Dec 25, 2009
That Awful Mess on Via Merulana | That Awful Mess on Via Merulana
At a glance:
- Author: Carlo Emilio Gadda
- First Published: 1957
- Type of Work: Impressionistic realism/antinovel
- Time of Work: February and March, 1927
- Setting: Rome
- Principal Characters: Francesco Ingravallo (Don Ciccio), Corporal Pestalozzi, Teresina Menegazzi, Liliana Balducci, Giuliano Valdarena, Zamira Pacori
- Genres: Long fiction, Impressionistic literature, Antistory
- Subjects: Crime or criminals, 1920’s, Robbery or robbers, Detectives, Mysteries, Widows or widowers, Italy or Italians, Fascism, Rome
- Locales: Rome, Italy, Italy
The Novel
Set against the backdrop of Benito Mussolini’s new Fascist order in Italy, That Awful
Mess on Via Merulana recounts the police investigation of two apparently related crimes. As
the novel begins, Inspector Francesco Ingravallo, a friend of Liliana Balducci and her husband, is
summoned to their apartment building on Via Merulana, where one of their neighbors, a wealthy
widow, has been robbed. The robbery victim, Teresina Menegazzi, reports hysterically that the thief
was an attractive young man who, posing as an electrician, entered her apartment,...
[The entire page is 1877 words long]
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