Federico De Roberto

De Roberto was born in Naples and began his writing career as a journalist for national newspapers, where he met Giovanni Verga and Luigi Capuana, the most prominent writers of the Verismo movement. Verga introduced him into the literary circles of Milan. De Roberto authored two books of short stories: {{lang|it|La sorte}} (1887), {{lang|it|Documenti umani}} (1888). His first novel, {{lang|it|Ermanno Raeli}}, (1889) is largely autobiographical; deeper in psychological analysis is the second, {{lang|it|L'illusione}} (1891). In 1894 his novel {{lang|it|I Viceré}} was published. It was the result of years of hard work, but obtained little success upon its release. Disillusionment and nervous disorders induced De Roberto to resume journalistic work: he became a writer for the {{lang|it|Corriere della Sera}} and the {{lang|it|Giornale d'Italia}}. Only later, after some experience as a playwright, he returned to the novel, with {{lang|it|L'Imperio}} (1908–1913), an unfinished sequel to {{lang|it|I Viceré}}. He died in Catania at age 66.

The novel consists of three parts and is based upon the story of the fictional Uzeda princes of Francalanza, a noble family of Catania of Spanish origins. This family served as viceroys during the previous Spanish rule. The plot, focusing on the social and political background of the time, follows the private history of the Uzedas during the last year of Bourbon domination in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies and the first decades of the Kingdom of Italy, portraying the transition from feudalism to a parliamentary system.

De Roberto uses the literary style of verismo (the Italian expression of literary Naturalism) and adopts no privileged point of view (neither the narrator's nor any other's), but instead displays a plurality of voices. Mass scenes are present, as well as the detailed description of various social backgrounds. The primary aim of all members of the Uzeda family is to retain power regardless of the changes that occur, even if this requires actions that the reader will undoubtedly judge to be cynical or even absurd. De Roberto portrays a world undergoing fundamental change, but which seemingly holds no hope for the future: no aspect of society is represented as free from corruption.

The novel was adapted to cinema by director Roberto Faenza in 2007.

• {{cite book|title=Leopardi|location=Milan|publisher=Fratelli Treves|year=1898}} (essays, criticism)
• {{cite book|title=Casa Verga e altri saggi verghiani|location=Florence|publisher=Le Monnier|year=1964}} (posthumous publication)

• {{cite book|title=L'illusione|location=Milan|publisher=Libreria editrice Galli|year=1891}}
• {{cite book|title=I Viceré|location=Milan|publisher=Libreria editrice Galli|year=1894}}, reprinted Milan: Aldo Garzanti, 1959; published in English as The Viceroys, London: MacGibbon & Kee, 1962, translated by Archibald Colquhoun. {{cite book|url=https://www.versobooks.com/books/2045-the-viceroys|title=The Viceroys|translator=Archibald Colquhoun|location=New York: Verso Books|year=2016}}
• {{cite book|title=L'Imperio|location=Milan|publisher=Mondadori|year=1929}} (posthumous publication)

• {{cite book|title=La sorte|location=Catania|publisher=Giannotta|year=1887}} (2nd edition) Milan: Libreria editrice Galli. 1892. (3rd edition) Milan: Fratelli Treves. 1910. (4th edition) Milan: Fratelli Treves. 1919.
• {{cite book|title=Documenti umani|location=Milan|publisher=Fratelli Treves|year=1888}} (2nd edition) Milan: Fratelli Treves. 1890 (4th edition) Milan: Libreria editrice Galli. 1896. (7th edition) Milan: Galli, Baldini & Castoldi. 1898.
• {{cite book|title=L'albero della scienza|location=Milan|publisher=Libreria editrice Galli|year=1890}}
• {{cite book|title=Processi verbali|location=Milan|publisher=Libreria editrice Galli|year=1890}}
• {{cite book|title=Ironie. Novelle|location=Milan|publisher=Fratelli Treves|year=1920}}

• {{cite book|title=Lettere a donna Marianna degli Asmundo}} Edited by Sarah Zappulla Muscarà. Catania: Tringale. 1978.
• {{cite book|title=Federico De Roberto a Luigi Albertini. Lettere del critico al direttore del "Corriere della Sera"}} Edited by Sarah Zappulla Muscarà. Rome: Bulzoni. 1979.
• {{cite book|title=Lettere a Pia}} Critical edition edited by Teresa Volpe. Rome: Aracne Editrice. 2013.

