The Mysteries of History: Adaptations and Reconfigurations of Contemporary Crime Fiction on Both Sides of the Atlantic

This dissertation examines the use of a specific literary genre in the attempt to represent individual perspectives of history in fictional narratives. Considering contemporary crime fiction from both Argentina and Italy, the study attempts to define notable adaptations and alterations within the form that have been forged by various authors to reflect their particular concerns, perspectives and subjectivities as they examine historical events and eras in their respective nations. In this examination, I define characteristics of a subgenre that I have designated as the "Historical Mystery Novel." This subgenre of crime fiction designates literary texts that employ an investigative protocol and methodology to explore and critique complex notions about space and time, individual consciousness, memory, truth, identity and culture, particularly during times of political repression and social upheaval. The historical mystery novels discussed in the work include traditional, hybrid and inventive narratives written in the latter half of the 20th century and in the first decade of the 21st century by: Gianrico Carofiglio, Ricardo Feierstein, Dacia Maraini, Ricardo Piglia, Ernesto Sabato, Guillermo Saccomanno, Simone Sarasso, and Leonardo Sciascia. Adopting a comparatist stance, the texts from two national literary traditions are placed into conversation with each other and explicated to suggest meaningful analogies, similarities and divergences between the authors' perspectives on societal progress and the value they ascribe to literature as a serious and apt method of historical inquiry. In the examination of the historical mystery novel, the dissertation considers scholarship in the fields of historiography, genre, memory, cultural theory, and literary theory and criticism.