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To
Judge
and
Tell:
An
Interview
with
Gianrico
Carofiglio
by
Stefania
Rega
Gianrico
Carofiglio's
first
novel,
Testimone
inconsapevole
(Involuntary
Witness),
was
published
in
2002.
At
that
time,
he
was
just
over
40
and
was
working
as a
judge
in
Bari,
southern
Italy.
Since
then,
he
has
published
four
more
novels,
including
Il
passato
่
una
terra
straniera,
which
has
recently
been
made
into
a
film.
He
has
also
written
a
graphic
novel
(Cacciatori
nelle
tenebre,
2007)
and
an
essay
about
the
power
of
words.
His
most
recent
prizes
include
Bremen
Prize
and
the
Grinzane
Cavour
Noir.
He
is
considered
the
only
notable
representative
of
Italian
legal-thriller
fiction.
With
his
elegant
prose,
Carofiglio
unfolds
his
stories
of
common
life
characters
involved
in
judicial
cases
against
the
unfailing
background
of
his
home
town.
His
books
are
small
paintings
of
common
lives
troubled
by a
crime
before
eventually
returning
to
their
quiet
normality.
His
best
known
character
is
the
lawyer
Guerrieri,
the
lead
of
three
of
Carofiglio's
novels
in
addition
to
the
one
already
mentioned,
there
is
also
Ad
occhi
chiusi
(2003)
and
Ragionevoli
dubbi
(2007).
Clearly
fallible
as
he
struggles
with
his
indecisions
and
questions,
Guerrieri
embodies
a
sort
of
new
hero,
one
that
any
reader
can
identify
with.
In
this
interview,
Carofiglio
talks
about
himself
and
his
novels,
but
also
reflects
on
more
general
issues
regarding
literature
and
fiction.
Q:
Your
most
famous
character,
Guido
Guerrieri,
is a
great
lawyer
who
brilliantly
wins
his
cases.
Nevertheless,
it
seems
that
most
of
his
investigations
are
solved
by
chance
and
not
so
much
by
skill.
And
also
he
isn't
so
successful
in his
personal
life.
He
actually
seems
a
sort
of
anti-hero.
Does
his
character
signal
a
cultural
and
epochal
indication?
Is
Guido
Guerrieri
the
true
modern
hero?
A:
In
the
real
world
investigations
and
trials
are
much
more
ruled
by
chance
than
in
films
and
novels,
or
at
least
in
certain
novels.
In
my
stories,
I
always
strive
to
reproduce
the
procedures
of
the
real
world.
If
my
readers,
as
it
actually
happens,
find
that
Guerrieri
is a
sort
of
anti-hero
well,
I am
happy
about
that.
Q:
You
have
often
pointed
out
the
wearing
out
of
words,
the
progressive
fading
of
their
meaning.
Yet,
lawyer
Guerrieri
wins
using
his
dialectical
skills
more
often
than
by
the
evidence
he
provides.
Is
it
the
lack
of
the
objective
truth
that
leaves
space
for
pure
rhetoric?
A:
On
the
contrary.
Guerrieri
wins
(when
he
does)
because
he
can
use
words
that
have
a
meaning.
And
that's
totally
different
from
the
worst
rhetoric.
Q:
Speaking
of
words,
your
novels
have
been
translated
into
many
languages.
Do
you
think
that
translations
take
something
away
from
a
literary
text?
A:
It
depends.
Good
translations
can
teach
many
things
to
the
author
himself.
Q:
You
have
also
written
a
graphic
novel
together
with
your
brother
Francesco,
the
illustrator.
In
your
opinion,
is
the
combination
of
words
and
images
another
literary
genre?
A:
Yes,
sure.
It
is a
completely
different
language.
Q:
Novels,
graphic
novel,
film.
How
important
is
the
means
of
expression
to
the
telling
of a
story?
A:
It
depends.
There
are
stories
that
can
be
told
in
many
ways,
others
that
require
what
is,
still
today,
the
most
sophisticated
form
of
expression:
the
novel.
Q:
Other
Italian
authors
of
genre
fiction
Faletti,
Camilleri,
etc.
are
also
best
sellers.
Why
is
this
kind
of
literature
so
successful,
in
your
opinion?
A:
Many
readers
feel
attracted
by
the
dark
side
of
these
types
of
stories
and
from
the
chance
that
thrillers
and
noir
offer
to
glimpse
at
least
the
basics
of
order
among
the
disarray
of
crime.
Q:
We
had
many
great
novelists
in
Italy
after
World
War
II:
Calvino,
Pavese,
Moravia,
Morante,
Deledda
After
one
generation,
how
is
the
health
of
Italian
narrative,
in
your
opinion?
A:
There
are
many
talented
writers
in
Italy
right
now.
Some
of
them
are
really
good,
but
none
is
truly
enthralling.
Q:
Besides
being
a
writer,
you
are
also
a
judge.
Like
you,
many
other
contemporary
Italian
writers
have
another
job.
In
the
list
of
best-selling
books
we
can
find
judges,
comedians,
physicists,
screenwriters.
Why
do
you
think
so
many
writers
do
not
come
directly
from
the
Art
of
Letters?
A:
Well,
first
of
all
most
of
these
bestselling
authors
do
not
write
novels,
even
if
they
try
to
tell
stories.
Apart
from
that,
it
has
always
happened
that
a
good
number
of
writers
come
from
other
professions,
sometimes
very
different
from
literature.
Q:
How
did
your
work
as a
novelist
emerge
from
your
activity
as a
magistrate?
I
mean,
in
what
way
does
being
a
judge
support
your
storytelling?
A:
As a
boy,
I
did
not
want
to
be a
judge,
but
a
writer.
That
said,
there
is
no
doubt
that
being
a
judge
provided
me
an
almost
unlimited
mine
of
stories
and
characters.
It's
not
an
insignificant
advantage
if,
one
day,
you
start
writing
novels.
Q:
You
are
also
a
Senator
of
the
Republic.
Do
you
think
that
literature
also
has
a
political
aim
or
that
it
should
respond
exclusively
to
aesthetic
criteria?
A: I
think
literature
has
an
ineludible
ethical
value
and
that
the
worst
sin
for
a
writer
is
dishonesty,
is
using
nickel-and-dime
tricks,
is
being
disrespectful
to
the
reader.
Rome,
August
2009
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