The 1930s saw an explosion in the publication of crime writing in Italy, but initially readers’ appetite for crime fiction was fed almost entirely by translated imports from the US, Britain and France. Even as publishers began promoting crime writing by Italians, foreign models and settings remained important, and several early Italian writers set their work in foreign countries. This article, which draws on both textual analysis and archival research, examines some foreign-set novels produced by Italian authors during the Fascist years, and seeks to identify the function and appeal of foreign settings in the depiction of criminality in that period. These books, peopled by exotic ‘Others’, comment on corruption, freedom of the press, cultural diversity, racial difference, policing, criminality, as much at home as abroad. The distant settings offered safety and freedom, as well as escapism or distraction, and the opportunity to experiment with genre.

中文翻译：

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法西斯时代giallo中的外国背景：意大利作家对犯罪和文化差异的创造性探索

1930 年代，意大利的犯罪小说出版呈爆炸式增长，但最初读者对犯罪小说的兴趣几乎完全来自从美国、英国和法国进口的翻译作品。即使出版商开始推广意大利人的犯罪写作，外国模式和背景仍然很重要，一些早期的意大利作家将他们的作品放在国外。本文结合文本分析和档案研究，考察了法西斯时期意大利作家创作的一些外国小说，并试图确定外国背景在该时期犯罪描写中的作用和吸引力。这些书充斥着异国情调的“其他人”，对腐败、新闻自由、文化多样性、种族差异、治安、犯罪等问题进行了评论，无论是在国内还是在国外。