“People like to peek into the dark side because they think it’s others who are corrupt and evil. We need to look within ourselves and realize that evil exists in each of us,” says Gianrico Carofiglio, the best-selling Italian crime novelist, former public prosecutor, expert in organized crime investigations, and politician, in an interview with Danas.
On Saturday, he practically kicked off the international guest appearances at the 67th Belgrade Book Fair as a guest of the Italian Cultural Institute in Belgrade, engaging in a literary conversation with the Institute’s director, Roberto Cincotta, and meeting with readers.
Although Italian literary critics consider him the creator of a new crime genre— the “legal thriller”—Carofiglio resists “labeling books,” convinced that “it serves to prevent deeper and more essential thought about things.”
He believes that “reading is as creative as writing” and that “what’s left unwritten, but stimulates the reader’s imagination, is more important.”
He admits that there’s something autobiographical in each of his literary characters but denies any resemblance to the protagonist of one of his crime series, the defense lawyer Guido Guerrieri.
When discussing his books, he avoids direct references to his former work in the fight against organized crime.
What led you to switch from the judiciary to writing, and did family tradition play a role in your decision, given that both your mother and brother are also writers?
– I’m not sure how much the “atmosphere” in my home influenced that decision. I began writing while still working as a prosecutor in the Public Prosecutor’s Office. I worked as a prosecutor and wrote at the same time. However, I had wanted to be a writer since childhood. I never dreamed of becoming a prosecutor.
In Serbia, it’s becoming more common for people from the judiciary to try their hand at writing. Is this phenomenon present in Italy as well?
– The question isn’t how many people are writing, but how well they are writing. Many try to do it but fail. Of course, I’m not speaking about Serbian writers, as I’m not familiar with their work.
You’ve introduced the judiciary into fiction. Is this a “painless” and less dangerous approach compared to, say, Roberto Saviano’s literary journalism, which stems from investigative reporting?
– I don’t have real protagonists from my courtroom or prosecutorial life. It’s true that my characters include a defence lawyer, a carabinieri marshal, and a woman who is a former prosecutor, but I convey truth through fiction, which differs from documentary writing. They write about reality. These are two different “sports.”
How did you create your characters, especially in your series, even though you say you find inspiration by “observing the world with wide-open eyes”?
– Yes, when it comes to general inspiration for characters, you must observe the world with wide-open eyes—we’re looking for one thing, and in the end, we find something else by watching the world around us. I don’t do much planning; an idea for a character is born, I start creating it, and then ideas for situations and the end of the novel come to me. From there, I move forward bit by bit.
Do you prefer writing what some call “legal thrillers” or novels like “Three O’Clock in the Morning,” where you explore the relationship between a father and son?
– If you speak and write sincerely, then whatever you’re writing is difficult. If I take legal investigations or legal matters as the structure, I already have a framework, so it might seem easy. But if I sincerely delve into a character and the writing process, it’s still challenging.
What are you currently writing?
– I’ve just finished writing an essay with a somewhat provocative title: “In Praise of Ignorance and Mistakes.” The title is meant to provoke because mistakes that go unacknowledged and the arrogance of ignorance are terrible. But mistakes from which one learns, and ignorance that drives one to learn—that’s what makes this world. This book is a tribute to human intelligence.
Surprise
“I’m pleasantly surprised by how widely my books are read here. I didn’t expect such a beautiful, large, and well-attended fair, with people I really like,” says Gianrico Carofiglio, whose autograph was eagerly awaited at the stands of his Serbian publishers—Belgrade’s Clio and Banja Luka’s Imprimatur—with lines of readers waiting for his signature. In 2020, Clio published Carofiglio’s novel Three O’Clock in the Morning, translated by Ana Marković, while Imprimatur released five books: Involuntary Witness, Reasonable Doubts, Penelope’s Discipline, The Measure of Time, and Temporary Perfections, translated from Italian by Boris Maksimović and Amila Omanović.
Fighter against the Mafia
Born in Bari, Gianrico Carofiglio (1961) has had a long career as a prosecutor specializing in organized crime investigations. He served as a consultant for the parliamentary commission on the fight against the mafia, and from 2008 to 2013, he was a senator for the Democratic Party. Since 2022, he has been an associate professor at the University of Bologna’s Ravenna campus, teaching a seminar on The Basics of Legal Language and Writing. His multiple award-winning books have been translated into about thirty languages and have sold more than seven million copies. He writes novels, short stories, essays, and scripts for TV and film adaptations of his novels.
(Danas, 23.10.2024)
https://www.danas.rs/kultura/intervju-djanriko-karofiljo/