Abstract

The essay deals with the theme of the lacerating dialectic between the reverberations of the unitary process on the community of Aci Trezza and the cyclical time that marks its anthropological dimension, between the historical context in which the events of the Malavoglia family and the individual destinies are placed, inevitably marked. In fact, the Risorgimento process upsets the already precarious and unjust condition on which the village stands, adding new abuses to the ancient ones. With the help of preparatory notes by Verga, the contribution identifies in the plot of the novel the traces of the contrast between the “timeless timeµ of the Malavoglias and a time of history, disinterested in the values of ethics and tragically aimed at marginalizing the South of Italy.