Elias Portolu: The Classic Story of a Sardinian Shepherd in Crisis

By Grazia Deledda

Book Overview

Returning to his Sardinia home after a stint in a prison on the Italian mainland, young Elias desperately wants to be an obedient son, a hard-working shepherd, and a loyal brother, and his initial progress in that direction raises his devout mother's hopes that her youngest boy is back on the path of righteousness.But when Elias falls in love with the wrong woman, he quickly finds himself battling sin, and is willing to go to any length to overcome it.Deledda poignantly unfolds the tale of a fundamentally tortured soul, a young man torn between good and evil, between being a man of God or a mortal man with desires of the flesh, between his duty to his family and his only chance at happiness.Elias Portolu is a fascinating glimpse into a vanished world of modest, humble, hard-working Sardinian shepherds and farmers enjoying life as they eke out an existence on the sometimes harsh but always beautiful Mediterranean island at the turn of the twentieth century.First published in 1903, Elias Portolu continues to resonate with readers today because Deledda's crisp, direct prose tells an engaging story that doesn't seem outdated in either theme or style.Before there was Elena Ferrante, Natalia Ginzburg, or Elsa Morante, Grazia Deledda was a prolific writer who received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1926 (one of only six Italians, and the only Italian woman, to date, to receive this prestigious award).Now, this early novel is readily available in a fresh, modern English translation.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1648718000
• ISBN13: 9781648718007
• Release Date: April 2020
• Publisher: ISBN Services
• Length: 259 Pages
• Weight: 0.77 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.0" x 0.7" x 5.0"

Customer Reviews

Temptation and sin

Elias Portolu is a Sardinian peasant who has done time in jail, in Italy. One day he returns to the island, a few weeks before his brother gets married. Trouble begins when Elias starts to fall in love with his brother's fiancee. Being a loyal brother, he resists the temptation, and when it gets stronger, Elias leaves his home and goes to another village. But, as Goethe proved in "Elective affinities", love is not something we can control or decide, and so the story proceeds...Grazia Deledda, a Nobel-Prize winner, has written a novel of great tension. No good nor bad guys here: just human beings with difficult lives, in possession of moral values as well as human weaknesses. Worth reading.