• {{cite book|title=Encelado|orig-year=May 1886|location=Catania|publisher=Galatola|year=1887}}

• {{lang|it|Il Rosario}} (1912)
• {{lang|it|La tormenta}} (1918, never staged) – dramatic treatment of {{lang|it|Spasimo}} (Agony) from 1897
• {{lang|it|La strada maestra}} (1913, never staged) – dramatic treatment of {{lang|it|La messa di nozze}} from 1911

• {{cite journal|title=Il passaggio del Nord-Est. Spedizione artica svedese; L'oceano artico ed i commerci della Siberia|location=Florence|journal=Gazzetta d'Italia|year=1879}}
• {{cite book|title=Polemica Giosuè Carducci e Mario Rapisardi|location=Catania}} Edited by Niccolò Giannotta 1881. (Literary debut)
• {{cite book|title=Arabeschi|location=Catania}} Edited by Niccolò Giannotta. 1883. (Essays and criticism)
• {{cite book|title=Ermanno Raeli|location=Milan|publisher=Libreria editrice Galli|year=1889}} (2nd edition) Milan: Baldini, Castoldi & C. 1902. (Revised edition) Milan; Rome: Mondadori. 1923. (Novel)
• {{cite book|title=La morte dell'amore|location=Naples|publisher=Pierro|year=1892}} (Essay)
• {{cite book|title=L'amore. Fisiologia, psicologia, morale|location=Milan|publisher=Libreria editrice Galli|year=1895}} (Essay)
• {{cite journal|title=Spasimo|location=Milan|publisher=Libreria editrice Galli|year=1897|journal=Corriere della Sera}} (Serial publication) Published in English as {{cite book|url=http://www.italicapress.com/index527.html|title=Agony|translator=Andrew Edwards|location=New York|publisher=Italica Press|year=2021}}
• {{cite book|title=Gli amori|location=Milan|publisher=Libreria editrice Galli|year=1898}}
• {{cite book|title=Una pagina della storia dell'amore|location=Milan|publisher=Fratelli Treves|year=1898}}
• {{cite book|title=Il colore del tempo|location=Milan; Palermo|publisher=Sandron|year=1900}}
• {{cite book|title=Come si ama|location=Turin|publisher=Roux e Viarengo|year=1900}}
• {{cite book|title=L'arte|location=Turin|publisher=Bocca|year=1901}}
• {{cite book|title=Catania|location=Bergamo|publisher=Istituto italiano d'arti grafiche|year=1907}}
• Catania 1907 Expo. Illustrated album compiled under the direction of Federico De Roberto. Catania: Galatola. 1908.
• {{cite book|title=Randazzo e la Valle dell'Alcantara|location=Bergamo, Istituto italiano d'arti grafiche|year=1909}}
• {{cite book|title=La messa di nozze; Un sogno; La bella morte|location=Milan|publisher=Fratelli Treves|year=1911}}
• {{cite book|title=Le donne, i cavalier|location=Milan|publisher=Fratelli Treves|year=1913}}[https://books.google.com/books?id=Ep1wxrUgXW4C Rivista enciclopedica contemporanea], Editore Francesco Vallardi, Milan, (1913), entry by Alberto Blanche, pages 233-237.
• {{cite book|title=Al rombo del cannone|location=Milan|publisher=Fratelli Treves|year=1919}}
• {{cite book|title=La "Cocotte"|location=Milan|publisher=Vitagliano|year=1920}} (Stories)
• {{cite book|title=All'ombra dell'olivo|location=Milan|publisher=Fratelli Treves|year=1920}}
• {{cite book|title=La paura|location=Catania|publisher=Battiato|year=1922}}
• {{cite book|title=L'amante dell'amore|location=Milan|publisher=Corbaccio|year=1928}} (Stories)
• {{cite book|title=Come Malta divenne inglese|location=Rome|publisher=La nuova antologia|year=1940}}
