The Fires Within. Grazia Deledda 1871-1936 - ACE230.3

Map of Mediterranean. Mountainous Sardinian interior where Deledda was born in 1871. Cosima (published posthumously in 1937), Deledda’s fictionalised autobiography. Dramatised sequence with VO reading from the book: young Cosima hearing stories of bandits. Photographs of Deledda’s convent and the children. Commentary says that she took private lessons to learn Italian. Dramatised sequence from Cosima: Cosima and Andrea at breakfast. Reconstruction of young Deledda reading Flaubert. Family photographs. Commentary points out that her mother was illiterate but her father was a noted poet. Men singing. Women sorting grain. Commentary says that it was the women’s task to pass on the local culture to their children. Photographs. Women making flatbread. Woman’s voice singing. Commentary says that Deledda’s women "are often prepared to venture beyond the confines of the family home". Reconstruction of young Deledda writing. Family and other photographs. Commentary says that by publishing her first short story, Sangue Sardo (1887) she "sensationally transgressed" the laws of Sardinian society, and she was "condemned" even by her own mother, who feared for her marriage prospects. Dancers in local costume. Reconstruction of young Deledda taking her part in domestic life. Men singing. Men and women dancing. Passing round sweets and cakes. VO reading Deledda’s words about receiving copies of her story, less than the value of the money she had had to steal from her family in order to send off the manuscript.