ll see. And take Lynne’s advice, write down who’s who – name, nickname, job or role, related to who else? You’ll save masses of effort!
Lynne F says
As mentioned earlier here is a list of characters found in Chapter 1 and 2
Padron Ntoni Patriarch of Malavoglia family
His son Bastianazzo (Basti) married to Manuzza aka La Longa
Their 5 children Ntoni, Luca, Mena (Filomena) ,Alessio and Lia (Rosalia)
Zio Crocifisso (Dumbbell) moneylender, Zio Tino
Cousins Tudda and Sara, Agostino (Goosefoot) Anna and son Rocco , Vespa,
Mariano Cinghialenta Venera
Don Silvestro town clerk Don Giammaria the vicar
Don Franco the pharmacist Don Michele Commander of the Coast guard
Padron Fortunato cipolla and his son Brasi
Alfio Mosca the carter
Nunziatta a poor widow
Piedipapera
and i think there is mention of a butcher.
Feel free to add others if I have missed any or amend any errors
I printed it out to use along side as i read Chapter 3
I printed it out
Anne says
Grazie mille Lynne
Christine says
Have only read two chapters and am finding it quite comic – anybody else finding this?
It is rich with sayings – have they become part of the language or has the language moved on – l suspect l will have to ask an ltalian teacher! 😆
Alison Ledgerwood says
Thank you so much for the list Lynne. I am finding it quite tough going although I first read it over forty years ago..
Lynne F says
You are welcome Alison, and anyone else Certainly finding it useful myself as I read on 🙂
Laura says
Yes, thank you so much for the list, Lynne! I took a snapshot of it on my phone, so that I can refer to it easily!
Penso che scriverò il resto in italiano. Devo esercitarmi! Non ho letto il nostro libro durante due giorni per la tristezza che sento per lo che sta accadendo negli Statti Uniti ora. Siamo in lutto per l’uomo afroamericano, George Floyd, che è stato ucciso dalla polizia. E ora tutte le rivolte…
Ma questo pomeriggio comincio a leggere, dopo il mio taglio di capelli stamattina. Per la serrata è il mio primo taglio in 5 mesi. Questo taglio di capelli dovrebbe aiutare a sollevare il mio spirito in modo che io riesco a leggere di nuovo!
Daniel says
I was wondering what had happened to you Laura! Thought maybe the virus had got you…
I had a couple of days break from reading ‘I Malavoglia’ but got back to it yesterday. I’m now up to p.120 but still wishing I’d paid more attention to who’s who in the early chapters! My bad, as they say.
Like the other books we’ve seen, this one has parts which are fast and fun to read, and parts that drag a little…
How is everyone else getting on?
Mary says
Ciao Bookclubbers.
Thank you so much Lynne for the list. I wrote down the names of Padron Ntoni’s family before I started and thought I might get away with it. I skipped through the “riassunto” and decided I was good to go. Have just started chapter 4 and as you can imagine am really beginning to flounder around like a fish out of water (hope you like the analogy) with so many names….(I know I was warned!) . Your list is a real life saver Lynn!
Lynne F says
Hi all now up to Chapter 8. ( p 97)Even with the list of characters the relationships are so intertwined My page of characters now looks like a bowl of spaghetti I feel the book is building a great picture of what life would have been like for the villagers. The day to day struggles to get by , the conflicts and disasters and coping with changes ,reputations and morals pretty powerful stuff I feel like I am there in the middle of it all as one of the villagers but who I will end up with at the end is any bodies guess:) Really enjoying it and all this in Italian Wow
Daniel says
Brava Lynne!
I’m a little ahead of you but have had some days this week when I was too busy (or stressed) to read. Must get on this afternoon! That said, there are some ‘sticky’ parts in the text, mostly when it’s about the villagers rather than the family itself, where I get very confused. It’s a shock going from Moscard talking to himself and the reader to this convoluted cast of characters!
Buona lettura, allora.
Douglas Dean says
That is one hard-luck story.
