Based on extensive interviews with those who knew Pasolini, both friends and enemies, admirers and detractors, Pasolini Requiem chronicles his growth from poet in the provinces to Italy's leading "civil poet"; his flight to Rome in 1950; the scandalous success of his two novels and political writing; and his transition to film, where he started as a contributor to the golden age of Italian cinema and ended with the shocking Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom. Pasolini's tragic and still unsolved murder has remained a subject of contentious debate for four decades. The enduring fascination with who committed the crime--and why--reflects his vital stature in Italy's political and social history.

Updated throughout and with a new afterword covering the efforts to reopen the investigation--and the legal maelstrom surrounding Pasolini's demise--this edition of Pasolini Requiem is a riveting account of one of the twentieth century's most controversial, ever-present iconoclasts.