Reviewed by Antonia Cassetta
‘The Confession’ by Peter Dellolio is a crime fiction novel that debates thoroughly on the nature of itself. Although, it feels remiss to leave it even at that. The novel genuinely and intellectually immerses the reader in layers and layers of abstraction – of scenes, images, forms, myths, spectacles – and pulls us through the kaleidoscope of illusion to seek the ‘real’. Contemplating extensively on Aristotelian and Platonic antinomy, Dellolio presents us with fragmented and decaying imagery (and ultimately the death of meaning) of religion, morality, cinema and pornography, told to us through characters entwined in a series of murders. Through these individual scenes, we build up a unified view of this world – and the flux of these one-as-many, many-as-one forms permeate the narrative and the physical text itself.
The abstracted and synchronic plot sets up a fantastic framework for a deconstruction of the crime fiction genre. This is not simply restrained to within the story; it transcends the plane of the novel – reflective of the concepts of illusion and reality deliberated on throughout the novel.
“God can be defined only in terms that are simultaneously absolute and relative. The truth like the connection between shadow and object lies somewhere in-between.”
The metaphysics of ‘The Confession’ are essential to the novel and infinitely evocative; Dellolio’s interpretation, application, and synthesis of these great philosophies is masterful. Truly, ‘The Confession’ is a brilliant exploration of the crime fiction genre through metaphysical thought.
