Vol. XIII – 2023
INDICE / INDEX
Tomo I
Il dono / The gift
LAURA SCIASCIA, L’incantevole duchessa. Piccole note in margine a Nero su nero
Pp. 3-5
Letture / Readings
IAN R. MORRISON, Come pensano i vescovi Sciascia e Paul-Louis Courier
Sciascia’s short story Come pensano i vescovi [How the Bishops Think] is inspired partly by letters which Paul-Louis Courier wrotefrom Italy in 1806. This essay sets out parallels and divergences between the letters and the story and shows that, though the subjectsof Come pensano are quite serious, Courier appears rather a jocular figure. The image of Courier derived from the letters thuscomplements the better known image of him as a defender of the downtrodden, which helps inspire Le Parrocchie di Regalpetra [Salt in the Wound].
Pp. 9-15
MASSIMO NARO, Il partito del tenace concetto. Rileggendo Dalle parti degli infedeli
This re-reading of Sciascia’s plaquette, Dalle parti degli infedeli [In the Lands of the Unbelievers] published in 1979 by Sellerio, seeks to reveal the intellectual and moral affinity which the writer from Racalmuto felt with the protagonist of his text, Angelo Ficarra, the Bishop of Patti, who was unjustly removed from his episcopal see. Sciascia recounts the troubled story, considering Ficarra as one of a band of ‘men of tenacious concepts’, a group to which he himself felt he belonged.
Pp. 17-28
Studi e ricerche / Studies and research
ROSSANA CAVALIERE, Dalla parte delle donne. Spie di scrittura di Sciascia
Recent studies have shed light on Sciascia’s thought in relation to women, in part debunking a long-standing prejudice. Drawing on a cross-section of female figures, both literary and, to a lesser degree, drawn from real life, this article seeks to contribute to reflections on the writer’s gaze on the female universe, emphasizing its opening and the way it was ahead of its time. The analysis uses a comparative approach and is enhanced by consideration of ‘new figures’, which have not yet been scrutinised.
Pp. 31-44
LORENZO CITTADINI, Tra Roma e la Sicilia. Gli incontri di Sciascia nel Fuoco nel mare
This article analyses Leonardo Sciascia’s writing which appeared in Il fuoco nel mare [The Fire in the Sea], a collection of tales which were originally published in various newspapers between 1947 and 1975 and then published as a collection by Paolo Squillacioti in 2010. This article seeks to read these pieces through the filter of the travel experiences of the writer from Racalmuto in various Italian places, in particular Rome and Sicily. It aims to reveal Sciascia’s state of mind when leaving his island and to show the feelings which animated periods spent away from Sicily, as he was caught between the desire to escape and a ‘chronic nostalgia’ which set him immediately on the path back home. From these feelings, filtered through encounters, discussions and anecdotes, emerges a form of writing which reflects the dual state in which Sciascia lived, as an attentive observer of reality, who needed periods away from Sicily in order to constantly renew his relationship with the island.
Pp. 45-56
PAOLO SQUILLACIOTI, Settant’anni di critica sciasciana. A proposito di Leonardo Sciascia. The Man and the Writer di Joseph Farrell
This article picks up the discussion which took place on November 30th 2022 – in the presence of the author of the volume – at the book launch organised by the Amici di Leonardo Sciascia at the Università per Stranieri di Perugia, Italy. This article, focussed on some aspects identified as significant in Joseph Farrell’s extremely rich monograph, seeks to show why the book should be considered a turning-point in Sciascia Studies and an impetus to develop an overview of Sciascia criticism along the lines set out by Giuseppe Traina in 2009.
Pp. 57-64
Persi e ritrovati / Lost & found
ESTELA GONZÁLEZ DE SANDE, Un viaggio di Sciascia in Spagna nel 1982
Of all of Sciascia’s travels through the Iberian Peninsula, one of the most demanding was his visit in the autumn of 1982. From the very beginning, the writer’s journey was characterised by a tightly packed programme, with engagements in various universities and institutions in Valencia, Alicante, Barcelona, Salamanca and Madrid. This article reconstructs the stages of his visit, focussing on his visit to Alicante, outlining the activities he undertook and the relationships that he established with various professors and prominent cultural figures in Alicante at the time. The article aims to introduce and contextualise a long interview with the writer which was published in Spanish in the journal Campus in 1983.
