The Sea as a Frontier of Fear in the Work of Salvatore Niffoi

Abstract

Speak of the limits of an island and one immediately thinks of the sea, first and only border. Several writers have wanted to analyze the relationship of Sardinia with its borders, that form not only a geographical boundary, but also cultural and historical. It also represents a necessary step towards a new future (as in Il quinto passo è l'addio of Sergio Atzeni), a necessary elsewhere (as in Oltremare of Mariangela Sedda), a source of livelihood (in Il mare intorno of Giulio Angioni) or a kind of temple to fear and respect (as in the contribution of Michela Murgia in the collection Carta de logu). This and more is the sea for the Sardinian writers, until the denial of this (as in the text by Marcello Fois In Sardegna non c'è il mare).

Salvatore Niffoi gives an overview of the border closely related to the nature of his characters, which are all (or almost) from the inland areas of Sardinia, Barbagia, a sort of island within the island, where the crossing of familiar territories already represents a break with their own personal tradition.

Considering the ten novels published by the author to date, we will analyze the view of the sea horizon as frightening, but also as a divide, not only physical but also social: those who cross the sea, come back (if they return) completely changed, and, most of the time, without the principles considered positive by the residents of the communities.