Violence and the Law in Gianrico Carofiglio’s Literary Courtroom

Gianrico Carofiglio’s novels featuring attorney-protagonist Guido Guerrieri have gained popularity in Italy and abroad since the first in the series emerged in 2002. Although often discussed alongside other popular crime fiction, Carofiglio’s work also has a wider resonance, participating in debates about justice, violence, and the law. This article proposes connections between the Guerrieri novels and several contemporary discussions of state violence—including essays by Jacques Derrida, Dominick La Capra, and Giorgio Agamben—that gravitate around Walter Benjamin’s essay, “Critique of Violence.” Carofiglio’s novels, like these essays, lead us to contemplate the question of what action is possible once law’s violence has been acknowledged.