Sandbox Fontamara
"un luogo che nessuna carta geografica menziona" appears in the preface to the first edition of Fontamara to somewhat different effect. With the use of the term "luogo", Fontamara's existence is asserted, implying that its non-appearance on the map is simply an omission made on the basis of scale. Silone complicates matters further by explaining that the name is a pseudonym: "Ho dato questo nome a un antico e oscuro luogo". More than a unique location, Fontamara possesses generic qualities: "gli stessi strani avvenimenti in questo libro con fedelta' raccontati, sono accaduti in piu' luoghi [...] Fontamara somiglia [...] a ogni villaggio meridionale il quale sia un po' fuori mano. The apparent inconsistencies arising out of the claims that Fontamara is at once contrived and actual, generic and specific, fictional and real, situate Silone's phrase outside the fabula, hovering on the interface between fiction and referent, to be read as an authorial invitation to suspend disbelief." - Death or Deception - Sense of Place in Buzzati and Morante - Felix Siddell