Revisioning the past to build the democratic future: the cases of Italian and Spanish crime fiction

This chapter adopts a comparative reading practice that explores the similarities and differences in historical crime fiction across what are usually considered to be distinct national traditions. In comparing the ways in which Italian author Carlo Lucarelli and Catalan/Spanish writer Jordi Sierra i Fabra use historical crime fiction to participate in contemporary debates about personal and collective responsibilities in the wake of revisionist interpretations of the Fascist and Francoist past, the chapter argues that both writers seek to connect the past to the present with the aim of proposing an alternative political future based on the recognition of past injustices and the symbolic provision of justice.