Leonardo Sciascia
Encyclopedia
Leonardo Sciascia was an Italian
writer, novelist, essayist, playwright and politician. Some of his works have been made into films, including Open Doors
(1990) and Il giorno della civetta
(1968).
, Sicily
. In 1935 his family moved to Caltanissetta
; here Sciascia studied under Vitaliano Brancati
, who will become his model in writing and introduced him to French novelists. From Giuseppe Granata, future Communist
member of the Italian Senate
, he learned the French Enlightenment and American literature
. In 1944 he married Maria Andronico, an elementary school teacher in Racalmuto. In 1948 his brother committed suicide, an event which had a profound impact on Sciascia.
Sciascia's first work, Favole della dittatura, was published in 1950 and included 27 short poems. This was followed in 1952 by La Sicilia, il suo cuore, also a poetry collection, illustrated by Emilio Greco
. The following year Sciascia won the Premio Pirandello, awarded by the Sicily region, for his essay Pirandello e il pirandellismo.
In 1954 he began collaborating with literature and ethnology
magazines published by Salvatore Sciascia in Caltanissetta. In 1956 he published Le parrocchie di Regalpetra, an autobiographic novel inspired by his experience as an elementary school teacher in his home town. In the same year he moved to teach in Caltanissetta, only to move again to Rome in 1957. In the autumn of that year he published Gli zii di Sicilia, including sharp views about themes such as US and Communism influence in the world, and the 19th century unification of Italy.
After one year in Rome, Sciascia moved back to Sicily, in Caltanissetta. In 1961 he published the mystery Il giorno della civetta, one of his most famous novels. Of 1963 is the historical novel Il consiglio d'Egitto, set in a 18th century Palermo
. After a series of essays, in 1965 he wrote the play L'onorevole, a denunciation of the complicities between government and mafia
. Another political mystery novel is A ciascuno il suo of 1966.
The following year Sciascia moved to Palermo. In 1969 he began a collaboration with Il Corriere della Sera. Of the same year is the play Recitazione della controversia liparitana dedicata ad A.D., dedicated to Alexander Dubcek
. In 1971 Sciascia returned agan to mystery with Il contesto, which inspired Francesco Rosi
's movie Cadaveri eccellenti (1976). The novel created polemics due to its merciless portrait of Italian politics. Same was the fate of Todo modo
, in this case due to its description of Italian Catholic clergy.
At the 1975 communal elections in Palermo, Sciascia ran as an independent within the Italian Communist Party
(PCI) slate, and was elected to the city council. In the same year he published La scomparsa di Majorana, dealing with the mysterious disappearance of scientist Ettore Majorana
. In 1977 he resigned from PCI, due to his opposition to any dealing with the Christian Democratic party. Later he would be elected to the Italian and European Parliament with the Radical Party.
Sciascia last works include the essay collection Cronachette (1985), the novels Porte aperte (1987) and Il cavaliere e la morte (1988). He died in June 1989 at Palermo.
inherent in Sicilian life. He presented a forensic analysis of the kidnapping and assassination of Aldo Moro
, a prominent Christian Democrat
, in his book The Moro Affair. Sciascia's work is intricate and displays a longing for justice while 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 Brigades).
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.
Sciascia's books are rarely characterized by a happy end and by justice for the ordinary man. Prime examples of this are Equal Danger, 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 result in outcomes that are not for the benefit of society, but of those individuals who are in favour.
His 1984 opus Occhio di Capra is a collection of Sicilian sayings and proverbs gleaned from the area around his native village, to which he was intensely attached throughout his life.
Italian literature
Italian literature is literature written in the Italian language, particularly within Italy. It may also refer to literature written by Italians or in Italy in other languages spoken in Italy, often languages that are closely related to modern Italian....
writer, novelist, essayist, playwright and politician. Some of his works have been made into films, including Open Doors
Open Doors (1990 film)
Open Doors is an award-winning 1990 film directed by Gianni Amelio. Set in Palermo in the 1930s, a judge who is morally against the death penalty is confronted with the case of a man who has murdered his wife and two colleagues in cold blood...
