Sicily - A Literary and Cultural History

“One can only imagine the poetic commitment of Toscano to undertake such a great opus; he enters into the magma of a piece of land taking shape while slowly separating from the mainland…. The author’s fantasy is colored with insights coming from a protean world and with primordial tidal impulses, restless oceanic movement and irregular seasonal changes…his work Sicily is not only a good source of literary information but especially a valuable book of good literature and culture, written in an original form full of sounds, colors and scents from the land….In addition, Sicily is a book about the poetic interpretation of the contributions that its people have given to the world.” – Dr Leonard Bowman, VP Wesley College (ret.)

Table of Contents:
Introduction
1. Ancient Meditations
Protohistory, insula incognita
Mare Nostrum, the Sea
Terra Nostra, the Land (Present time)
Urbs, the Town
2. Meditations on the Past
A Sicilian Flower, the Sonnet
Secret Societies, the Beati Paoli
St. Lucy of Caltagirone
Niccolò Longobardo, S. J.
Fr. Innocenzo from Caltagirone
The Story Teller
3. Present Meditations
Southern Theater
Luigi Pirandello
Fr. Luigi Sturzo
Verismo
Luigi Capuana
Giovanni Verga
Domenico (Micio) Tempio
4. Home Meditations
Bro. Bernard of Corleone
Agesilao Greco
Hermetic Poetry
Salvatore Quasimodo
Salvatore Giuliano
Conclusion; Bibliography; Index