«Non aspettavano altro»: il potere e la giustizia fai da te in un racconto di Dino Buzzati

Abstract

Dino Buzzati’s tale Just the very thing they wanted (The Collapse of the Baliverna) expresses the reasons why power is to be understood as a relationship structure in which a group influences the activity of another group, forcing it to bow to its own will. The excessive punishment inflicted on two unwary strangers, who enter the small town and violate the rules made up by its inhabitants, provides the setting for Buzzati’s representation of do-it-yourself justice, the reality of evil and suffering, and the power of the crowd.