SOURCE: "Fantasticheria: Verga's Declaration of Transition," in Italian Culture, Vol. II, 1982, pp. 91-102.

In the following essay, Hallock champions "Fantasticheria" as Verga's "statement of transition" from "decadent romanticism" to the verismo school of writing.

Of all Giovanni Verga's works, "Fantasticheria" is most singular for its special content and the scant critical attention it has received. Scholars have historically regarded it as a peripheral work in their studies of Verga's poetics or have used it in reference to their investigations of / Malavoglia. However, "Fantasticheria" does not deserve such superficial treatment, for it is a serious work of art in its own right. Moreover, it establishes the beginning of Verga's changed literary focus. In fact, the 1879 "Fantasticheria" is Verga's structural and stylistic masterpiece with which he denounces his previous voguish literary concern—decadent romanticism—and declares his return to his Sicilian roots as the source of his new orientation. As...