Mistero. Per un identikit sciasciano del detective, tra enigma e funzione risolutiva

This article is based on a paper presented at the «XIV Leonardo Sciascia Colloquium» on November 13th and 14th 2023 in Venice. From Sciascia’s numerous critical reflections on the detective genre emerges a deep understanding of the history, the development, and the technical aspects of this narrative style, as well as an identikit of the central character of the genre, which constitutes an effective critical perspective for the analysis of Sciascia’s detectives. These detectives are characters who, when confronting the mystery head on – unlike their counterparts in detective series in the world of entertainment – lose their function of resolving the mystery, under the weight of the dimension of the enquiry which is focused on the reality that his novels adopt.