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Foreign settings in the Fascist-era giallo: Italian writers’ creative explorations of criminality and cultural difference

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 April 2020

Brigid Maher Open the ORCID record for Brigid Maher [Opens in a new window]
Brigid Maher*
Affiliation:
School of Humanities and Social Sciences, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Australia
*
*Email: b.maher@latrobe.edu.au
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Abstract

The 1930s saw an explosion in the publication of crime writing in Italy, but initially readers’ appetite for crime fiction was fed almost entirely by translated imports from the US, Britain and France. Even as publishers began promoting crime writing by Italians, foreign models and settings remained important, and several early Italian writers set their work in foreign countries. This article, which draws on both textual analysis and archival research, examines some foreign-set novels produced by Italian authors during the Fascist years, and seeks to identify the function and appeal of foreign settings in the depiction of criminality in that period. These books, peopled by exotic ‘Others’, comment on corruption, freedom of the press, cultural diversity, racial difference, policing, criminality, as much at home as abroad. The distant settings offered safety and freedom, as well as escapism or distraction, and the opportunity to experiment with genre.

Negli anni Trenta si verificò un grande aumento nella pubblicazione di gialli in Italia, ma all'inizio, a stuzzicare il palato dei lettori per questo tipo di scrittura furono quasi esclusivamente opere tradotte, importate da Stati Uniti, Gran Bretagna o Francia. Anche quando gli editori italiani cominciarono a promuovere la produzione giallistica domestica, modelli e ambienti stranieri rimasero importanti, e parecchi giallisti italiani ambientarono i loro libri in paesi stranieri. Utilizzando sia l'analisi testuale che ricerche d'archivio, questo articolo esamina alcuni gialli italiani scritti durante l'epoca Fascista e ambientati all'estero, con lo scopo di identificare la funzione e l'attrattiva dell'ambiente straniero nella rappresentazione della criminalità in quel periodo. Questi libri, popolati da esotici ‘Altri’, esprimono opinioni sulla corruzione, la libertà di stampa, la diversità culturale, le differenze razziali, la polizia, e la criminalità, sia in Italia che all'estero. Un'ambientazione lontana offriva sicurezza e libertà, oltre a un'evasione o una distrazione dalla realtà, e l'opportunità di sperimentare con il genere del giallo.

Keywords

giallocrime fictionFascismcensorshipforeignnessMondadori
Type
Special Issue
Information
Modern Italy , Volume 25 , Special Issue 2: Transcultural Exchanges and Encounters in Italy , May 2020 , pp. 163 - 176
Copyright
Copyright © 2020 Association for the Study of Modern Italy

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