tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post7828040401419756754..comments2024-03-27T16:48:21.039-05:00Comments on Wuthering <br>Expectations: He hated the moonlit nights - "Rosso Malpelo"'s baptized fleshAmateur Reader (Tom)http://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-88556104596106641672015-03-13T16:33:05.082-05:002015-03-13T16:33:05.082-05:00How did I not mention Malpelo the brute's mult...How did I not mention Malpelo the brute's multiple acts of kindness? It's the kind of narrative where you need a stock phrase like "dripping with irony."<br /><br />Verga makes you keep a sharp eye out for those lines, like that lawyer joke. <br /><br />I'm glad you were able to get the book. There are a number of stories similarly good. In the ballpark.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-65082513480617403472015-03-13T15:40:22.028-05:002015-03-13T15:40:22.028-05:00Found the Cecchetti, read "Rosso Malpelo"...Found the Cecchetti, read "Rosso Malpelo" on the train this morning, will no doubt read it again on the train this afternoon. What a miraculous story. Thank you. <br /><br />Maybe the best example of Malpelo's "inner spiritual life" is his sacrifice to the dying Frog, taking money from his own wages to buy the boy some wine and hot soup then giving him the "new" pants stripped from Malpelo's own dead father (followed by the great line in which Malpelo "stayed there quiet and motionless, bent over him, his hands on his knees, staring at him with those ugly eyes wide open <i>as if he wanted to paint his picture…</i>" (those italics mine).<br /><br />This is a remarkably rich story, almost a distillation of the suffering (and humor) of <i>I Malavoglia</i>. I'm in awe of some of Verga's sentences, the way he can convey, for example, such desperate poverty with the flick of a word. One is just cut by it. But Verga's humor also cuts sharply; I loved the story's lawyer joke: "…he wouldn't have taken that pillar out for twenty <i>onze</i>, it was so dangerous; but on the other hand, everything is dangerous in the quarries, and if you pay attention to all the silly things people say, it's better to go and be a lawyer."<br />seraillonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17654593356535433945noreply@blogger.com