Leonardo Sciascia

Leonardo Sciascia (Racalmuto, Agrigento, January 8, 1921 - Palermo, November 20, 1989) was an Italian writer and politician. Sciascia, (pronounced Shasha),family member of Nicola Sciasci of Roma, Italia, was a councillor in Sicily, a deputy in the national assembly and, later, a member of the European Parliament. Trained as a teacher, it was only later in life that he devoted himself to writing about Sicily and the Mafia. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Country Italy Region Sicily Province Province of Agrigento (AG) Mayor Elevation 455 m Area 68. ... San Lorenzo. ... is the 8th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1921 (MCMXXI) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar). ... For other uses, see Palermo (disambiguation). ... is the 324th day of the year (325th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1989 (MCMLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link displays 1989 Gregorian calendar). ... Sicily ( in Italian and Sicilian) is an autonomous region of Italy and the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, with an area of 25,708 km² (9,926 sq. ... Established 1952, as the Common Assembly President Hans-Gert Pöttering (EPP) Since 16 January 2007 Vice-Presidents 14 Rodi Kratsa-Tsagaropoulou (EPP) Alejo Vidal-Quadras (EPP) Gérard Onesta (Greens – EFA) Edward McMillan-Scott (ED) Mario Mauro (EPP) Miguel Angel Martínez Martínez (PES) Luigi Cocilovo (ALDE) Mechtild... Sicily ( in Italian and Sicilian) is an autonomous region of Italy and the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, with an area of 25,708 km² (9,926 sq. ... This article is about the criminal society. ...

A number of his books demonstrate how the Mafia manages to sustain itself in the face of the anomie inherent in Sicilian life: The Day of the Owl and Equal Danger being amongst the most powerful. His forensic analysis of the kidnapping and assassination of Aldo Moro, a prominent Christian Democrat, in his book The Moro Affair is masterly. His work is intricate and displays a longing for justice attempting to show how corrupt Italian society had become and remains. His linking of politicians, intrigue, and the Mafia gave him a high profile, which was very much at odds with his private self. This resulted in his becoming widely disliked for his criticism of Giulio Andreotti, then Prime Minister, for his lack of action towards freeing Moro and answering the demands of the Brigate Rosse (Red Brigade). Anomie, in contemporary English, means a condition or malaise in individuals, characterized by an absence or diminution of standards or values. ... Aldo Moro (September 23, 1916 in Maglie – May 9, 1978 in Rome) was an Italian politician and five time Prime Minister of Italy, from 1963 to 1968, and then from 1974 to 1976. ... Christian Democracy, (Democrazia Cristiana), the Christian democratic party of Italy, commonly called the democristiani or DC, dominated government for nearly half a century until its demise amid a welter of corruption allegations in 1992-94. ... Giulio Andreotti (born 14 January 1919 in Rome) is an Italian politician of the centrist Christian Democratic party who served as Prime Minister of Italy 1972-1973, 1976-1979 and 1989-1992. ... Red Brigades (Brigate Rosse) is a militant group located in Italy. ...

Sciascia was part of a House of Deputies investigation into Moro's kidnapping, which concluded that there was a certain amount of negligence on the part of the Christian Democrat Party in their stance that the state was bigger than a person and that they would not swap Moro for 13 political prisoners, even though Moro himself had stated that the swapping of innocent people for political prisoners was a valid option in negotiations with terrorists. However, senior members of the party conveniently forgot this stance and even went as far as to say that Moro had been drugged and tortured to utter these words.

The best of his books shows that, as in real life, there is rarely a happy ending and that there is rarely justice for the ordinary man. Prime examples of this are Equal Danger (Il Contesto), where the police's best detective is drafted to Sicily to investigate a spate of murders of judges. Focussing on the inability of authorities to handle such investigation into the corruptions, Sciascia's hero is finally thwarted.

Sciascia wrote of his unique Sicilian experience, linking families with political parties, the treachery of alliances and allegiances and the calling of favours that resort in outcomes that are not for the benefit of society, but of those individuals who are in favour. Sciascia perhaps, in the end, wanted to prove that the corruption that was and is endemic in Italian society helps only those who are part of the secret societies and loyalties and the political classes.

Notable works

Detective novels

• The Day of the Owl, Il giorno della civetta (1961)

In a small town early on a Saturday morning, a bus is about to leave the small square to go market in the next town nearby. A gun shot is heard and the figure running for the bus is shot twice in the back, with what is discovered as 'lupara' (Literally meaning wolf-shot — a sawn-off shotgun that the mafia use for their killings.)

The Captain from Parma gets on the case, ruffling feathers in his contemporaries and colleagues alike. Soon he discovers a link that doesn't stop in Sicily, but goes onwards towards Rome and the Minister Mancuso and Senator Livigno.

It seems that the man shot had been warned that he should take protection from friends, which he refused; soon his building firm was sabotaged and he has a warning bullet fired at him. Which all leads to the calling.