Pp. 67-71
JOSÉ CARLOS ROVIRA, Quarant’anni fa ad Alicante
Pp. 73-75
JOSÉ CARLOS ROVIRA – JUAN RICO – ENRIQUE GIMÉNEZ – JOSÉ MARÍA TORTOSA – BENJAMÍN OLTRA – CARLOS MATEO, Colloquio a più voci con Leonardo Sciascia
In 1983 the Spanish journal «Campus» published a lengthy conversation between Leonardo Sciascia and various professors at the University of Alicante who were specialists in History, Sociology, and Literature. The conversation touched upon various themes linked to culture, society, and politics, with many nods to confluences between Italy and Spain. Building on existing work on Sciascianthought, the interview makes a new contribution to our understanding of the writer’s relationship with Spanish culture.
Pp. 77-96
Contraddisse e si contraddisse / Discussions
Contro Sciascia
(a cura di Salvatore Ferlita)
SALVATORE FERLITA, Sciascia sotto tiro
The focus of this article is the critical misfortune of Leonardo Sciascia. The article aligns and above all, brings together, real hatchetjobs, poisonous and subtly insinuating reviews or diary notes which are for the most part rarely listed and difficult to find inbibliographies. All of which, re-considered and scrutinised in the following dossier of work by excellent commentators, achieves an alienating counterpoint. What emerges is a reconstruction of presumed failures, a sort of inspection of the more or less alarmingcracks in Sciascia’s narrative edifice, through which we can reconstruct in the negative the reception of the works by the writer from Racalmuto, focussing in particular on the stylistic objections and some preconceptions or ideological premises which animated the critics who are called into question here.
Pp. 101-110
Niccolò Gallo – GIUSEPPE TRAINA
pp. 101-114
Goffredo Fofi – MARCELLO BENFANTE
Pp. 115-121
Pietro Citati – FERDINANDO CAMON – FABIO MOLITERNI
Pp. 123-128
Alberto Asor Rosa – VALTER VECELLIO
Pp. 129-133
Vittorio Spinazzola – GUIDO VITIELLO
Pp. 135-140
Angelo Guglielmi – GIANFRANCO MARRONE
Pp. 141-145
Piergiorgio Bellocchio – FILIPPO LA PORTA
Pp. 147-153
Giovanni Raboni – PAOLO SQUILLACIOTI
pp. 155-159
Traduzioni / Translations
VANESSA CASTAGNA, Le traduzioni portoghesi delle opere di Leonardo Sciascia
Between 1968 and 1996 various novels and collections of short stories by Leonardo Sciascia were published by a number of qualitypublishing houses in Portugal. They were translated by prestigious but almost always different translators, thus leading to a dispersalthat was not favourable to the creation of a signature style of the author in translation. The paratextual elements construct anaccompanying discourse which balances the Sicilianness of the author, his importance in the Italian landscape, and his internationalprofile.
Pp. 163-174
Iconografia / Iconography
LUIGI CAVALLO, Sciascia e Guttuso. Andar per nodi
Two strong personalities of the Twentieth Century, Guttuso and Sciascia had a shared place of cultivation in Sicily and always recognised the island as the nucleus of their expressiveness. However in their work they modelled different realities of thought: the artist was ideological and aligned, while the writer was idealistic and liberatory. Their differences became ever more acute during the1980s, to the point where their friendship ruptured, due to political reasons and also, as documented in a collection of letters about an editorial project which was never completed, due to aesthetic values.
Pp. 177-186
Biblioteca Digitale Sciascia / Sciascia Digital Library (BiDiS)
ANDREA AGLIOZZO – MARGUERITE BORDRY, La costruzione di una biblioteca digitale sciasciana: aperture disciplinari e sfide interpretative nel campo della critica letteraria
The aim of this article is to outline potential new methodological approaches for digital analysis of Sciascia’s corpus of literary work and essays. This corpus is currently being digitised by the Digital Humanities laboratory in Sorbonne University. After setting out some theoretical positions regarding the use of digital tools in literary analysis, this article introduces the functions of PhiloLogic 4, a full text and digital analysis research tool. It indicates possible applications in relation to Sciascia’s work, drawing on several examples drawn from a digital corpus of nineteenth- century French literary criticism.
Pp. 189-201
ANNA JAMPOL’SKAJA, Bibliografia delle opere di Leonardo Sciascia tradotte in lingua russa
The bibliography of Leonardo Sciascia’s work which has been translated into Russian comprises twenty-two texts, including novels, short stories, essays and writing for the theatre. They have been published several times – as complete pieces or as extracts from theoriginal collections, and in different and successive editions – and appeared in literary journals, anthologies, and stand-alone volumes from the 1970s onwards. To complete the overview of Sciascia’s reception in Russian-speaking countries, this article also flags some recent specialised critical studies published from 1990 onwards.
