L'Incognito e l'Innominato (a tacer dell'Anonimo). La negazione del nome in Manzoni e Sciascia

The Unknown and the Unnamed (not to mention the Anonymous). The denying of the name in Manzoni and Sciascia One of the main characters in Sciascia’s 1966 play I mafiosi is called «l’Incognito» (the Unknown). The rhetorical device of making a name of the absence of a name has different functions. L’«innominato» (the Unnamed), in Manzoni’s novel The Betrothed, personifies a positive transition, spiritual renewal and redemption. On the contrary, Sciascia’s Unknown is emblematic of the pledge to secrecy typical of a society built on the alliance between politics and organized crime.