Italy

• Amara Lakhous (1970-, Algeria) two novels Scontro di civiltà per un ascensore a Piazza Vittorio (2006, English trans. Clash of Civilizations over an Elevator in Piazza Vittorio, 2008) and Divorzio all’islamica a viale Marconi (2010, English trans. Divorce Islamic Style, 2012).

Scontro di civilità per un ascensore a Piazza Vittorio is set in an apartment building in Rome following the murder of a man. As the neighbours offer the police their testimony, they provide a plurality of voices informing the reader on the displeasures of their lives, such as the eternal arguments between the inhabitants over the elevator. One of the suspects is Amedeo, the Algerian who everyone though was from Rome Lakhouṣ’ originally published the book in Arabic as Kayfa Tarḍaʾ min al-Dhiʾbahdūn an Tʿaḍak (‘How to be suckled by the world and not get bit’, 2003) but rewrote and reconceived it to the eventual Italian version (reference) (also in P: Police novels, Thrillers and Crimes: Murder).

Divorzio all’islamica a viale Marconi centers on a young Sicilian court translator who speaks perfectly Arabic and infiltrates a group of Muslim immigrants based in Rome’s Viale Macroni neighborhood after the Italian secret service has received Intel that they are planning a terrorist attack. The novel combines the central themes of migrant and non-migrant interaction post 9/11 and “the construction of the Muslim community as a threat to Europe” (reference) (also in 2001 9/11 Twin Towers Attack).