Grazia Deledda

Grazia Deledda (Italian pronunciation: [ˈɡrattsja deˈlɛdda]; 27 September 1871 – 15 August 1936) 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 this honor.

Biography

Born in Nuoro, Sardinia, into a middle-class family, she attended elementary school and then was educated by a private tutor (a guest of one of her relatives) and moved on to study literature on her own. She started writing at a very young age, inspired by the Sardinian peasants and their struggles.

The first novel she wrote and published was Fiori di Sardegna (Flowers of Sardinia). This novel was published in 1892. She first published some pieces in the fashion magazine L'ultima moda when it still published works in prose and poetry. Nell'azzurro, published by Trevisani in 1890, might be considered her first work. Her family was not supportive of her desire to write, as it went against the social norms of the patriarchal system. Possibly due to this, she published a novel, Stella d’Oriente, under the pseudonym Ilia di Saint-Ismael. Her works seemed to focus on portraying harsh realities and difficult lifestyles, combining imaginary and autobiographical elements. Her novels tend to criticize social values and moral norms rather than the people who are victims of such circumstances.