Daniel says
Misery from beginning to end, Douglas. But some people like that sort of thing…
Simeon says
Ciao Daniel ! I am about two-thirds of the way through, and am hoping and praying that something nice happens to I Malavoglia before the book ends ! I agree with Christine: there is a lot of humour in it, much of it in the villagers’ gossip. What I like is the humanity of the work, the sense of people living together side by side. Verga doesn’t patronise them or caricature them (with some slight exceptions). Even the people who make the debt with padron ‘Ntoni, which is where the trouble starts, aren’t crooks. By contrast the film is more political and more black and white (literally and metaphorically): the poor exist to be exploited by the well-off, and the well-off are clearly baddies.
Daniel says
Ciao Simeon,
You’re way ahead of me then. I agree with what you say about the humanity but not with:
Even the people who make the debt with padron ‘Ntoni, which is where the trouble starts, aren’t crooks
To me it seemed fairly clear that (SPOILER ALERT!) the old guy was inexperienced in business and got ripped off, then later conned by the supposed ‘sale’ of the debt. And there are other pretty unpleasant characters in the story too…
Buona lettura!
Steph says
I have taken a page from Lynne’s book and decided to keep track of all of Padron Ntoni’s sayings, some of which are probably traditional, and others comically redundant. He reminds me a lot of my Sicialian grandfather whom I never met, but who always showered my father with similar sayings, which he often repeated to me over the years.
One insult that he hurled at my father: “you should talk when a chicken pees”. (Chickens don’t pee). Lol
Daniel says
Bello!
Why don’t chickens pee?
Steph says
Non lo so. Hai mai visto?
Daniel says
Non ho mai guardato, Steph…
Laura says
Now that I think about it, maybe birds don’t pee either! Maybe both movements come out at the same time, thinking back to the time I was on a riverboat cruise in Louisiana and got “pooped” on by a bird! It was and always seems to be a very watery consistency! 😜
I learn so much in this book club! I love it!
Daniel says
WE went on a riverboat cruise in Louisiana, too, Laura. But no birds peed on us. It was in 2017, when my daughter and I toured Texas (her idea, not mine). Her high school graduation present…
https://onlineitalianclub.com/i-pronomi-dimostrativi-po-boys-alligators/
You can find the travelogue for the whole trip on the club’s ‘best of’ page – scroll down to 2017 and look for ‘Texas Road Trip’.
Laura says
I read the travelogue for your trip. Sounds like you and your daughter had lots of fun! In one of the posts, you said, “Welcome to the USA!” I had assumed you were from the US because your English is so good. Are you from Great Britain or another English speaking country? Also, you write so well. You have a very entertaining style, and so I wondered if you have published any books besides the poetry book you talked about during Il Nome.
Thanks for sharing the link! And by the way, the mosquitoes are really bad here in North Carolina, too. I call them attack mosquitoes because they don’t just bite once, they hover and bite multiple times!
Daniel says
I’m from the UK, Laura, but live in Italy. The travelogue trip was my first (and so far, only) trip to America. I try to write my articles in a way that is not irritatingly either British or American (or Australian for that matter, as we have lots of club members down there), but it’s not easy to do consistently. I won’t say I’m pleased you thought I was American, but I’m definitely pleased you didn’t realise I was British, as that was the objective.
Decades back I published some books for Italians learning English, which still sell a few hundred copies each year, but I’ve never written any fiction. I don’t have much interest in it. It’s fun to edit our ‘easy readers’ though, and to work with enthusiastic young writers who are interested in writing original stories. Most of the writing I do is for this website, and hundreds of emails each week.
In the part of Italy where I live we have ‘zanzare tigre’, tiger mosquitoes, though I think they should be called ‘zanzare zebre’, as that’s what they look like – black and white stripes. They’re very agressive, are out during the day, and often bite multiple times. My family don’t seem bothered at all, but I come out in huge, itchy lumps.
Laura says
That’s the kind of mosquito we have here in North Carolina, too! It’s small, but there are definite black and white stripes! Now, back to your comment about not being exactly pleased that I thought you were from the States —that made me laugh! A real good belly laugh! I can understand why you wouldn’t be pleased for people to think you’re from the US with all the craziness that goes on here. Americans have such a bad reputation abroad. ☹️
But yes, your English is very neutral! And about writing a book, I wasn’t suggesting fiction. I think you’d do great writing a some kind of autobiography or your observations about life. Like you did with the poetry, only in “book” format. I always love to read your comments here and your group emails, they are always so insightful and entertaining!
minou says
buongiorno a tutti!
