Leonardo Sciascia’s French Authors

Sciascia frequently alludes to French authors, and is often taken to have a close relationship with French literature in general. However, academic critics have never given this important relationship comprehensive and detailed examination. This book focuses on the most relevant French writers. For the majority, attention falls on two complementary areas: the opinions that Sciascia expresses about the writer in his essays; and intertextual allusions to the writer in Sciascia’s fiction. These allusions often shift the meaning of the host text or markedly increase its impact. This book works on the assumption that, in order to analyse these effects fully, a careful reading of the relevant French texts is needed. This exploration leads to a reappraisal of Sciascia’s relations both with particular French authors and also with French literature generally.