Ash

Grazia Deledda is an Italian writer, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1926 “for her poetic works, which describe with plastic clarity the life of her native island, as well as for the depth of her approach to human problems in general.” The novel “Ashes” from 1904 is one of Grazia Deledda’s most ambiguous and interesting works. It is a dramatic story of the relationship between a lonely woman and her own son, a story of renunciation and forgiveness, love and hatred, a story of overcoming social stereotypes of a patriarchal society and humility. The plot is based on the fate of a young man who, through the prism of resentment and love for his mother, through the experience of childhood trauma, tries to find himself, while at the same time searching for answers to eternal questions. The novel “Ashes” is for the reader who seeks to understand and find an answer to the question of what drives a person, what is important for a feeling of happiness: love, hatred, forgiveness? The answers, as always, are in the text, in which, as in "the ashes, the light of knowledge often flickers."