Leonardo Sciascia's I Mafiosi and Giuseppe Rizzotto's I Mafiusi Di La Vicarìa

Author: Slowey, Gerard

Source: Romance Studies, Volume 17, Number 2, December 1999 , pp. 163-178(16)

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Abstract:

The article examines Sciascia's play on the mafia, staged in 1966, in the context of some of his other writings of the same period, and also in the context of official interest in the mafia in the 1960s. It compares Sciascia's play, which he describes as an adaptation of Giuseppe Rizzotto's nineteenth-century drama, with the original, looking not only at similarities between the texts, but also at the way in which Sciascia completely changes the emphasis. Sciascia does not want to present the folksy, mythical view of the mafia which emerges from the pages of Rizzotto, a mafia which is also happy to take part in the revolution which will lead to the unification of Italy. Sciascia's mafia is much harder, and its only interest in the revolution is to see what personal advantage its members can gain. By comparing the two views, and also by looking at other writings of Sciascia, particularly Il giomo della civetta, we can see Sciascia's view of the enduring grip of the mafia, and of the strength of the links between mafia and politics.

Document Type: Research Article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1179/026399099786543677

Publication date: 1999-12-01

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