(1990) and Il giorno della civetta
Il giorno della civetta (film)
Il giorno della civetta is a 1968 Italian mafia crime thriller film directed by Damiano Damiani. Inspired by Leonardo Sciascia's novel with same title, it stars Claudia Cardinale and Franco Nero. It was released in USA in 1970. The film was entered into the 18th Berlin International Film...
(1968).
Biography
Sciascia was born in RacalmutoRacalmuto
Racalmuto is a comune in the Province of Agrigento in the Italian Autonomous Region of Sicily, located about 90 km southeast of Palermo and about 15 km northeast of Agrigento.Racalmuto borders the following municipalities: Bompensiere, Canicattì, Castrofilippo, Favara,...
, Sicily
Sicily
Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...
. In 1935 his family moved to Caltanissetta
Caltanissetta
Caltanissetta is a city and comune located on the western interior of Sicily, capital of the province of Caltanissetta...
; here Sciascia studied under Vitaliano Brancati
Vitaliano Brancati
Vitaliano Brancati was an Italian writer. He was born in Pachino and died in Turin. In 1950 he won the Bagutta Prize.-Selected bibliography:* Don Juan in Sicily * The Handsome Antonio...
, who will become his model in writing and introduced him to French novelists. From Giuseppe Granata, future Communist
Italian Communist Party
The Italian Communist Party was a communist political party in Italy.The PCI was founded as Communist Party of Italy on 21 January 1921 in Livorno, by seceding from the Italian Socialist Party . Amadeo Bordiga and Antonio Gramsci led the split. Outlawed during the Fascist regime, the party played...
member of the Italian Senate
Italian Senate
The Senate of the Republic is the upper house of the Italian Parliament. It was established in its current form on 8 May 1948, but previously existed during the Kingdom of Italy as Senato del Regno , itself a continuation of the Senato Subalpino of Sardinia-Piedmont established on 8 May 1848...
, he learned the French Enlightenment and American literature
American literature
American literature is the written or literary work produced in the area of the United States and its preceding colonies. For more specific discussions of poetry and theater, see Poetry of the United States and Theater in the United States. During its early history, America was a series of British...
. In 1944 he married Maria Andronico, an elementary school teacher in Racalmuto. In 1948 his brother committed suicide, an event which had a profound impact on Sciascia.
Sciascia's first work, Favole della dittatura, was published in 1950 and included 27 short poems. This was followed in 1952 by La Sicilia, il suo cuore, also a poetry collection, illustrated by Emilio Greco
Emilio Greco
Emilio Greco was an Italian sculptor.Greco was born at Catania, whose Greek and Roman remains grow in him a passion for ancient sculpture. His first successful work was a "Pinocchio" at Collodi. He died in Rome in 1995. Throughout his career, his sculptures tend to be refined, with elongated...
. The following year Sciascia won the Premio Pirandello, awarded by the Sicily region, for his essay Pirandello e il pirandellismo.
In 1954 he began collaborating with literature and ethnology
Ethnology
Ethnology is the branch of anthropology that compares and analyzes the origins, distribution, technology, religion, language, and social structure of the ethnic, racial, and/or national divisions of humanity.-Scientific discipline:Compared to ethnography, the study of single groups through direct...
magazines published by Salvatore Sciascia in Caltanissetta. In 1956 he published Le parrocchie di Regalpetra, an autobiographic novel inspired by his experience as an elementary school teacher in his home town. In the same year he moved to teach in Caltanissetta, only to move again to Rome in 1957. In the autumn of that year he published Gli zii di Sicilia, including sharp views about themes such as US and Communism influence in the world, and the 19th century unification of Italy.
After one year in Rome, Sciascia moved back to Sicily, in Caltanissetta. In 1961 he published the mystery Il giorno della civetta, one of his most famous novels. Of 1963 is the historical novel Il consiglio d'Egitto, set in a 18th century Palermo
Palermo
Palermo is a city in Southern Italy, the capital of both the autonomous region of Sicily and the Province of Palermo. The city is noted for its history, culture, architecture and gastronomy, playing an important role throughout much of its existence; it is over 2,700 years old...
