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Leonardo Sciascia (1921–1989)

Author of The Day of the Owl

566+ Works 8,142 Members 211 Reviews 30 Favorited

About the Author

Born in Sicily, Sciascia was a literary and critical genius as well as a best-selling activist-writer. In the tradition of such Sicilian writers as Luigi Pirandello and Giuseppe Di Lampedusa, he explored in neorealist novels the island's impact on its inhabitants' lives: how they coped with crime, show more the Mafia, and corruption. His best-known works include The Day of the Owl, The Sicilian Relatives, and the collection of short stories The Wine-Dark Sea. In his most controversial work, The Moro Affair, he implicated Italy's leaders in the 1978 kidnapping and murder of former premier Aldo Moro by the leftist terrorist group, the Red Brigade. Though a long-time Communist, Sciascia eventually left the party to become a member of the Radical party, whose tenets were closer to his own anarchist leanings. As a representative of the party, Sciascia was elected to both the Italian and European Parliaments. (Bowker Author Biography) show less

Works by Leonardo Sciascia

The Day of the Owl (1961) 1,366 copies
To Each His Own (1966) 1,000 copies
The Wine-Dark Sea (1959) 460 copies
One Way or Another (1974) 453 copies
Equal Danger (1971) 444 copies
A Simple Story (1989) 368 copies
La scomparsa di Majorana (1975) 341 copies
The Council of Egypt (1963) 333 copies
Sicilian Uncles (1958) 258 copies
The Moro Affair (1978) 239 copies
Candido, or, A dream dreamed in Sicily (1977) — Author — 226 copies
Il cavaliere e la morte (1988) 157 copies
Porte aperte (1987) 112 copies
Death of an Inquisitor (1964) 100 copies
La strega e il capitano (1986) 93 copies
I pugnalatori (1976) 83 copies
1912 + 1 (1986) 83 copies
Dalle parti degli infedeli (1979) 70 copies
Cronachette (1985) 66 copies
Nero su nero (1979) 64 copies
Le parrocchie di Regalpetra (1970) 54 copies
Occhio di capra (1984) 49 copies
Il teatro della memoria (1981) 46 copies
Alfabeto pirandelliano (1989) 36 copies
Sicily As Metaphor (1979) 29 copies
Cruciverba (1983) 27 copies
La sentenza memorabile (1982) 26 copies
La Disparition de Majorana (1975) 23 copies
Pirandello e la Sicilia (1980) 18 copies
Kermesse (1982) 16 copies
L'adorabile Stendhal (2003) 15 copies
Il fuoco nel mare (1901) 13 copies
Das Gesetz des Schweigens (1985) 8 copies
Una comedia siciliana (2016) 8 copies
Ore di Spagna (1988) 8 copies
[3!: 1984-1989 (1989) 7 copies
Stendhal e la Sicilia (1998) 6 copies
La mia sicilia (2009) 5 copies
Narratori di Sicilia (1991) 4 copies
Taccuino 3 copies
La storia della mafia (2013) 3 copies
A trama (1996) 2 copies
Sicilia (2013) 2 copies
Sulla fotografia (2021) 2 copies
Opere (2012) 2 copies
Der Abbe als Fälscher. (1968) 2 copies
Rada egipska (2020) 2 copies
Les Siciliens (1977) 2 copies
Los apuñaladores (2008) 2 copies
Una Història senzilla (1990) 2 copies
Le storie di Giufà (2001) 2 copies
TRE DOMANDE 1 copy
Kiváló holttestek (1978) 1 copy
Hanno detto 1 copy
Célok és eszközök (1978) 1 copy
L'Archi-Duca 1 copy
Sicilia, su corazón (2021) 1 copy
Monsieur le député (1991) 1 copy
El honorable (1995) 1 copy
Dolkmännen (1985) 1 copy
Dueto siciliano (1979) 1 copy
PARIGI 1 copy
Gianni Pennisi e il "collage" — Editor — 1 copy
Sovji dan 1 copy
Idearium 1 copy
Italia — Contributor — 1 copy
LOS TÍOS DE SICILIA. (1997) 1 copy
Il GELATO 1 copy
Kontekst 1 copy
Sammenhængen (1973) 1 copy
Med alle midler (1976) 1 copy
Det egyptiske dokument (1974) 1 copy
Sciocchezze 1 copy
Mafija 1 copy
ROMANTICISMO 1 copy
PALERMO 1 copy
1969 1 copy
La Spallata 1 copy
Giufa* 1 copy
lettere 1 copy
Emilio Greco 1 copy
Il ‰Quarantotto (1997) 1 copy
Non ci sto! 1 copy
MILITELLO 1 copy

