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These tales all have a certain riddling quality, whether they're recounting a nugget of Sicilian history or staging one of Sciascia's many comedies of ironic disillusionment. Included among the latter are "The Long Crossing," in which an assortment of Sicilian immigrants are disbursed of their life savings and put ashore not in the New World but back on their own island. There's also the superb title story, about the bottomless chasm separating Sicilians and outsiders, bridged only temporarily by a group of strangers traveling from Rome to Agrigento. "Philology," the closest thing to a classic Pirandellian exercise, lets us eavesdrop on two mafiosi cramming for an upcoming session with a Commission of Enquiry. The subject: how to answer the question "What is the Mafia?" They consult a battery of dictionaries, arguing about the merits of various definitions and etymologies. At the end, the superior of the two adds his own footnote to the scholarship:
And we know that the thing itself, the association, was already in existence by the fact (this is my addition) that the mafiosi imprisoned in the Vicaria issued a directive in 1860 addressed to their friends outside, advising them to behave well and not commit such crimes as theft, rape and murder that the Bourbons could use ... against the Garibaldi revolution.This enlightened thug concludes his history lesson with a general point: "Culture, my friend, is a wonderful thing." So too is fiction, at least in Sciascia's hands. He offers little in the way of certainty, but his questions, posed with deadly accuracy, are worth the answers of a dozen other authors. --James Marcus
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Book Description Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. Here are some of Sciascia's greatest stories - brief and haunting, the realist tradition at its best. In one tale a couple of men talk, cynically yet earnestly, about the etymology of the word 'mafia' - who they are, and why their interest is so piqued by the word, become apparent with frightening clarity. In another story a group of peasants are taken on board ship and promised that they will be put ashore illegally at Trenton, New Jersey; after a long time at sea, their landfall is far from what they expected. And Mussolini himself takes an interest in the case of Aleister Crowley, whose presence in Sicily has become an embarrassment. A collection of the best of Sciascia's gritty, darkly glittering short stories. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability. Seller Inventory # 9781847089281
Book Description Soft Cover. Condition: new. Seller Inventory # 9781847089281
Book Description paperback. Condition: New. Language: ENG. Seller Inventory # 9781847089281
Book Description Paperback / softback. Condition: New. New copy - Usually dispatched within 4 working days. A collection of the best of Sciascia's gritty, darkly glittering short stories. Seller Inventory # B9781847089281
Book Description Paperback. Condition: New. BRAND NEW ** SUPER FAST SHIPPING FROM UK WAREHOUSE ** 30 DAY MONEY BACK GUARANTEE. Seller Inventory # 9781847089281-GDR
Book Description Paperback. Condition: Brand New. 272 pages. 7.80x5.08x0.59 inches. In Stock. Seller Inventory # __1847089283
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Book Description Condition: New. A collection of the best of Sciascia's gritty, darkly glittering short stories Translator(s): Bardoni, Avril; Oliver, Arthur. Num Pages: 272 pages. BIC Classification: FF; FYT. Category: (G) General (US: Trade). Dimension: 197 x 129 x 18. Weight in Grams: 158. . 2014. Paperback. . . . . Seller Inventory # V9781847089281
Book Description Condition: New. A collection of the best of Sciascia's gritty, darkly glittering short stories Translator(s): Bardoni, Avril; Oliver, Arthur. Num Pages: 272 pages. BIC Classification: FF; FYT. Category: (G) General (US: Trade). Dimension: 197 x 129 x 18. Weight in Grams: 158. . 2014. Paperback. . . . . Books ship from the US and Ireland. Seller Inventory # V9781847089281