Luigi Capuana: Unlikely Spinner of Fairy Tales?

This article considers how the realistic traces of life in a small Sicilian town and the principles of verismo (provincial elements, impersonal style, use of dialect, regionalism, and political commentary) are present, although under the guise of magic, in Luigi Capuana’s stories of wonder and enchantment. Miele reads provincial culture, regional pride, and national spirit in Capuana’s literary fiabe (fairy tales) and contends that they do not represent a departure from verismo, or realism, as some critics would have it. At the same time, Capuana’s narratives, filled with folkloric motifs, character types, and plots, as well as echoes of the oral tradition in the frequent address of audience by the storyteller, are rooted in the genre of fairy tales. For more than seventy-three fiabe and more than twenty years, Capuana explored various functions of storytelling from diversion to political commentary and moral instruction