Using faintly corrupt methods, Bellodi - Carabinieri Captain - traps one man and uses the names given by a dead informer to trap another, who has money stashed away in many bank accounts that add up to more than his fallow fields would ever bring.

The death of an eyewitness leads to the collapse of the case against all three, which sees Bellodi taken off the case and him going sick, for ignoring the crime passionel which was the obvious answer to all the deaths.

Sciascia uses this story as refutation against the Mafia and the corruption apparent to his eyes that leads all the way to Rome.

Stylistically, this is light, yet requires further readings in order to grasp each of the nuances that he employs to tell his moral tale. It is a book for the writer, those interested in crime fiction and those in political machinations. Sciascia reveals his intellect to bring out the story, not to mock the reader for not knowing.

• Equal Danger (1971)

• To Each His Own, A ciascuno il suo (1966)

In a Sicilian town, pharmacist Manno receives a letter with an anonymous death threat. At first it is believed to be a prank, but then Manno is murdered as he is hunting with a friend, doctor Roscio, who is killed too. Equal Danger - Wikipedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ...

Professor Laurana, an old friend of Roscio, decides to investigate, starting from a phrase in Latin he had noticed on the back of the letter: Unicuique Suum (which means "to each his own").

Helped by the informations obtained from Roscio's father, from an eccentric priest and from a solitary old man, Laurana puts the pieces of the puzzle together and understands that the death threat to Manno was just a trick to deceive the police: Roscio was the real target, and the Mafia is involved in the murders, which were ordered by corrupt lawyer Rosello.

Roscio's widow, Luisa, seems willing to help Laurana, but ultimately it is revealed that she too is involved: she is Rosello's lover, and her husband was killed because he had threatened to denounce Rosello's criminal activities. Laurana, betrayed by Luisa, is kidnapped and murdered.

The epilogue is bleak and bitterly ironic, as is often the case with Sciascia's novels: in a conversation between three friends of Laurana (Luigi Corvaia, Pecorilla and Zerillo) it is revealed that they too (and, it is implied, also many others in the town) know or suspect the truth about the murders, but, unlike Laurana, they have chosen to ignore it, following the "code" of Omertà. The dialogue (and the book) famously ends with a lapidary comment made by Luigi about Laurana's brave attempt to discover the truth: "Era un cretino" (He was a fool). Omertà is a popular attitude, common in areas of southern Italy, such as Sicily, Calabria and Campania, where the criminal organizations like the Mafia, Ndrangheta, and Camorra are strong. ...

• The Knight and Death, Il cavaliere e la morte (1988)

The protagonist of the novel is a cultured and tenacious detective affected by a deadly disease (which is clearly a cancer, although it is never openly stated). Cancer is a class of diseases or disorders characterized by uncontrolled division of cells and the ability of these to spread, either by direct growth into adjacent tissue through invasion, or by implantation into distant sites by metastasis (where cancer cells are transported through the bloodstream or lymphatic system). ...

The detective, whose name we never learn (he is simply called "il Vice", as "the Vice Chief of Police") investigates the murder of lawyer Sandoz. His chief believes that Sandoz has been killed by a mysterious revolutionary group, but the detective is convinced that powerful businessman Aurispa is involved in the crime, and that the phoney revolutionary group has been invented ad hoc as a scapegoat to cover up the real reasons behind the murder. Ad hoc is a Latin phrase which means for this [purpose]. It generally signifies a solution that has been tailored to a specific purpose, such as a tailor-made suit, a handcrafted network protocol, and specific-purpose equation and things like that. ... The Scapegoat by William Holman Hunt, 1854. ...

The novel is permeated by a sense of impending death, as the increasingly ill and tired "Vice" tries to unravel the mystery.

The title is a reference to the engraving Knight, Death, and the Devil by Albrecht Dürer, often observed by the "Vice" as he thinks about his imminent death. Engraving is the practice of incising a design onto a hard, flat surface, by cutting grooves into it. ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1000x1303, 295 KB) ÄŒesky | Deutsch | English | Ελληνικά | Español | فارسی | Français | עברית | Indonesian | Italiano | 日本語 | 한국어 | Magyar | Nederlands | Polski | Português | RomânÇŽ | Русский | Slovenščina | Српски | Sunda | 简体中文 | 正體中文 | Türkçe | Русский | Українська +/- File links No pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file. ... Albrecht Dürer (pronounced /al. ...

• One Way Or Another

True Crime

• The Moro Affair, L'affaire Moro (1978)

• The Mystery Of Majorana, La scomparsa di Majorana (1975)

The book focuses on the mysterious disappearance of Italian physicist Ettore Majorana. Sciascia summarizes the results of the investigations, examines the facts and the documents concerning Majorana and suggests a theory about the scientist's fate, refusing the "suicide" hypothesis. Ettore Majorana (Catania, Sicily, 1906 – Tyrrhenian Sea, 27 March 1938 (presumed)) was an Italian physicist who began promising work on neutrino masses. ...

