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Leonardo Sciascia's L'affaire Moro: Re-writing fact, which can be stranger than fiction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 January 2016

Joseph Francese
Joseph Francese*
Affiliation:
Department of Romance and Classical Studies, Michigan State University, USA
*
∗Email: francese@msu.edu
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Abstract

The author contends that Leonardo Sciascia's L'affaire Moro is not a work of non-fiction, as Sciascia proposed, but of historical fiction, and that Sciascia's Moro is a literary character, more a spokesperson for Sciascia's political views than a reflection of the historical figure. Sciascia's Moro embodies the same qualities as many of Sciascia's other protagonists, such as a radical individualism and willingness to sacrifice all in order to protect their dignity and liberty. What emanates from the text is a ‘postmodern’ blend that interprets and imposes a narrative hierarchy on events, and conveys a mental reality that need not necessarily coincide with what can be proven with evidence. In fact, Sciascia combines factual information and his own ‘conjectural knowledge’ to convince his reader of the ‘moral truth’ of his argument. Sciascia's is indeed a strong narrative in that it succeeded in shaping how the Italian public views to this day a critical juncture in its recent history.

Keywords

SciasciaMoroRed BrigadesJorge Luis Borgespostmodernismhistorical compromise
Type
Contexts and Debates
Information
Modern Italy , Volume 17 , Issue 3 , August 2012 , pp. 383 - 398
Copyright
Copyright © Association for the study of Modern Italy 

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