. After a series of essays, in 1965 he wrote the play L'onorevole, a denunciation of the complicities between government and mafia
Mafia
The Mafia is a criminal syndicate that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in Sicily, Italy. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct, and whose common enterprise is protection racketeering...
. Another political mystery novel is A ciascuno il suo of 1966.
The following year Sciascia moved to Palermo. In 1969 he began a collaboration with Il Corriere della Sera. Of the same year is the play Recitazione della controversia liparitana dedicata ad A.D., dedicated to Alexander Dubcek
Alexander Dubcek
Alexander Dubček , also known as Dikita, was a Slovak politician and briefly leader of Czechoslovakia , famous for his attempt to reform the communist regime during the Prague Spring...
. In 1971 Sciascia returned agan to mystery with Il contesto, which inspired Francesco Rosi
Francesco Rosi
Francesco Rosi is an Italian film director. He is the father of actress Carolina Rosi.-Biography:After studying Law, but hoping to study film, Rosi entered the industry as an assistant to Luchino Visconti on La Terra trema...
's movie Cadaveri eccellenti (1976). The novel created polemics due to its merciless portrait of Italian politics. Same was the fate of Todo modo
Todo modo
-Cast:* Gian Maria Volonté - M.* Marcello Mastroianni - Don Gaetano* Mariangela Melato - Giacinta, Moglie di M.* Ciccio Ingrassia - Voltrano* Franco Citti - Autista di M.* Tino Scotti - Il Cuoco* Renato Salvatori - Dr. Scalambri* Michel Piccoli - Lui...
, in this case due to its description of Italian Catholic clergy.
At the 1975 communal elections in Palermo, Sciascia ran as an independent within the Italian Communist Party
Italian Communist Party
The Italian Communist Party was a communist political party in Italy.The PCI was founded as Communist Party of Italy on 21 January 1921 in Livorno, by seceding from the Italian Socialist Party . Amadeo Bordiga and Antonio Gramsci led the split. Outlawed during the Fascist regime, the party played...
(PCI) slate, and was elected to the city council. In the same year he published La scomparsa di Majorana, dealing with the mysterious disappearance of scientist Ettore Majorana
Ettore Majorana
Ettore Majorana was an Italian theoretical physicist who began work on neutrino masses. He disappeared suddenly in mysterious circumstances. He is noted for the eponymous Majorana equation and for Majorana fermions.-Gifted in mathematics:Majorana was born in Catania, Sicily...
. In 1977 he resigned from PCI, due to his opposition to any dealing with the Christian Democratic party. Later he would be elected to the Italian and European Parliament with the Radical Party.
Sciascia last works include the essay collection Cronachette (1985), the novels Porte aperte (1987) and Il cavaliere e la morte (1988). He died in June 1989 at Palermo.
Work summary
A number of his books, such as The Day of the Owl (Il giorno della civetta) and Equal Danger (Il contesto), demonstrate how the Mafia manages to sustain itself in the face of the anomieAnomie
Anomie is a term meaning "without Law" to describe a lack of social norms; "normlessness". It describes the breakdown of social bonds between an individual and their community ties, with fragmentation of social identity and rejection of self-regulatory values. It was popularized by French...
inherent in Sicilian life. He presented a forensic analysis of the kidnapping and assassination of Aldo Moro
Aldo Moro
Aldo Moro was an Italian politician and the 39th Prime Minister of Italy, from 1963 to 1968, and then from 1974 to 1976. He was one of Italy's longest-serving post-war Prime Ministers, holding power for a combined total of more than six years....
, a prominent Christian Democrat
Christian Democracy (Italy)
Christian Democracy was a Christian democratic party in Italy. It was founded in 1943 as the ideological successor of the historical Italian People's Party, which had the same symbol, a crossed shield ....
, in his book The Moro Affair. Sciascia's work is intricate and displays a longing for justice while 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
Giulio Andreotti
Giulio Andreotti is an Italian politician of the now dissolved centrist Christian Democracy party. He served as the 42nd Prime Minister of Italy from 1972 to 1973, from 1976 to 1979 and from 1989 to 1992. He also served as Minister of the Interior , Defense Minister and Foreign Minister and he...