Short stories

• The Wine-Dark Sea, Il mare color del vino, Einaudi, Torino, (1973)
• Sicilian Uncles

Critical essays in Italian on Sciascia's works

• V. Fascia, F. Izzo, A. Maori, La memoria di carta: Bibliografia delle opere di Leonardo Sciascia, Edizioni Otto/Novecento, Milano, 1998
• V. Vecellio (a cura di), L'uomo solo: L'Affaire Moro di Leonardo Sciascia, Edizioni La Vita Felice, Milano, 2002
• V. Vecellio, Saremo perduti senza la verità, Edizioni La Vita Felice, Milano, 2003
• G. Jackson, Nel labirinto di Sciascia, Edizioni La Vita Felice, Milano, 2004
• L. Palazzolo Leonardo Sciascia deputato radicale 1979-1983, Kaos edizioni, 2004
• L. Pogliaghi (a cura di), Giustizia come ossessione: forme della giustizia nella pagina di Leonardo Sciascia, Edizioni La Vita Felice, Milano, 2005
• M. D'Alessandra e S.Salis (a cura di), Nero su giallo: Leonardo Sciascia eretico del genere poliziesco, Edizioni La Vita Felice, Milano, 2006.
• P. Milone, L'enciclopedia di Leonardo Sciascia: caos, ordine e caso : atti del 1o ciclo di incontri (Roma, gennaio-aprile 2006), Quaderni Leonardo Sciascia, 11. Milano: La Vita Felice, 2007.

Critical essays in English on Sciascia's works

• J. Farrell, Leonardo Sciascia, Writers of Italy. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1995.
• G. Ania, Fortunes of the Firefly: Sciascia's Art of Detection, Market Harborough: University Texts, 1996.
• R. Glynn, Contesting the Monument: The Anti-Illusionist Italian Historical Novel, Italian perspectives, 10. Leeds, England: Northern Universities Press, 2005.
• J. Cannon. The Novel As Investigation: Leonardo Sciascia, Dacia Maraini, and Antonio Tabucchi, Toronto Italian studies. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2006.

List of Sciascia's works

• Le favole della dittatura, Bardi, Roma 1950
• La Sicilia, il suo cuore, Bardi, Roma, 1952
• Pirandello e il pirandellismo, Salvatore Sciascia, Caltanissetta, 1953
• Le parrocchie di Regalpetra, Laterza, Bari, 1956 e 1967
• Gli zii di Sicilia, Salvatore Sciascia, Caltanissetta, 1958 e Einaudi, Torino, 1960 with the addition of L'antimonio
• Il giorno della civetta, Einaudi, Torino, 1961
• Il consiglio d'Egitto, Einaudi, Torino, 1963
• Morte dell'Inquisitore, Laterza, Bari, 1964
• L'Onorevole, Einaudi, Torino, 1965
• Feste religiose in Sicilia (photography by Ferdinando Scianna), Leonardo da Vinci, Bari, 1965
• A ciascuno il suo, Einaudi, Torino, 1966
• Narratori in Sicilia, (in collaboration with S. Guglielmino), Mursia, milano, 1967
• Recitazione della controversia liparitana dedicata ad A.D., Einaudi, Torino, 1969
• La corda pazza, Einaudi, Torino, 1970
• Atti relativi alla morte di Raymond Roussel, Esse Editrice, Palermo, 1971
• Il contesto, Einaudi, Torino, 1971
• Il mare color del vino, Einaudi, Torino, 1973
• Todo modo, Einaudi, Torino, 1974
• Luciano e le fedi (Prefazione ai Dialoghi di Luciano), Einaudi, Torino, 1974
• La scomparsa di Majorana, Einaudi, Torino, 1973
• I pugnalatori, Einaudi, Torino, 1976
• Candido, ovvero un sogno fatto in Sicilia, Einaudi, Torino, 1977
• L'affaire Moro, Sellerio, Palermo, 1978
• Nero su nero, Einaudi, Torino, 1979
• Dalle parti degli infedeli, Sellerio, Palermo, 1979
• Il teatro della memoria, Einaudi, Torino, 1981
• Conversazioni in una stanza chiusa, (with Davide Lajolo), Sperling & Kupfer, Milano, 1981
• Kermesse, Sellerio, Palermo, 1982
• La sentenza memorabile, Sellerio, Palermo, 1982
• Cruciverba, Einaudi, Torino, 1983
• Cronachette, Sellerio, Palermo, 1983
• Per un ritratto dello scrittore da giovane, Sellerio, Palermo, 1985
• La strega e il capitano, Bompiani, Milano, 1986
• 1912+1, Adelphi, Milano, 1986
• Porte aperte, Adelphi, Milano, 1987
• Il cavaliere e la morte, Adelphi, Milano, 1988
• Ore di Spagna, Pungitopo, Marina di Patti, 1988
• Alfabeto pirandelliano, Adelphi, Milano, 1989
• Una storia semplice, Adelphi, Milano 1989
• Fatti diversi di storia letteraria e civile, Sellerio, Palermo, 1989
• A futura memoria (se la memoria ha un futuro), Bompiani, Milano, 1989

External links

• [1] Friends of Leonardo Sciascia Society