Associated Works

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (1926) — Foreword, some editions — 9,609 copies
The Viceroys (1894) — Contributor, some editions — 411 copies
Short Stories in Italian/Racconti in Italiano (1999) — Contributor — 213 copies
The Penguin Book of Italian Short Stories (2019) — Contributor — 124 copies
The Red Thread: 20 Years of NYRB Classics: A Selection (2019) — Contributor — 54 copies
Relatos italianos del Siglo XX (1974) — Contributor — 12 copies
Gli scrittori e la fotografia (1988) — Preface; Preface — 8 copies
Ottave — Foreword, some editions — 5 copies
Sulfur 3 — Contributor — 2 copies

Tagged

1001 (70) 1001 books (83) 1001 books you must read before you die (55) 1920s (54) 20th century (282) Agatha Christie (227) British (121) British literature (58) classic (59) classics (75) crime (390) crime fiction (165) detective (220) detective fiction (72) ebook (69) England (135) fiction (1,208) Hercule Poirot (317) Italian (314) Italian literature (608) Italy (370) literature (164) mafia (105) murder (139) murder mystery (87) mystery (1,524) narrativa (205) non-fiction (56) novel (313) Novela (58) NYRB (106) NYRB Classics (56) Poirot (255) read (143) Roman (71) Sciascia Archive (111) series (62) short stories (100) Sicily (268) to-read (515)

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Reviews

One of Sciascia’s best-known works, a collection of short stories about Sicily—a wide variety of subjects and moods, but all betraying a deep love for Sicily and its people(s). A terrific introduction, I think, to an author whose work I look forward to reading more of.
½
 
Flagged
Gypsy_Boy | 9 other reviews | Aug 25, 2023 |
Una ricostruzione attenta scritta a ridosso del caso Moro, con uno Sciascia impegnato a leggere fra le pieghe del linguaggio (le lettere di Moro, i comunicati dei brigatisti) e molto critico nei confronti dello Stato. Un tassello importante dell'opera di Sciascia.
 
Flagged
d.v. | 9 other reviews | May 16, 2023 |
Lo spirito di indagine di Sciascia (visto in opera per esempio in La scomparsa di Majorana) qui si sofferma sugli ultimi giorni di un’auto poco noto (e purtroppo da lui non apprezzato) come Roussell, costruendo al solito un’analisi rigorosa che mette in ordine i fatti e non manca di costruire riflessioni più ampie e profonde (come il rimando al disinteresse fascista per i suicidi, segnale di incompatibilità con il regime).
 
Flagged
d.v. | 2 other reviews | May 16, 2023 |
Apparentemente solo un "giallo", poi un apologo ironico e farsesco, infine una spietata critica culturale. Tutto questo in un racconto immediatamente memorabile, come sempre per Sciascia scritto in maniera eccezionale.

Aggiornamento 2021
Un piacere rileggere una vicenda così esemplare, così compiuta, una summa leggera (non a caso tradotta da Petri in un film - che non ho visto) da cui emergono tutti i tratti di Sciascia.
 
Flagged
d.v. | 29 other reviews | May 16, 2023 |

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Statistics

Works
566
Also by
10
Members
8,142
Popularity
#2,972
Rating
4.0
Reviews
211
ISBNs
545
Languages
17
Favorited
30
Touchstones
97

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