Investigating Italy's Past Through Historical Crime Fiction, Films, and TV Series ─ Murder in the Age of Chaos

This book isthe first monograph in English that comprehensively examines the ways in whichItalian historical crime novels, TV series, and films have become a means tointervene in the social and political changes of the country. This studyexplores the ways in which fictional representations of the past mirrorcontemporaneous anxieties within Italian society in the work of writers such asLeonardo Sciascia, Andrea Camilleri, Carlo Lucarelli, Francesco Guccini,Loriano Macchiavelli, Marcello Fois, Maurizio De Giovanni, and Giancarlo DeCataldo; film directors such as Elio Petri, Pietro Germi, Michele Placido, andDamiano Damiani; and TV series such as the “Commissario De Luca” series, the“Commissario Nardone” series, and “Romanzo criminale–The series.”? Providing the most wide-ranging examinationof this sub-genre in Italy, Barbara Pezzotti places works set in theRisorgimento, WWII, and the Years of Lead in the larger social and politicalcontext of contemporary Italy.

Barbara Pezzotti isan Honorary Research Associate of the Australasian Centre for Italian Studies(ACIS), Australia. She received her PhD from Victoria University, New Zealandand is the author of The Importance ofPlace in Contemporary Italian Crime Fiction: A Bloody Journey (2012) and Politics and Society in Italian CrimeFiction: An Historical Overview (2014).