Diamante

Editor of the Roman literary magazine Nuovi Argomenti, Siciliano has written an intriguing novelhis ninthabout the downfall of a corrupt Italian family. The narrator, Carlo, an aspiring writer and a diffident young man of homosexual tendencies, travels to Calabria to catalogue a library for wealthy landowner Don Diego. It soon becomes clear that Carlo's sole purpose is to search for the will of Don Diego's older brother Liborio, who is lying in a coma. Two other brothers have met mysterious deaths; at stake is a valuable strip of coastal property. Carlo discovers Liborio's illegitimate daughter locked in a room, and the two commence a torrid relationship. A suicide, a political assassination and a murder all seem to pass by in a dream as Carlo becomes obsessed by this mad cast of characters that includes a fascist turned Mafia chieftain, an oversexed village priest and a whore. Obscure, artificial, maddening at times, Diamante is, nevertheless, the work of a gifted writer. (February 1)