GIOVANNI

VERGA (1840- )  , Italian novelist, was born at Catania, Sicily . In 1865 he published Storia di una peccatrice and I Carbonari della montagna, but his literary reputation was established by his Eva and Storia di una capinera (1869) . Other novels followed, the best of which are Malavoglia (1881) and Maestro Don Gesualdo (1889) . His finest work, however, is seen in his short stories and sketches of Sicilian peasantry, Medda (1874) and Vita dei campi (188o); and his Cavalleria Rusticana acquired new popularity from its dramatization and from Mascagni's opera on this subject . Verga and Fogazzaro between them may be said to have faithfully chronicled the inner and popular life of southern and northern Italy .