City of Devils
Page 40
I would argue that he should be judged as a man of his time. Although one might not agree with his conclusions and views on various matters, they did, to some extent, reflect nineteenth-century attitudes. For all his flaws as a scientist and researcher, it is clear that Cesare Lombroso made a huge contribution to the understanding of crime and criminals and inspired many others to examine the topic of crime from a scientific perspective.
An enthusiast, a collector and an innovator, Lombroso achieved much in his life worth talking about, not least the invention of a prototype for the lie detector. But if I had to sum him up in a phrase I would turn to his recent translators who described his work in their introduction. It was, they said, ‘a magnificent tangle of brilliance and nonsense,’ (Rafter and Gibson 2004 p 31) just like the man himself. I found him as a character to be both infuriating and endearing in equal measure. Whatever you may think of his eccentricities, he was never anything less than fascinating.
Salvatore Ottolenghi (1861–1934) was Lombroso’s assistant from 1885 to 1893 and went on to found the first School for Scientific Policing in Rome in 1903.
Bibliography
Lombroso, Cesare (2006) Criminal Man (M. Gibson and N. H. Rafter Trans) Durham and London, Duke University Press. (Original work published 1876–97).
Lombroso, Cesare and Ferrero, Guglielmo (2004) Criminal Woman, the Prostitute and the Normal Woman (M. Gibson and N. H. Rafter Trans) Durham and London, Duke University Press. (Original work published 1893).
Gibson, Mary (2006) ‘Cesare Lombroso and Italian Criminology: Theory and Politics’. In P. Becker and R. F. Wetzell (Eds), Criminals and their Scientists (pp 137–158) New York, Cambridge University Press.
Gibson, Mary (2002) Born to Crime: Cesare Lombroso and the Origins of Biological Criminology. USA, Greenwood Press.
Horn, David (2003) The Criminal Body: Lombroso and the Anatomy of Deviance. London, Routledge.
Acknowledgements
The idea for this book came on a rainy Monday afternoon in a seminar, with a question from a student. Thank you for asking it.
It was further developed with the help and support of my tutors on the MA Creative Writing course at the University of Portsmouth: Sam North, Dr Alison Habens and Dr Stephen O’Brien. Thanks also to my fellow students who made it such a joyful and life-enhancing experience, especially my dear friends Carolyn Hughes and Claire Holland. Without your fearless critique and constant support I’d be lost.
You also gave me the confidence to take the next step – entering the Good Housekeeping Novel Competition. Thank you so much to the judges: Kate Mosse, Luigi Bonomi (now my agent), Kate Mills from Orion Books, GH editor Lindsay Nicholson and features director Andreina Cordani, for choosing my story and giving me this wonderful opportunity.
Thanks to Nicole Rafter and Mary Gibson for allowing me to quote from their excellent translation of Lombroso’s work.
My colleagues at the Institute of Criminal Justice Studies in the University of Portsmouth have been a tremendous source of expertise. In particular, my thanks go to Dr Paul Smith for making sure that my forensic knowledge was up to scratch, Dr Phil Clements for his support, Ann Treagus and Brenda Newman for their input on that all-important synopsis, and Mandy Curnow for making sure my competition entry got into the post tray on time!
One of the most important things that I have learned is that a writer is nothing without a good editor and I have been truly blessed in this. Jemima Forrester has been everything that a new author could wish for and more. Thank you so much for all your patience and brilliant insight.
Finally, heartfelt thanks to my wonderful husband David, without whose advice and encouragement I would never have started, let alone finished, this book.
Copyright
AN ORION EBOOK
First published in Great Britain in 2013 by Orion Books.
This ebook first published in 2013 by Orion Books.
Copyright © Diana Bretherick 2013
The right of Diana Bretherick to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All the characters in this book, except for those already in the public domain, are fictitious, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is purely coincidental.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published without a similar condition, including this condition, being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
Photos: R. Groffi © Museum of Criminal Anthropology ‘Cesare Lombroso’, University of Turin, Italy
Excerpts for epigraphs from Criminal Man, Cesare Lombroso; Nicole Hahn Rafter, Mary Gibson, Eds. Copyright, 2006, Duke University Press.
All rights reserved. Republished by permission of the copyright holder.
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A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN: 978 1 4091 2793 2
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