Abstract
One year after the publication of his first novel, Tiro al piccione, Giose Rimanelli published his second narrative, Peccato originale. Whereas Tiro al piccione handles the horrific wartime experience of its protagonist Marco Laudato and his Orphic journey through Italy’s Civil War, Peccato originale deals with the socioeconomic inferno of the postwar period that ultimately serves as a basis for immigration for many and helps to show clearly the problema del sud. The author, creating parallels between the peasant of Southern Italy and the condemned biblical character of Cain, shows that man’s “original sin” is not pride, but poverty, with all its cruelty, misery, and unspeakable attributes. Peccato originale is the story of the journey the poor must take in order to get out of their socioeconomic hell and enter a new world of geopolitical freedom.
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