«Il romanzo multiplo». Etude génétique des oeuvres de Gesualdo Bufalino.

The thesis is a genetic study of the works of the Sicilian writer Gesualdo Bufalino (1920-1996). Through the analysis of the writing process, this study reconstructs the genesis of all the works completed by Bufalino during his youth and up until his debut in 1981, with the novel Diceria dell'untore. The research carried out in the archives which hold the genetic materials of Bufalino enabled us to date the creative phase of Bufalino in the period 1955-65. In particular, we have identified in an unpublished novel, Il guazzabuglio, dating back to 1977, a kind of canvas or reservoir, from which the writer drew themes or narrative sequences for other works. This novel, still considered unfinished, was not only completed by Bufalino, but was also closely linked to the genesis of the first two novels, Diceria dell'untore (1981) and Argo il cieco (1984), on the one hand, and to Qui pro quo (1991) and Tommaso e il fotografo cieco (1996), Bufalino’s last novel which can be considered its rewriting. The works completed and published from 1981 until his death in 1996, were the result of a creative process begun during his youth and continued throughout his life. The reconstruction of the genesis of the works written before 1981 is accompanied by the reconstruction of the intellectual biography of Bufalino through the investigation of sources and archive documents.