Daniel: thank you for today’s inspiring and illustrative ‘letter’ e bentornato nella tua vita!
Laura: sono felice che tu possa seguire i miei sforzi italiani! (sto lavorando il verbo congiuntivo!).
Grazie a Simeon e Diana per You Tube “La terra trema” – l’ho trovata una vera sfida. Per la comprensione, the voice-over ha fatto tutta la differenza perche non ho capito una cosa del dialetto! E me lo sono ricordato quando, anni fa, ho comprato la serie Montalbano su CD (sì, sì, molti anni fa) and i was so discouraged because i did not understand some of it at all! The “some” was sicilian dialect, but only later did i learn about sicilian dialect! Quindi, dopo La Terra Trema, sono tornato a guardare di nuovo dei episodi di Montalbano. Cos’è successo? Lo stesso. Adoro ancora i gesti e ancora non capisco nessuno del dialetto. Hah! Quindi, nelle nostre letture (I malavoglia; Uno…) ho aspettato for some dialect to appear. I liked the colloquial feel of the dialog early in the book (before ‘stark reality’ took over!), but i didn’t detect dialect. At first i thought I just lacked enough ‘linguaggio’ to pick it up. But then I noticed that at last I was understanding ‘il dialetto napoletano’ in Maurizio de Giovanni’s novels. So now i surmise that Giovanni Verga didn’t write in dialect…. Cosa pensate?
O.K. come molti di voi, sto preparando per tornare al lavoro. Sono stato talmente preoccupato per gli effetti di meno tempo per l’italiano. Ho iniziato ad avere più difficoltà a leggere con comprensione I Malavoglia. Ho pensato / ripensato a una lunga lista di preoccupazioni e paure, etc. Poi, ho iniziato a sentire le risposte e encouragement di Daniel e B. Clubbers. I “snapped out” of that, realized effects of my fear, and dove into solutions. Brava/Bravo! Questa è una grande illustrazione del perché la comunità B.Club è vitale per me. – E ora siete tutti nel mio cervello !!!! Eeek. Grazie, penso.
Finalmente, che peccato, la famiglia Malavoglia. Più di questo, era la realtà di molti – poi e ora.
Alla prossima settimana, m
Daniel says
No, Verga wasn’t writing in dialect. English speakers like most of us here aren’t really familiar with the idea of ‘dialect’, thinking of it as something like a regional version or some other variation of the ‘main’ language spoken by a subgroup. But Italians know very well that dialects are basically separate languages and may be very distant from standard Italian, perhaps closer to French, or Spanish, or Latin depending on the history of the area where the dialect was/is spoken.
They say the definition of a language (Italian) is that it is ‘a dialect with an army’, so by definition being no different from any other dialect in terms of its linguistic distinctiveness but functioning as the official language of a state or states.
Italians are brainwashed at school to know that ‘dialect is bad, Italian is good’, the national language being strongly associated with the Italian state. For that reason, in some regions (the ones that have benefited most from being part of a nation, perhaps?) the dialect is dying or dead. In other places, perhaps those which are more geographically remote, or had less enthusiasm for the national project, dialect is still widely used.
So, how do you know if something you’re reading or listening to is dialect? Simple – as you said about Montalbano, the parts you get are the Italain, the parts you don’t get are Sicilian.
When I moved into my current home in Bologna twenty years ago, the old people sitting outside in my street would all talk to each other in dialect. I couldn’t understand a word then, now I never hear it so it’s too late to learn – that generation is mostly dead. Their kids (people my age then, early-thirties) could follow their conversations and might occasionally reply in dialect (they’d heard it all their lives from grandparents, parents and neighbours). But they didn’t use it with people their own age (influence of school and TV), and when that generation became parents, they didn’t pass it on to their children. I’d bet that there’s no one under thirty around where I live that can speak a sentence in dialect, though there are a few common terms that everyone in Bologna knows (except Italians from elsewhere, who are always surprised) – rusco, tiro and socmel come to mind. You can Google them, maybe starting from the last one, which is the crudest and so will turn up lots of fun results about Bolognese dialect.
