Leonardo Sciascia's 'The Day of the Owl' Revisited
A review of Leonardo Sciascia's 1961 mafia novel 'The Day of the Owl' examines its ironic opening, its definition of the mafia, and its enduring legacy
Leonardo Sciascia's first novel, 'The Day of the Owl,' opens with a shooting at a Palermo bus stop. The book was published in 1961 and soon translated into English by Archibald Colquhoun and Arthur Oliver. According to a review in the London Review of Books, this scene is a masterpiece of irony and concision, a quality that defines Sciascia's career until his death in 1989.
The current Italian paperback calls it "the first and greatest novel about the mafia." It includes a 1972 foreword where Sciascia defines the mafia, taking issue with those who deny its existence or see it only as a criminal group. "The mafia ... Is a system that in Sicily contains and moves the economic and power interests of a class that we can approximately call bourgeois," he wrote. For Sciascia, it was "a parasitic bourgeoisie, a bourgeoisie that doesn't produce but only exploits."
The novel's title comes from an epigraph quoting Shakespeare's Henry VI Part III: 'Like the owl by day.' In its original context, the owl is not a symbol of wisdom but an object of ridicule and an image of cowardice. The review argues this layers the novel with irony. Any reader hoping for a story where truth prevails and justice is served will be disappointed.
This theme is established immediately. After the shooting, a street vendor selling chickpea fritters is questioned by the carabinieri. When asked who fired the shots, he replies, "Have they shot someone?" The review notes the translation nuance: the Italian "Hanno sparato?" uses an impersonal "they." The subject that seems absent is still lurking in the verb. Everyone knows who "they"are, but no one who values their safety will speak."just another rumour." Another character boasts of his friendship with Don Mariano, adding, "believe me, I know how to choose my friends."
