“La Sinagoga degli zingari” di Ben Pastor, un giallo storico multiculturale
“The Gipsy Synagogue” by Ben Pastor, a Multicultural Historical Crime Novel

Summary/Abstract: Italian writer with US citizenship, the author who signs with the pseudonym Ben Pastor, writes her novels in English and has them translated into Italian by professional translators. Her bilingualism is completed by an interest in history which also presupposes the study of different nations. Her protagonist, Martin von Bora, is an investigator for the German army's secret service during the Second World War, speaks various languages and participates in various military campaigns, coming into contact with allies and enemies of different nations. The action of The Gypsy Synagogue takes place during the best-known moment of the conflict in Russia, the battle of Stalingrad. The German officer must solve the mystery of the assassination of a couple of Romanian scientists and therefore his investigation leads him into contact with German, Romanian, Russian, Hungarian and Italian soldiers and politicians. This present paper analyses the way in which the various nations part of the military conflict are presented in the novel. Even if there famous stereotypes about the nations to which the characters belong are present (Italians, for example, are called “spaghetti-eaters” by the Germans), the author uses them to make fun of the simplistic and often wrong perception of other nations, underlining both their true particularities and the universality of the human being.

• Details
• Contents