Laura says
I found the answer to the burning question about the waste removal system of birds! I’m assuming that chickens are a member of the bird family! 🤣
Brendan Boyd, a PhD student in the Biology Department at York University in Toronto explains that the white you see in bird poop is not, in fact, poop, but their equivalent of our urine.
“Birds and mammals produce nitrogenous waste products that must be excreted from the body. A byproduct of this waste in both, is ammonia. Mammals, including humans, convert the ammonia to urea, which is excreted in urine. Birds convert the ammonia to uric acid, which appears as the thick, white paste we commonly think of as bird poop… However, the center of that white paste is often brown, which is the actual bird poop. Because birds only have one exit for their reproductive, digestive and urinary tracts — the cloaca — their pee and poop comes from the same place at the same time. So the green or brown trace you often see in the white uric acid paste is actually the equivalent of our feces.”
That was probably more than anyone ever wanted to know about birds, but I definitely learned something new today, all because of a Sicilian insult! Lol
Steph, do you remember any more of those insults? They’re funny!
Daniel says
No, that was fascinating. I didn’t study biology at school so all that was new to me. Now I know why eggs sometimes have smears of other substances on them…
minou says
grazie, Laura. I will be inclined from now on to wash eggs. By the way, I’ve never understood the appeal of “bird nest” soup — qualcun altra?
Laura says
Minou,
You always make me laugh! I love your comment about washing eggs from now on! Lol I think that’s why people can sometimes ingest the bacteria Salmonella and get Salmonella poisoning by eating their eggs raw! I guess in the process of cracking the egg, some of the bacteria from the shell can get in the liquid part of the egg! I remember as a child and young adult I used to love eating some of the raw cookie dough before baking the rest! I would even let my kids have some, until one day a friend ruined it for me, telling me all about Salmonella poisoning!
Laura
Steph says
Laura, I wish my father were still alive sonI could collect them all. My father often spoke in ‘quotations’ but that’s the only proverbial insult I can remember
Laura says
Steph,
Sorry about your dad. Ti mando un abbraccio forte. Sending love…
💗💕💕💕
I do think that insult about the chickens is one of the best I’ve ever heard! It makes me laugh every time I think of it!
Laura
Simeon says
Ciao Daniel ! I’ve been thinking about your response on and off, and I think I stick by my original comment, even if I didn’t put it as well as I might have. What I was trying to say is as follows (and I hope I can say it without spoiling things for other people reading the book).
Yes, there are characters who rip off the old man. But firstly — unless I missed something — we don’t actually know that he was inexperienced in business; right at he start we are told that “padron ‘Ntoni passava per testa quadrata, al punto che a Trezza l’avrebbero fato consigliere communale, se … non …”. What I find quite striking is just how little Verga tells us about the initial contract. The contract itself isn’t important to Verga; it is a normal everyday way of proceeding: what matters is what flows from it, and what providenza then does to I Malavoglia. If this way of reading the start of the book is right, it’s a matter of doing business, but not doing evil. And secondly, the characters who rip off the old man have their own contexts, with their own problems and anxieties, some imagined but some possibly real. As baddies go, they are quite rounded and three-dimensional. There is only one character in the book I find significantly unpleasant, who lives his life as a calculated and calculating schemer. But I have still got 50 pages to go, and he may redeem himself.
I have got another argument here, but as it is about what happens in chapter XII I will keep it for later !
Laura says
Well, I’m still alive and healthy, thank goodness, but with another couple days not reading our book or posting! I ended up having an upper respiratory reaction to the hair dye that was sitting on my head for 25 minutes in a room the size of my master bathroom with the door to the hall outside closed and a mask on for the two hour haircut and dye process 😷! It was so unnerving that Daniel had made the comment that he was worried I had succumbed to Covid because literally, when I got back home from the hair appointment, logged onto our site, and read that comment, my throat was starting to get so sore and scratchy. And of course nowadays, every time someone starts to feel poorly, the thought of Covid is in the back of their mind. Then yesterday we had an overnight visit from my son and his new puppy, so reading progress halted again! But I’m feeling much better now and will get on with reading. I just finished Chapter One and am moving on to Chapter 2!