, then Prime Minister, for his lack of action towards freeing Moro and answering the demands of the Brigate Rosse (Red Brigades).
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.
Sciascia's books are rarely characterized by a happy end and by justice for the ordinary man. Prime examples of this are Equal Danger, 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 result in outcomes that are not for the benefit of society, but of those individuals who are in favour.
His 1984 opus Occhio di Capra is a collection of Sicilian sayings and proverbs gleaned from the area around his native village, to which he was intensely attached throughout his life.
Works
- Le favole della dittatura (1950)
- La Sicilia, il suo cuore (1952)
- Il fiore della poesia romanesca. Belli, Pascarella, Trilussa, Dell'Arco (1952)
- Pirandello e il Pirandellismo (1953)
- Le Parrocchie di Regalpetra (1st ed. 1956, 2nd augmented ed. 1963)
- "Sicilian Uncles" ("Gli zii di Sicilia", short stories, 1st ed. 1958, 2nd augmented ed. 1961)
- The Day of the OwlThe Day of the OwlThe Day of the Owl is a crime novel about the Mafia by Leonardo Sciascia, finished in 1960 and published in 1961.As the author wrote in his preface of the 1972 Italian edition, the novel was written at a time in which the existence of the Mafia itself was debated and denied...
(Il giorno della civetta, 1961) - Pirandello e la Sicilia (1961)
- The Council of Egypt (Il consiglio d'Egitto, 1963)
- Santo Marino (1963)
- Morte dell'Inquisitore (1964)
- L'onorevole (1965)
- Jaki (1965)
- To Each His OwnTo Each His Own (novel)To Each His Own is a 1966 detective novel by Leonardo Sciascia in which an introverted academic , in attempting to solve a double-homicide, is murdered for his naive interference in town politics....
(A ciascuno il suo, 1966) - Racconti Siciliani (1966)
- Recitazione della controversia liparitana dedicata ad A.D. (1969)
- La corda pazza (1970)
- Atti relativi alla morte di Raymond Roussel (1971)
- Equal DangerEqual DangerEqual Danger is a 1971 detective novel by Leonardo Sciascia where a police inspector investigating a string of murders finds himself involved in existential political intrigues...
(Il contesto. Una parodia, 1971) - "The Wine-Dark Sea" ("Il mare color del vino", 1973 - collected short stories)
- Todo Modo (1974)
- The Mystery of Majorana (La scomparsa di Majorana, 1975)
- I Pugnalatori (1976)
- Candido, ovvero, un sogno fatto in Sicilia (1977)
- The Moro Affair (L'affaire Moro, 1st ed. 1978, 2nd augmented et. 1983)
- Dalle parte degli infedeli (1979)
- Nero su nero (1979)
- Il teatro della memoria (1981)
- La sentenza memorabile (1982)
- Cruciverba (1983)
- Stendhal e la Sicilia (1984)
- Occhio di Capra (1st ed. 1984, 2nd augmented ed. 1990)
- Cronachette (1985)
- Per un ritratto dello scrittore da giovane (1985)
- La strega e il capitano (1987)
- 1912+1 (1987)
- Open Doors (Porte aperte, 1987)
- The Knight and DeathThe Knight and DeathThe Knight and Death is a crime novel by Leonardo Sciascia, published in 1988.-Plot:The protagonist of the novel is a cultured and tenacious detective affected by a deadly disease .The detective, whose name we never learn The Knight and Death (Italian: Il cavaliere la morte) is a crime novel by...
(Il cavaliere e la morte, 1988) - Alfabeto pirandelliano (1989)
- Fatti diversi di storia letteraria e civile (1989)
- Una storia semplice (1989)
- A futura memoria (se la memoria ha un futuro (1989)
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.
- R.Martinoni, Troppo poco pazzi: Leonardo Sciascia nella libera e laica Svizzera (Collana Sciascia scrittore europeo,I,in collaboration with Amici di Leonaardo Sciascia)Leo S.Olschki editore, Firenze: Leo S.Olschki editore, 2011.
In English on Sciascia's works
- L. Sciascia, M. Padovani, Sicily as Metaphor, Marlboro: Marlboro Press, 1994.
- 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.