Petróleo

By all accounts, Pier Paolo Pasolini began working on this novel in January 1967 and devoted himself to it—with increasing intensity—right up until the moment of his murder. His statements left no doubt as to the importance he attached to the book: "Everything I have done since birth is nothing compared to the gigantic work I am currently undertaking," he said in December 1974; in January 1975, he clarified: "It contains everything I know; it will be my final work." In Pasolini’s conception, *Petróleo* was intended to be presented as "the critical edition of an unpublished text." This unfinished, fragmentary book has found a unique and tragic context in the circumstances surrounding the editorial work carried out over several decades, culminating in this monumental volume as the definitive edition of Pasolini’s great work.