• {{cite book|title=Cronache per il Fanfulla|location=Milan|publisher=Quaderni dell'Osservatore|year=1973}}
• {{cite journal|title=Il trofeo di F. De Roberto. Inediti e rari|journal=Le Ragioni Critiche|date=January–March 1974}}
• {{cite book|title=Giustizia|location=Catania|publisher=Società di storia patria per la Sicilia orientale|year=1975}} (One-act play)
• {{cite book|title=La "Cocotte" e altre novelle di guerra}} Edited by Sarah Zappulla Muscarà. Rome: Curcio. 1979.
• {{cite book|title=Adriana: Un racconto inedito e altri studi di donna|location=Catania|publisher=Maimone|year=1998}}
• {{cite book|title=Il tempo dello scontento universale|location=Turin|publisher=Aragno|year=2012}} (Various articles of literary and cultural criticism)
• {{cite book|title=La paura e altri racconti della Grande Guerra|location=Rome|publisher=Edizioni E/O|year=2014}}
• {{cite book|title=Novelle della Grande Guerra|location=Bari|publisher=Edizioni Progedit|year=2015}}
• {{cite book|title=Romanzi novelle e saggi}} Edited by Carlo A. Madrignani for the collection {{lang|it|I Meridiani}}. Milan: Arnoldo Mondadori Editore. 1984 {{ISBN|88-04-21988-2}}. ** Contains: (novels) {{lang|it|L'illusione}}; {{lang|it|I Viceré}}; {{lang|it|L'Imperio}}; (stories) {{lang|it|La sorte}}; {{lang|it|La disdetta}}; {{lang|it|Nel cortile}}; {{lang|it|La malanova}}; (from {{lang|it|Documenti umani}}) {{lang|it|Documenti umani}}; {{lang|it|Donato Del Piano}}; (from {{lang|it|Processi verbali}}) {{lang|it|Il rosario}}; {{lang|it|I vecchi}} (from {{lang|it|L'albero della scienza}}) {{lang|it|La scoperta del peccato}}; {{lang|it|Il gran rifiuto}}; {{lang|it|Il paradiso perduto}}; {{lang|it|La paura}}; (essays and prefaces) {{lang|it|Leopardi e Flaubert}}; {{lang|it|Carlo Baudelaire}}; {{lang|it|Gustavo Flaubert – L'opera}}; {{lang|it|Gustavo Flaubert – L'uomo}}; preface to {{lang|it|Documenti umani}}; preface to {{lang|it|Processi verbali}}; {{lang|it|L'albero della scienza}}; {{lang|it|Come si ama}}; {{lang|it|Leopardi – La misantropia}}; chapter XV from {{lang|it|Una pagina della storia dell'amore – Il matrimonio di Bismarck}}; {{lang|it|Il volo di Icaro}}; {{lang|it|Domenico Castorina e Giovanni Verga}}; (letters) to Ferdinando Di Giorgi; to his mother; to Luigi Albertini.

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite book|first=Giulio|last=Ferroni|title=Profilo storico della letteratura italiana|language=it|publisher=Einaudi scuola|location=Milan|year=1992}}
• {{cite book|first=Federico|last=De Roberto|title=The Viceroys|isbn=0002718189|publisher=Vintage/Ebury|year=1989|orig-year=1894}}
• {{cite book|first=Federico|last=De Roberto|title=Adriana: un racconto inedito e altri|language=it|publisher=Giuseppe Maimone Editore|location=Catania|year=1998}}
• {{cite book|first=Nunzio|last=Zago|title=Racconto della letteratura siciliana|language=it|publisher=Giuseppe Maimone Editore|location=Catania|year=2000}}

• {{Gutenberg author |id=31124| name=Federico De Roberto}}
• {{Internet Archive author |sname=Federico De Roberto}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:De Roberto, Federico}}

Category:19th-century Italian novelists

Category:19th-century Italian male writers

Category:20th-century Italian novelists

Category:20th-century Italian male writers

Category:1861 births

Category:1927 deaths