The Fires Within. Grazia Deledda 1871-1936 - ACE230.2

Photographs of Grazia Deledda on the occasion of receiving the 1926 Nobel Prize for Literature. Newsreel footage of Deledda outside the Concert Hall in Stockholm. Translation of her acceptance speech heard over. Reconstruction of Deledda writing; VO quotes her as wishing to tell the story of "the life and passions" of the people of Sardinia. Commentary reads from D. H Lawrence’s introduction to her novel, La Madre (1920). Photographs of Sardinians in the early days of the 20th century. Commentary describes themes from Deledda’s work, often set in the Barbagia, with shepherds in conflict with the state. Dramatised sequences from La Via del Male (1896) with commentary relating the plot. VO reads the story. Pietro finds some peasants cooking sheep over a fire and joins them to eat it. Photographs of the real-life bandit Corveddu. Commentary and narration tell more of the story: the sheep thieves, with Pietro, are arrested. Antine, a new prisoner, talks about meeting Corbeddu, and Pietro decides to learn to read and write.