In his message MrT said:
"These are not crime writers, though Sciascia did write dark
fiction. I was referring to the quality of the writing, of
the imagination. "
No and yes, if we speak about Sciscia.
Sciascia - for part of his work- is recognized in Italy and
France as a crime fiction writer, belonging to the noir
genre. You will find Leonardo Sciascia listed in studies,
essays, etc. analysing the modern noir evolution, where he is
cited for the part of his work belonging to the "roman
policier" or to "il giallo".
He really belongs to the genre, as he borrowed its technique
and approaches for some of his novels as his famous " Il
giorno della civetta",1961 (=Day of the owl), picking on the
local mafia (I think it was published in engl. as "Mafia
Vendetta" ). There are others, at least 4 more, but I do not
know if they are available in English (I red some in French
translations, as my command of Italian is not good enough to
read novels), amongst them: Il contesto (1971), and Todo modo
(1974). _
Another interesting work of this Sicilian author is his
diary, relating a big part of the very "difficult" years in
Italy (final years of the sixties and all of the seventies),
the country being squeezed between extreme-rightists and
leftists, highly corrupted government and institutions, the
ever present and poisonous mafia (title in French
"Noir sur noir" - Black on black). With bloodily results for
the citizens.
Think also about most of the films based on his writings:
they are definitely noir films.
Sciascia was always attracted by the research of the truth
behind appearances, and it is probably that kind of look to
reality that led him to the mystery lit. Another constant of
his life and work was a honest and lucid adhesion to left
views on society and applied politics.
On the other hand, he belongs to the mainstream lit. by lots
of other works, but all rather pessimistic and sombre. He's
considered as one of the greatest 20^th century Italian
writer.
E.Borgers POLAR NOIR http://www.geocities.com/polarnoir
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