I feel a little bad that I’m so far behind everyone else, and that the only thing of value I’ve been able to contribute this time is an explanation of the anatomy of chickens!
Daniel, good luck (in bocca di lupo) tomorrow with the reopening of your school! I think you said it was tomorrow! Praying for all to go well and for Covid to be well under control and to not have any major impact now or in the future. That goes for other Book Clubbers, like minou, who are also heading back to work! Prayers for safety and protection for all! 💖
Daniel says
Good to hear you’re well again, Laura!
Mary says
Hi Bookclubbers.
Have enjoyed reading the comments of the last few days: no more raw eggs for me then!
Its a bit late now, but I was still having problems with all the different characters names and found a very useful list on http://www.skuola.net/appunti-italiano/giovanni-verga-personaggi-malavoglia.htlm
I am almost half way through our book , but seem to have missed the answer to this question… WHY DID TINO PIEDIPAPERA PRETEND TO HAVE BOUGHT PADRON NTONI’S DEBT FROM ZIO CROCIFISSO? WAS IT JUST OUT OF MALICE? DOES THAT MEAN THE RATE OF INTEREST WOULD HAVE GONE UP? WAS IT BECAUSE ZIO CROCIFISSO DID NOT WANT TO BE SEEN AS THE PERSON WHO RUINS THE MALAVOGLIA FAMILY?
Daniel says
WAS IT BECAUSE ZIO CROCIFISSO DID NOT WANT TO BE SEEN AS THE PERSON WHO RUINS THE MALAVOGLIA FAMILY?
That was my understanding, Mary, yes.
Mary says
Thank you Daniel.
Lynne F says
Hi Book clubbers, i have been steadily engrossed in this book. Also by the comments made by others. little did i expect to learn so much about bird poo! or about fruit/ trees and dialect from Daniel’s recent articles, all very fascinating. Regarding Mary’ question about THE DEBT I would say that Zio Crocifisso was an honest moneylender with a reputation to uphold :):) He would not want the whole village pointing a finger at him for the downfall of the Malavoglia family.
About 50 pages left to read and i feel my Italian reading has improved so much, thanks to all for the encouragement it certainly helps being part of the group.
Daniel says
Zio Crocifisso? This is the guy who is trying to stop his niece marrying, so that her property won’t leave the family and will eventually, her having no children because she isn’t able to marry, revert to him? She’d even marry him, desperate that she is, but he’s too mean to take on the expense of a wife!!
It’s all in the name, I think. The guy’s an evil piece of work. And the fake trasfer of the debt to his best mate was a way to avoid having to concede anything the Malavoglias, despite their desperate straits. If Piedipapera supposedly paid Zio C. the full price for the debt (in fact he paid nothing, as it was a fiction), then the Malavoglias (and the whole village) can’t reasonably expect him to discount it. The Malavolgia’s behave honourably as a consequence, attempting to pay back everything and (SPOILER) losing their home as a consequence. While that nice Zio C. is quids in.
Lynne F says
I agree Daniel he is an evil piece of work . My comment about him was said ‘tongue in cheek.
I have just read today’s article “Join the conversation” thanks for that I followed your clear instructions and found it exactly where you said it would be. As my name was there i was able to join this conversation . Hope you are adjusting to being back in the work place
Simeon says
Ciao Daniel — I finished it last night. The last chapter is, in my view at least, a wonderful piece of writing — some very moving moments, And it is not complete, unremitting misery, unlike some of his short stories (‘Rosso Malpelo’ for example).
Thank you for putting this book on the list. It has been a real pleasure to read it. I have increasingly enjoyed the way Verga writes — the simple repetition (which gives it a slight air of epic); the everyday humour, which we have talked about already; the moments of extreme pathos (” … nemmeno la colera la voleva, poveretta”); the sly way he slips in plot development almost unnoticed (the last line of chapter 1; or a throwaway line towards the end of chapter XI which tells us that Alessi lives on and that therefore the line doesn’t die out.)
