Sicilian Uncles

Born in Sicily, Sciascia was a literary and critical genius as well as a best-selling activist-writer. In the tradition of such Sicilian writers as Luigi Pirandello and Giuseppe Di Lampedusa, he explored in neorealist novels the island's impact on its inhabitants' lives: how they coped with crime, the Mafia, and corruption. His best-known works include The Day of the Owl, The Sicilian Relatives, and the collection of short stories The Wine-Dark Sea. In his most controversial work, The Moro Affair, he implicated Italy's leaders in the 1978 kidnapping and murder of former premier Aldo Moro by the leftist terrorist group, the Red Brigade. Though a long-time Communist, Sciascia eventually left the party to become a member of the Radical party, whose tenets were closer to his own anarchist leanings. As a representative of the party, Sciascia was elected to both the Italian and European Parliaments. 020