Rooster in the basket (novel)

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Hahn im Korb is Andrea Camilleri's first novel , written in 1968, long before Camilleri became famous with his Commissario Montalbano series. In fact, Camilleri did not find a publisher for this novel for a long time, so that it was only published in 1978 under the original Italian title Il corso delle cose (The Course of Things). The German-language first edition was translated by Monika Lustig in 2002 by Piper Verlag .

particularities

Rooster in a basket plays in a village in Sicily . In the foreword, the native Sicilian Camilleri notes that no other setting is as familiar to him as the southern Italian island, and he promises the reader an authentic reproduction of Sicilian customs and characters.

This is particularly reflected in the language used: the Sicilian dialect is unmistakable in the Italian original through slight orthographic changes to the Italian expressions. Some dialect words are taken directly into the text and put in italics.

The narrative is divided into many relatively short sections, in which the characters change each time. Camilleri uses a complex parallel montage technique for the events that may initially confuse the reader.

genre

Hahn im Korb is commonly assigned to crime literature. On closer inspection, however, there are some difficulties that distinguish this novel from the classic detective novel :

  • The figure of the detective is actually not taken over by the police officer, but by the threatened person Vito himself.
  • Vito is not a particularly flashy, eccentric, or quirky personality, as is often called for in detective novel theory.
  • The narrative perspective is so diverse that the reader has difficulty participating in the resolution himself, as in the classic detective novel.
  • There is no classic finale in which the case is solved and the guilty parties have to pay for their actions.

action

A dead person is found and in the evening two shots are fired at the chicken farmer Vito. He doesn't even know what is happening to him: he is certain that he has not done anything wrong in his entire life. A web of false suspicions and intrigues emerges until Vito realizes that he himself is the key to solving the riddle.

Complete table of contents

In a field next to the village, a farmer discovers a dead man with his shoes placed on his chest. Maresciallo Corbo and the farmer conclude: The man wanted to leave. Corbo identifies the deceased as Gaetano Mirabile, a shepherd. During interrogation, the farmer claims that he reported the body immediately after it was found and that he had never seen him before.

Vito, a chicken farmer, happens to meet Dottor Scimeni and his hobbling daughter Carmela late at night. Scimeni wants to see him at home the next evening. When he comes to his front door, a shot hits the wall right next to him. Vito has barely closed the door behind him when a second shot hits the same spot. In panic, Vito runs into his bedroom and never sleeps the whole night, constantly wondering what he's done. He is sure that he was not guilty of anything. In the village he is called "l'ombra" (shadow) because he always behaves so inconspicuously and opportunistically. Corbo also heard the gunshots and immediately ran towards Vito's house, but found nothing there.

The farmer finally says that he found the dead man three days ago and knew him by sight. But he had pinned a note to his chest that said that the finder should not notify the police for three days. Corbo meets Vito at the harbor and explains that the shots were supposed to be a warning. Vito doesn't want to hear about it, nor does he want to believe that the shots could be connected to the murder.

At Maresciallo Corbo's, Bartolini from the Guardia di Finanza arrives : The shepherd's murder is obviously a bigger thing. Bartolini tells what he knows about Mirabile: He apparently smuggled drugs in oranges made of wax, stole two of them and tried to escape.

As agreed, Vito goes to Dottor Scimeni, who wants to buy his hen house from him for double the value. Vito is supposed to leave the village with the money.

On the way home, the blind Mammarosa pulls Vito into his house: He heard two people who were there the night before, one of whom was limping. To be on the safe side, Vito sleeps with Mammarosa. The next morning ten shots wake him up: the festival for the village saint, San Calogero, begins. Pinuzzo and Vito go to the chicken coop, where they are horrified to find that three hundred hens lie decapitated in a corner. Vito now goes to Peppi Monacu, with whose wife Vito had an affair while her husband was in prison, and threatens him. But Peppi apparently has nothing to do with the matter and that half the village goes to bed with his wife doesn't bother him anymore. Two men are standing in front of the house. Vito would like to be accompanied home by Peppi. The San Calogero Festival is now in full swing in the village.

Vito watches the San Calogero procession from his balcony. In his suit, he discovers a postcard depicting a sanatorium, the clinic where Carmela Scimeni was. He had found the card in his vineyard five days earlier and taken it out at the wedding he was invited to that day. Now he realizes that the stains he had seen in the vineyard were not wine but blood. Vito is looking for a way out, the only one he can think of is his friend Masino, a café owner. To be on the safe side, he takes his pistol with him.

Vito and Masino went to the sea to be able to talk in peace. Vito tells everything. Masino takes the card, tears it up and throws it into the water. Vito realizes that Masino is part of the gang and has a relationship with Carmela Scimeni. Masino suggests that Vito should simply forget everything. Vito goes crazy and draws his pistol. Corbo and a colleague arrive when a shot is fired. Masino aims at the carabiniere, who shoots him in panic.

Finally, two men discuss the event. One of them explains with hatred and jealousy that Masino Vito put his pistol in his mouth: in this area people only die because of women.