I still don’t entirely agree with you about Zio Crocifisso being “an evil piece of work”. Evil is a very big and judgemental word. On my reading at least, Verga avoids making direct judgements himself. Instead he leaves them to the villagers; and they don’t see Zio Crocifisso as Evil. I read The Debt as being a way of seeking advantage in a world where there isn’t much by way of material possession to go round.. The same spirit of seeking competitive advantage underpins much of the discussion about marriage in the book. And Zio Crocifisso has his own problems and miseries. But I think we are going to have to agree to disagree …
Thanks again. I am going to miss Aci Trezza and its people.
Daniel says
Lots of spoilers in that comment, Simeon! And I still have 90 pages to read, so I’ll crack on with it after my classes.
Glad to hear you enjoyed the book. It’s growing on me, too, now I’m at around p.200. The very unusual thought crossed my mind recently that I might read this one again one day, that there’s more to it than meets the eye at first. In contrast, I was happy to be done with both Pirandello and Pinocchio!
Laura says
I am now working my way through the Easy Reader, and should be done in a day or two, as I can read it without struggling! I will have to revisit the original when I’m at a higher level in italiano! But I have been working on some grammar, like verb tenses and direct and indirect object pronouns, so that I will be better able to attempt to read the next book!
I’m grateful to still be feeling well! Lol I saw Daniel’s comment in yesterday’s group email! 😉 I think part of what has slowed me down in trying to get through the original Malavoglia is all the turbulence and unrest going on negli Statti Uniti ora. È molto difficile di concentrarmi su qualsiasi cosa in questo momento. Mi preoccupa per il futuro del mio paese e spero che potremo riunirci di nuovo.
Spero anche che tutti stiano bene!
Lynne F says
I promise no spoilers but i have finished I Malavoglia. On the surface it is a soap opera, a tale of the everyday folk in a little fishing village getting on with their lives, trying to make a living. Events happen that change lives for ever and where would we be without the village gossips. Below the surface I found it a very powerful novel A time of great change not only for the family but for Italy too. The traditions and values so evident are changing and being questioned. The family suffered so many terrible tragedies but stil there is humour in the book. As you have probably gathered i thoroughly enjoyed it, not only a good novel but a window into the social history of the time.
On a personal level i really feel my reading in Italian has improved so much, I have moved beyond the early stages of “mechanical’ reading . Yes there are things i don’t understand but i am understanding more and more, enough to be able to make these comments. My vocabulary is increasing as is my understanding of grammar. This book club experience really is worth while the comments and support from Daniel and fellow book clubbers is great encouragement thank you, and it is having a positive effect on my Italian learning. Like Simeon I too am sorry to leave Aci Trezza.
I know look forward to our next book
Daniel says
Silver medal for Lynne! Brava. (I still have 70 pages to read…)
Laura says
Lynne F,
You really have made a lot of progress! I remember when we were struggling through Il nome. I think you were actually reading the original and I was trying to get through the Easy Reader! I am so happy for you that you’ve made so much progress! I’m also happy that I have made a lot of progress, too! I was able to read through the easy reader of Malavoglia without struggle! I finished it in a few hours, and I think that’s pretty good for having just started to study Italian only three months ago! Two thumbs up for us!👍👍
Lynne F says
Laura thanks for the praise and well done you too. I think the book club has provided me with the push i needed. to try something harder to read but just kept putting it off. Daniel’ s comment in todays article made me laugh I have never been part of an elite special force :):) We just have to accept that we won’t understand every word but to be honest if i read a book on nuclear physics in English I wouldn’t understand it It has been encouraging to see progress we are making in just a few short months I am not going to stop now so I have Iust down loaded the next book, all ready to go.
Patricia Lenz says
Lynne F. & all….Thanks so much for the annotated list of characters in I malavoglio. I am at 50% It was really helpful after I had finished reading a few chapters and entered the “Wha….??” stage. Club comments have absolutely added more meaning to the reading. On to the second half!
I also began making “i proverbi” lists which was easy to do if reading on Kindle. I copy and paste to google docs list.
