Leonardo Sciascia /

A relentless consistency runs through Sciascia's oeuvre, preoccupation with justice and rationality in the affairs of men and pessimistic reservations about the application of justice and rationality by human beings. Farrell follows the development of this theme through the Sicilian writer's historical and contemporary fiction, essays, and journalism. For Sciascia, Sicily is a metaphor for the world (as in the title of his book Sicile comme metaphore, 1979); the mafia is symptomatic of corruption everywhere, of the collusion of crime and government. One of the author's favorite literary forms is the detective story, but as in Borges's work, the crime is insoluble and any neat solution proposed by the author is merely an illusion. At the end of his life, Sciascia turned to a more mythical fiction in Il cavaliere e la morte (The Knight and Death, 1988) inspired by Durer's etching, which symbolized the impossible quest into matters that transcend rationalism and elude understanding. Farrell gives a very lucid, perceptive account of the various phases of Sciascia's career. In the format of the "Writers of Italy" series, no footnotes are used, but the placement of all citations in the text works very well. Altogether a very informative and incisive description of a very important writer, suitable for both general and academic collections. C. Fantazzi University of Windsor