Pp. 203-207
Recensioni / Book Reviews
Leonardo Sciascia, Fables from Dictatorship, translated by Ann Goldstein, Edinburg-London, The Italian Cultural Institutes 2021 (Daniela La Penna)
Pp. 211-214
Joseph Farrell, Leonardo Sciascia. The Man and the Writer, Firenze, Olschki 2022 (Gaetana Marrone)
Pp. 215-218
Ennio Amodio – Elena Maria Catalano, La sconfitta della ragione. Leonardo Sciascia e la giustizia penale, Palermo, Sellerio 2022 (Salvatore Scuto – Lorenzo Zilletti)
Pp. 219-222
Antonio Motta, Bibliografia degli scritti su Leonardo Sciascia (1951-2021), Belgioioso (PV), Divergenze 2022 (Luca Rivali)
Pp. 223-227
Giuseppe Savoca, Sogni fatti in Sicilia. Pirandello, Brancati, Sciascia, Firenze, Olschki 2022 (Ricciarda Ricorda)
Pp. 228-230
Virman Cusenza, Giocatori d’azzardo. Storia di Enzo Paroli, l’antifascista che salvò il giornalista di Mussolini, Milano, Mondadori 2021 (Sergio Piccerillo)
Pp. 231-234
Andrea Schembari, Il lume del sentimento. Leonardo Sciascia e il Settecento, Napoli, Paolo Loffredo 2022 (Andrea Verri)
Pp. 235-237
Pubblicazioni ricevute e postillate / Publications Received With Short Comments
(a cura di Salvatore Pappalardo)
Giovanni Cavagnini, La scienza in giallo. Sciascia, i fisici italiani e il caso Majorana nelle carte di Gian Carlo Wick (1975-1989), «Contemporanea. Rivista di storia dell’800 e del ’900», 1, 2022, pp. 55-76 (Rosario Nunzio Mantegna)
Pp. 241-242
Guido Giacomo Preparata, Should we “Sicilianize” our Weltanschaung? Leafing through Sciascia in Search of the Meaning of Society, Power and Conspiracy, «Review of Business and Economics Studies», X/1, 2022, pp. 48-78 (Salvatore Pappalardo)
P. 242
Ivan Pupo, Sciascia, Calvino e Pasolini nella selva della controversia dantesca, «Studi novecenteschi. Rivista di storia della letteratura italiana contemporanea», XLIX/103, 2022, pp. 115-136 (Filippo La Porta)
Pp. 243-244
Maria Rizzarelli, Era rimasta solo la bellezza: il mito di Marylin da Sciascia a Tabucchi, «La modernità letteraria», 15, 2022, pp. 101-115 (Rossana Cavaliere)
Pp. 244-245
Leonardo Sciascia, Todo modo, traduzione in basco di Gaizka Ugalde Blanco, San Sebastián, Erein 2022 (Estela González de Sande)
Pp. 245-246
Sciascia: L’«avvento» della poesia, il fascino delle arti, a cura di Aldo Gerbino, «Quaderns d’Italià», 27, 2022, pp. 5-120 (Salvatore Pappalardo)
Pp. 246-247
Alfredo Sgroi, La finzione, l’impostura e la ‘trepida aspirazione alla giustizia’: Sciascia e il cinema, «Zibaldone. Estudios Italianos», X/1-2, 2022, pp. 29-45 (Paolo Puppa)
Pp. 247-248
Persio Tincani, Leonardo Sciascia e il potere. Su L’affaire Moro, in Il lato oscuro della legge, a cura di Francesco Mancuso – Valeria Giordano, «Teoria e storia del diritto privato», 2022, pp. 1-30 (Elena Maria Catalano)
P. 249
Andrea Verri, Sicilitudine e negritudine. Crescenzio Cane, Leonardo Sciascia, Léopold Sédar Senghor, «Lettere italiane», LXXIV/2, 2022, pp. 321-336 (Salvatore Pappalardo)
P. 250
Segnalazioni
Pp. 251-252
L’esprit de l’escalier
FRANCESCO PAOLO GIORDANO, Sciascia, Verga e i fatti di Bronte del 1860
This article challenges the theory that in Sciascia’s writing on Verga’s novella Libertà [Freedom] relating to the Fatti di Bronte in 1860, one of those condemned to death was a ‘dwarf ’. This reframes Sciascia’s theory of the mystification of Verga. This authorproposes that no dwarf was present and that the adjective ‘Nunno’ alongside the name of Nunzio Spitaleri was an ‘insult’ to the subject’s family.
