In his article "Zola et Verga" (see ref. 6), p. 543, René Ternois puts forward the hypothesis that Verga learnt of Zola's methods from an article by Edmondo de Amicis, in the Illustrazione Italiana in November 1878. "Ce mode de travail avait-il toujours été le sien, ou lui avait-il été suggéré par les pages qu'Edmondo de Amicis avait publiées dans l'Illustrazione Italiana en novembre 1878, et où il racontait sa visite à Zola l'été précédent ... ? " However, Verga's letter to Paola, written in April of the same year, and therefore several months before the appearance of De Amicis's article, clearly suggests that Verga was already acquainted with Zola's system, probably from a source such as the introduction to La Fortune des Rougon (1871) and De Sanctis's articles on Zola published in the journal Roma of 1878, now in Saggi Critici (Bari, 1957), vol. iii.
21.
Federico de Roberto, Casa Verga e altri Saggi Verghiani (Florence, 1964), 214.
22.
Giovanni Verga , Tutte le Novelle, i, 200.
23.
Journal des Goncourt (Paris, 1891), vol. v.
24.
Luigi Capuana , Gli Ismi Contemporanei ( Catania, 1898), 67.
25.
B. Croce, La Letteratura Italiana (Bari, 1957), iii, 432.
26.
Robert Baldick , The Life of J. K. Huysmans ( Oxford, 1955), 62.
27.
Nino Cappellani , Vita di Giovanni Verga ( Florence, 1940), 217.