The course will explore the development of crime fiction between the nineteenth and twentieth century, both in the European and non-European area, not only by focusing on the relationship between the characters and the places, but also by paying particular attention to the Mediterranean area. As a matter of fact the Mediterranean noir is more than a label, a perception, a way of dealing with values and common themes in the narrative production of a number of writers who, coming from countries that overlook the Mediterranean, have felt the need to tell about the deep contrasts between the beauty of the places and the cruelty of the crimes that were perpetrated. From the Ramblas of Barcelona to the port of Marseille, from the alleys of Palermo to the tangle of the streets of Athens and Istanbul, the central part of the course will be devoted to the comparative analysis of the works of Jean-Claude Izzo (set in Marseilles, starring the ex-flick Fabio Montale), by Petros Markaris (set between Athens and Istanbul, starring the Greek police commissioner Costas Charitos) and Santo Piazzese, where Palermo is the background of the investigations of a university researcher.
NOVELS to read and study:
1) J.C. Izzo - Total Khéops (Casino Totale ed. E/O)
2) S. Piazzese - I delitti di via Medina-Sidonia (Sellerio ed.)
3) P. Markaris - La Balia (Bompiani ed.)
Critical essays:
- S.Calabrese, La crime fiction (Carocci) ;
- J.C. Izzo, Aglio Menta e basilico (ed. E/O);
- Antologia di saggi critici (dispensa in formato cartaceo e/o pdf)
Recommended for further information:
- L.Martinelli - E.Ricci, Narrazioni in giallo e nero, Palermo Univ.Press ;
- “Noir De Noir”: Un’indagine Pluridisciplinare, a cura di D. Vermandere e M. Jansen, Peter Lang Pub Inc, 2010;
- G.Bertieri – C.Oliva, I maestri del giallo, Ed.ATì;
- D. Panosetti, Semiotica del testo letterario, Carocci ;
- R.Selmini, Da Kurt Wallander a Salvo Montalbano, Carocci ;
- D. Silvi, Letteratura transmediale, Ed.Bordeaux.