The realism of the proverbs, for me, carries the story. So many of them are almost automatically “translated”. These two, around the 50% mark make particular sense to me, a sailor! We all say “Red sky in the morning, sailor take warning. Red sky at night, sailor’s delight”…sooo…«Mare bianco, scirocco in campo» o «mare crespo, vento fresco»
«Quando la luna è rossa fa vento, quando è chiara vuol dire sereno; quando è pallida, pioverà.» Nice to read.
I like the proverbs.
Lupine made another connection; at this point my gardens (and the roadsides in this northern region ((WI))of the USA) they are blooming profusely; blue, white, pink & purple. . I had no idea that inside the furry bean pods was an important regional food. So, to add to the story, I searched for recipes for preparing them. It involves, apparently, about 8 hours of soaking/rinsing, discarding water, etc. to eliminate toxins. But then, a seasonal treat. MAYBE worth a try even though I would like to taste one first!
And, another book club title coming up…I copied La coscienza di Zeno (from Daniels suggestion of liber/liber.it site ) to my books and to kindle. Both seem to have that 500+ pages challenge no matter how large the print!
Even though for now, I have ditched a couple of titles at 3/4 of the way through, I think I will finish I malavoglia!
Lynne F says
Patricia and all Yes i too enjoyed ‘i proverbi” they certainly provided a little light relief when all was doom. 🙂 I didn’t make a full list but did jot a couple down. Be careful with the lupin seeds!!!!
Laura says
Ciao a tutti!
I just finished the Easy Reader with very good comprehension and no struggle! Now for comments:
Oddio! And I thought we had it bad with the lockdown and the rioting. I guess compared with I Malavoglia and the people of il ceto popolare of that time period, who dealt with such hardship and uncertainty on a daily basis, we have it pretty easy. What a series of heartbreaking events!
I am still very interested in the debate about whether Zio Crocifisso was truly an evil piece of work. That part about him trying to prevent his niece from marrying so her property would revert to him — that was pretty bad! (And to think in the 1800’s you were considered an old maid by the age of 26?!!) But generally, lenders like to collect on their money, so we could consider today’s bankers evil, too.(Sometimes I do! Lol)
Can’t wait for our next book to start! I saw the link to the original in today’s email. I also just realized how confusing apostrophes must be for non-English speakers, as they’re used to show possession and also in the combining of two words. I had to think hard for a moment on where to put that apostrophe in the word “today’s”!!!
Laura says
Daniel,
grazie infinite per ospitare questo club della letteratura! Mi piace molto partecipare in il nostro club. Sto aprendo molto. Grazie per il tempo che passi leggendo, postando e rispondendo ai nostri commenti! È impagabile per me. Sto anche imparando a scrivere in italiano! Ho passato solo cinque o sei minuti scrivendo questo paragrafo! Ora il mio Smartphone sa che sto scrivendo in italiano e mi aiuta a scrivere le parole correttamente con auto-correct! Non è divertente?!!
Laura
minou says
Ciao a tutti!
Daniel: “ditto” che cosa ha scritto Laura 12.6.20!
Brava Laura — e non troppo settimane fa you “couldn’t” scrivere in italiano “because it took [you] too long” Hah! Sono senza dizionario, quindi, cosa significa “impagabile” in inglese? (Per favore, mi scusi Daniel)
Zio Crocifisso? I am on the side of Simeon and his fulsome argument. I think Crocifisso is well within the bounds of usual human behavior – then as now – purtroppo. Ma non il male “evil”. Per me, lui è meschino, cattivo, egoista. A big [greedy] fish in a little pond (come si dice questo proverbio in inglese?). Chissà, perhaps if he had had a bigger pond he could have plunged to greater depths and earned a bigger adjective from me!.
Daniel, as i said elsewhere to you, i’m so glad we will end the summer w/ a classic dramatic happy-ending book! But now on to Zeno’s conscience. E ancora, grazie mille.
Laura says
I tried to say priceless/invaluable when I wrote impagabile! Hopefully I said it right! Spanish and Italian are forever competing in my head!
And it appears “Big fish in a little pond” is an expression in English. I looked it up just now! Did you mean you wonder how they say that in Italian?
Mary says
Hi Bookclubbers.
