![“Born in Palermo in 1887, Maria Messina spent time in Umbria, Tuscany, the Marches, and Naples, but always wrote about Sicily. Although early in her career her work met with critical acclaim, she died forgotten in 1944. Several decades later she was rediscovered by the Sicilian writer Leonardo Sciascia, who viewed her as an Italian Katherine Mansfield. Her novel A House in the Shadows (1921) is available in English.”—Bio by Lawrence Venuti, who translated her story “The Shawl” in his fine anthology Italy: A Traveler’s Literary Companion
“[Messina] taught herself to read and write, eventually finding a mentor in the famed Italian realist Giovanni Verga, who encouraged her to begin writing seriously. Her works include novels, short stories, and children’s tales. In 1910, she received the Medal of Gold for her first book of stories, Pettini-fini (Fine Combs).”—Bio by Feminist Press, who published a book of Messina’s stories, Behind Closed Doors
Booklist praising Behind Closed Doors: “Virtually the only great Italian fiction about the massive Sicilian immigration to America written while it was happening … honed, polished, devastatingly direct—verismo at its unsentimental best.”](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lsscyhTaPC1qf0717o1_250.jpg)
“Born in Palermo in 1887, Maria Messina spent time in Umbria, Tuscany, the Marches, and Naples, but always wrote about Sicily. Although early in her career her work met with critical acclaim, she died forgotten in 1944. Several decades later she was rediscovered by the Sicilian writer Leonardo Sciascia, who viewed her as an Italian Katherine Mansfield. Her novel A House in the Shadows (1921) is available in English.”
—Bio by Lawrence Venuti, who translated her story “The Shawl” in his fine anthology Italy: A Traveler’s Literary Companion
“[Messina] taught herself to read and write, eventually finding a mentor in the famed Italian realist Giovanni Verga, who encouraged her to begin writing seriously. Her works include novels, short stories, and children’s tales. In 1910, she received the Medal of Gold for her first book of stories, Pettini-fini (Fine Combs).”
—Bio by Feminist Press, who published a book of Messina’s stories, Behind Closed Doors
Booklist praising Behind Closed Doors: “Virtually the only great Italian fiction about the massive Sicilian immigration to America written while it was happening … honed, polished, devastatingly direct—verismo at its unsentimental best.”
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This is giving me so many feelings.
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“Born in Palermo in 1887, Maria Messina spent time in Umbria, Tuscany, the Marches, and Naples, but always wrote about...
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her writings. I’m curious now :)
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