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Title: Equal Danger (New York Review Books Classics) by Leonardo Sciascia, Adrienne W. Foulke, Carlin Romano ISBN: 1-59017-062-8 Publisher: New York Review of Books Pub. Date: 01 October, 2003 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4 (3 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: Ponderous Parable
Comment: This slender novella is more of a parable about government power than it is a traditional mystery or thriller (in an afterword, Sciascia himself describes it as a ìfable about power anywhere in the worldî). Written in 1971, the story follows a policeman in charge of investigating the murders of two judges. The setting is a unnamed country where the government and the supposed opposition are merely two sides of the same coin, and is clearly based on the author's native Sicily. Inspector Rogas's investigations rapidly lead him into areas his superiors would rather he left alone, and he is repeatedly told to focus on pinning the blame on "revolutionaries". As more and more judges and prosecutors gets killed, it becomes clearer and clearer that Rogas is being diverted for political motives. This surface story is merely a vehicle, however, for Sciascia's views on the limits of justice and reason. The Inspector is alone as a man of principles, and the unmistakable message is that only in the movies are principles and reason enough to carry the day. It's not the most gripping story, but for those of a metaphysical bent, it is full of intellectual diversions such as the question as to whether there can be such a thing as a judicial error, and discussions of Voltaire, Pascal, and others. The translation is crisp and lively, but the overall tone is so ponderous that it's not exactly the most engaging work.
Rating: 5
Summary: Metaphysical Detective Novel
Comment: At its heart the English/American detective novel is a story about procedure. A crime takes place and the hero methodically advances step by step to unravel the mystery. The pleasure in these stories is observing the hero's clever reasoning as he solves the puzzle. The procedural detective story usually ends with evil being punished and balance returned to a decent world.
Leonardo Sciascia's Equal Danger comes from another tradition. The Latin Detective Novel has some procedural elements in it but the focus is a meditation on the nature of society. Sciascia begins his novel by quoting Rousseau, "...Tell me where on earth their exists a country where it is a crime to keep one's given word and to be generous, where the good man is despised and the wicked man is honored."
As a Scicilian, this world of corruption and silent complicity is all too familiar to Sciascia. On the surface, Equal Danger is story about the search for a serial killer of judges and prosecuting attorneys. Below the surface, this is metaphysical detective novel that tries to give insight into a failed civil society.
Although elegantly written, Equal Danger is not light reading. If one is interested in the Latin Detective Novel, read the more accessable Michael Dibdin, Rubem Fonseca or Paco Ignacio Taibo. Sciascia is more difficult to read and understand but he is well worth the effort.
Rating: 4
Summary: Suspense, Mystery, and Corruption!
Comment: Equal Danger is a short story about the vastly unstable Italian society in the early 1970's. Sciascia presents to us the danger of the corruptibility of government and how it directly relates to the massive amounts of terrorism in the early 1970s. This book is highly reccomended, and definately requires a lot of thought! If you love novels about conspiracy, murder, and drama in the context of the cold war....You will thouroughly enjoy this book.
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Title: To Each His Own (New York Review Books Classics) by Leonardo Sciascia, Adrienne Foulke, W.S. Di Piero ISBN: 0940322528 Publisher: New York Review of Books Pub. Date: 01 November, 2000 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: The Wine Dark Sea (New York Review Books Classics) by Leonardo Sciascia, Avril Bardoni, Albert Mobilio ISBN: 0940322536 Publisher: New York Review of Books Pub. Date: 01 November, 2000 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: Moro Affair and the Mystery of Majorana (New York Review Books Classics) by Leonardo Sciascia, Peter Robb, Sacha Rabinovitch ISBN: 1590170830 Publisher: New York Review of Books Pub. Date: 01 April, 2004 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: Three Bedrooms in Manhattan by Georges Simenon, Marc Romano, Lawrence G. Blochman, Joyce Carol Oates, Lawrence Goldtree Blochman ISBN: 159017044X Publisher: New York Review of Books Pub. Date: 01 October, 2003 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: Dirty Snow by Georges Simenon, Louise Varese, William T. Vollmann ISBN: 1590170431 Publisher: New York Review of Books Pub. Date: 01 September, 2003 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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