Just finished “I Malavoglia”. After struggling a bit at the beginning, I found the last couple of chapters really enjoyable. like Simeon I began to appreciate the humour. I particularly noticed the repeated description of Don Michele standing there “with his trousers in his boots and his pistol on his belly”.
I disagree with Simeon re. Zio Crocifisso. For me, taking advantage of those in need by lending them money and charging them interest, of course, is not a very honorable way of trying to get on in the world. (Banks take note!!)
Did I read somewhere that “I Malavoglia” was going to be the start of a whole series of books following the lives of the families and characters we have just got to know, and our book does end on a sort of cliff hanger…Gosh that would have been quite a saga!
Daniel says
Brava Mary!
I’ve got ten more pages to read, and plan to finish them this evening before making pizza for the kids’ dinner.
The last couple of chapters are a lot pacier, aren’t they? Much less hard-going than earlier on. Verga seems to switch styles between ‘super close-up’ and ‘years flashing by’, which is a little disconcerting and sometimes trying for the reader.
For the lovers of old sayings, there are plenty in the final chapter – I particularly enjoyed Zio C’s comment that marriage is like a mousetrap, with all the mice hoping to get into it (to get at the bait…) but once they manage it, wishing they hadn’t. I don’t have the book to hand in my home office, otherwise I’d quote it!
N.b. Do we want a book club for Zeno, starting tomorrow??
Daniel says
OK finished!!
Can anyone help me with the final line of the final chapter? Rocco starting his day before anyone else? Didn’t understand what that was doing there at all. Unless ‘Ntoni was planning to kill him or something? Any suggestions?
Laura says
I can’t help with your question, but I would love another book club starting tomorrow! Count me in! I already started Zeno.
Simeon says
Ciao Daniel — Good question. Verga says that Rocco is starting his day, but I wonder if he is also hinting that Rocco has been out on the tiles, i.e. that he is also finishing his previous day ?! Or perhaps the bars open in the morning for when the fishermen get back from being out at night ? It is certainly an odd and interesting note on which to finish the book. Perhaps Rocco is meant as a symbol of the self ‘Ntoni is leaving behind in leaving Aci Trezza.
Mary asks about ‘I Malavoglia’ as the start of a series of books. According to the introduction to the edition I was using, “It was Verga’s intention to write a series of five novels illustrating what e considered to be … five distinct stages of human existence.” This was the first. “In the early stages of this progress, that is, among the lowest class of society, men as a rule have only one desire — to keep body and soul together”: which is what the book is about (and that applies to Zio Crocifisso, as much as anyone else !). But Verga only finished the second in the series, ‘Mastro Don Gesualdo’. So yes, a series; but different books on different subjects and people, not a soap opera on Aci Trezza, sadly.
On proverbs, as we can now do spoilers, I was very moved by the bit at the start of the final chapter where as he is wasting away Padron ‘Ntoni “non faceva altro che andare intorno, rotto in due … a dir proverbi senza capo e senza coda”.
Mary says
Hi Daniel and Simeon- re. last few lines. I’m thinking along similar lines to Simeon. Maybe Verga wants to give the idea that Ntoni is leaving to begin a different life, whilst nothing is going to change in Aci Trezza. Everyone is going to carry on living their lives in the same old way.
Thanks Simeon…I find that last quote really sad!
Patricia Lenz says
Hi, Book Clubbers. I really appreciated all the comments. It helped in understanding what I was reading in Italian! I finally finished this wonderful piece of writing, and can see myself re-reading it.
About the last sentence, I agree, for example with Simon and Mary:
The malevolent Zio Crocifisso, while being part of the community takes advantage of the Malavoglia family’s misfortunes; the community recognizes that, but there seems to be an unwillingness to call him out on it…Piedipapera deftly dismisses his wife’s concern for these decent people, the Malavoglia, by using a proverb to shut her up, basically calling her (and by the way, all women)idiots.
At the end, ‘Ntoni considers all that has been held by the community to be important…family, stability, respect and place, etc. includes a disturbing reality which would not change; it is all at a distance. Rocco, as well as those like Zio Crocifisso embody that. It saddens him, but as he leaves and at the last sees Rocco he knows that nostalgia “doesn’t feed the captain’s cat”.