Introduction
Verismo is a special genre and way of thinking widely spread in Italian literature and creative directions in general. This style reflects an authentic, truthful picture of socio-psychological confrontations in relation to the new reality (Virga, 2021). Accordingly, genre writers in their works sought to depict the manifestations of human passions in a realistic form, exposing the inhumane in life (Benotto, 2021). Verist short stories contain several unique, memorable, and inimitable characteristics, mainly inherent to the Italian Verismo style.
The Characteristics of a Verist Short Story
There are several key features and attributes of a verist narrative like “Nedda” by Giovanni Verga. First of all, such stories find a response in the description of united Italy’s social, community, and psychological conflicts, which have embarked on capitalist development (Benotto, 2021). Thus, they reflect cultural identity and national identity. Secondly, as a rule, the dominant role is assigned to the life of the oppressed working people, allowing the manifestation of sympathy for the “proletariat” and paying attention to social inequality (Virga, 2021). Hence, in a verist story, one can find folk, spoken language, as well as dialects, and sociolects. There are often motives of doom and overestimation of the role of physiology. Thirdly, as a rule, such a novel has stylistically simple but, at the same time, flexible forms of narration. For example, the poetics used by the author, Giovanni Verga, is directed towards a modest and straightforward expression of thoughts, direct syntax without complications, and a lexicon developed over a long time.
Conclusion
It should be stated that a verist short story is special and unique in its structure, essence, and content. This style’s fundamental principles and characteristics have become a documentary, photographically accurate reproduction of an unsightly, “naked” truth. The main emphasis was built on the representation of the urban poor and the everyday life of typical peasants and ordinary working people. Indeed, such elements should have forced the public to pay attention to the “local ways” in order to eradicate existing injustice, inequality, and discrimination.
References
Benotto, G. (2021). Can an author’s style be unveiled through word distribution?. Digital Humanities Quarterly, 15(1). Web.
Virga, A. (2021). Suicide is not for the poor: Self-death in Veristi authors Luigi Capuana and Giovanni Verga. In J. Ros Velasco (Ed.), Suicide in modern literature (pp. 95-108). Springer.