Pp. 255-260
In cauda
GIULIANO (vignetta), con un corsivo di Francesco Izzo
Pp. 263-265
Tomo II
Rassegna / Review Essays. Leonardo Sciascia Colloquium, XIII. Leonardo Sciascia. American Myth / Mediterranean Myth | Leonardo Sciascia. Mito americano / Mito mediterraneo
(a cura di / edited by Valerio Cappozzo)
MARIANGELA ZAPPIA, Welcoming Sciascia in North America
Pp. 3-4
VALERIO CAPPOZZO, Celebrazioni americane per il centenario della nascita di Leonardo Sciascia / American celebrations for the centenary of the birth of Leonardo Sciascia
Pp. 5-26
DOMENICO SCARPA, Su due frontiere. La corrispondenza tra Primo Levi e Leonardo Sciascia, 1968 e 1984
Si pubblica e si commenta qui per la prima volta la corrispondenza inedita tra Primo Levi e Leonardo Sciascia: consiste di un primo scambio nel 1968 sulla guerra del Vietnam (Levi chiede a Sciascia di firmare una lettera aperta indirizzata al presidente Johnson, che deplora l’intervento militare statunitense e la sua gestione) e di un secondo scambio nel 1984 (dopo la lettura di Occhio di capra di Sciascia, Levi lo interroga sull’origine di una ‘contina’ nei giochi dei bambini). Questo lavoro èstato presentato al «XIII Leonardo Sciascia Colloquium», svoltosi a New York il 22 e 23 settembre 2022.
This article offers the first analysis of previously unpublished correspondence between Primo Levi and Leonardo Sciascia. It consists of a first exchange in 1968 about the Vietnam war (Levi asks Sciascia to sign an open letter, addressed to President Johnson, deploring US intervention and military behaviour) and of a second exchange in 1984 (after reading Sciascia’s Occhio di capra, Levi asks him about the origins of a contina (in children’s games). This work was first presented at the «XIII Leonardo Sciascia Colloquium», held in New York on 22 and 23 September 2022.
Pp. 27-44
JOSEPH FARRELL, The European Myth of America and the American Dream
The myth of America, as understood by poor peasants in Italy, unexpectedly mirrors the American Dream of less well-off Americans. In both cases it is a matter of material, rather than spiritual, aspiration for a life of greater ease and reduced hardship. If the American Dream has been satirised rather than described in detail by various American writers, then the Italian myth has been similarly debunked and represented in literature as a cruel illusion. Sciascia himself returns several times to the question in his narrative and in his essays, shifting his initial judgement of America from the infatuation of youth to a disenchanted critique.
GIULIA PELLIZZATO, Becoming a leading writer, in ‘One Way or Another’: Leonardo Sciascia’s early reception in the United States (1964-1977)
This article examines the reception of Sciascia’s work in the United States between 1964 and 1977. In the light of critical points identified in the most recent American criticism, this analysis focusses on the meaning attributed to the translated novels, taking asynchronic approach. This article analyses paratexts and reviews to identify the key themes in the reception of Mafia Vendetta (1964), The Council of Egypt (1966), A Man’s Blessing (1968), Equal Danger (1973) and One Way or Another (1977). It is thus possible to determine the ways in which these works challenged the expectations and horizons of readers and reviewers, and the ways in whichthe works proved to be difficult to understand for those who did not know Leonardo Sciascia’s original cultural context.
VALERIO CAPPOZZO, The anti-myth of America: racial segregation and the FBI in Sciascia’s correspondence
Tra le lettere che Sciascia riceve dai suoi corrispondenti americani troviamo la trascrizione di un diario tenuto da alcuni volontari del Council of Federated Organization (COFO), una coalizione del movimento per i diritti civili, in cui viene descritta nel dettaglio la segregazione razziale subita dagli afroamericani. In altre lettere troviamo informazioni sui dossier dell’FBI aperti a seguito delle intercettazioni e indagini sugli scrittori americani più amati da Sciascia come Faulkner ed Hemingway e scopriamo, grazie a Herbert Mitgang, l’esistenza di un dossier su Il giorno della civetta (pubblicato nel 1964 a New York con il titolo Mafia Vendetta). Queste testimonianze dirette mostrano un’immagine vivida di un’America in contrasto e in cambiamento in maniera molto più dettagliata e veritiera di qualsiasi notizia reperibile da Sciascia sui giornali nazionali o esteri.
Among the letters that Sciascia received from his American correspondents, we find the transcription of a diary kept by some volunteers of the Council of Federated Organization (COFO), a coalition of national and regional organizations working for the civilrights movement, which details the racial segregation endured by the African-Americans in Mississippi. Other letters reveal information about several dossiers opened by the FBI, which followed interceptions and investigations of American writers such as Faulkner and Hemingway, that Sciascia highly esteemed. Thanks to Herbert Mitgang we also discover the existence of an FBI dossier on Il giorno della civetta (published in New York in 1964 under the title Mafia Vendetta). These direct testimonies offer us a vivid picture of an America of contrasts and changes, in a much more detailed and truthful way than Sciascia could have gleaned in national or international newspapers.
Pp. 71-83
SALVATORE PAPPALARDO, A pedagogy of confluence: teaching Sciascia’s Mediterranean and American myths in the United States
This article outlines the experience of teaching Leonard Sciascia’s works in Comparative Literature courses at Towson University in theUnited States of America, especially those works which engage with the construction of the American myth and the mediterranean myth. In addition to exploring the themes of the mediterranean dimension and Sicilian emigration to America in the short stories Il lungo viaggio [The Long Voyage] and La zia d’America [The American Aunt], this analysis focuses on aspects of Sciascia’s workwhich are innovative, from both a thematic and a linguistic viewpoint.
ALESSANDRO GIAMMEI, Norman ancestors: Leonardo Sciascia as a reader of (and a character in) Italian-American literature
This article rediscovers Sciascia’s little-known texts on Jerry Mangione and Ben Morreale to show how he was an originalcommentator on Italian American literature. This article examines the inclusion of Mangione as the only Anglophone writer bornelsewhere in Narratori di Sicilia [Narrators of Sicily], illustrating Sciascia’s investment in a transnational literary Sicilianness which included the hybrid perspective of second-generation migrants. This article then analyses Morreale’s A Few Virtuous Men, in which the character Nardu Pantaleone hides a portrait of Sciascia, functioning as an intradiegetic bridge between the reality of Sicily and the American horizon of expectations.
GAETANA MARRONE, Adapting Sciascia’s Il contesto: Francesco Rosi’s New York journey of discovery
L’idea di far diventare un film il libro di Sciascia nacque per caso. Nel 1971 Francesco Rosi era andato a New York per parlare di un progetto con Dino De Laurentiis e nell’aereo che lo riportava a Roma racconta di aver trovato in borsa Il contesto, che subito lo interessò in quanto compendiava i temi già affrontati in tutti i suoi film: dalla mafia e la politica al ruolo dei servizi segreti. Chiamò Sciascia, che gli concesse i diritti. Prodotto da Alberto Grimaldi, Cadaveri eccellenti (1976) espone il complesso ritratto dell’Italia di quegli anni e anche di quello che l’Italia che stava diventando.
The idea of turning Sciascia’s book into a film came about by chance. In 1971 Francesco Rosi went to New York to talk about a project with film producer Dino De Laurentiis and he recounts how on the flight back to Rome he found a copy of Il contesto [Equal Danger] in his bag. He was immediately interested in the way in which it brought together themes he had already addressed in hiswork, from the mafia and politics to the role of the secret services. He called Sciascia, who granted him the rights. Produced by Alberto Grimaldi, Cadaveri eccellenti [Illustrious Corpses] (1976) sets out a complex portrait of Italy both as it was at that time and also theItaly it was becoming.
Pp. 111-119
VALTER VECELLIO, Il mito americano di Leonardo Sciascia
Like many of his generation, Leonardo Sciascia ‘lived’ the myth of America above all through cinema and literature. It was the America of Hollywood, of stars such as Mirna Loy and Gary Cooper and directors such as Frank Capra and John Ford; the America ofthe novels of William Faulkner, John Steinbeck, William Saroyan, John Dos Passos and Ernest Hemingway. But, to use Emilio Cecchi’sterm, there is also a ‘bitter’ America; the America of the many emigrants who crossed the ocean in search of their fortune (‘freedom and bread’) and often returned in disappointment. Emigrants such as the writer’s father, who went to the United States in 1912 and after seven years returned to Racalmuto; an experience that was anything but edifying, which he never wanted to discuss,either with his family or with his friends. America, a country where Sciascia never went.