Il Meridiano (che include tutti i materiali scritti in vista e in funzione del cinema, anche se concepiti come testi letterari autonomi) presenta la più completa documentazione dell’attività di Pasolini regista, documentarista, sceneggiatore, consulente a sceneggiature di altri, ideatore di fi lm mai realizzati. È la prima raccolta completa del genere, e comprende, oltre a numerose celeberrime sceneggiature, molti altri testi trattati come un vero e proprio “genere letterario”, e che sono fra i più interessanti per come toccano, nella sua opera, nervi scoperti.
Italian poet, novelist, critic, essayst, journalist, translator, dramatist, film director, screenwriter and philosopher, often regarded as one of the greatest minds of XX century, was murdered violently in Rome in 1975 in circumstances not yet been clarified. Pasolini is best known outside Italy for his films, many of which were based on literary sources - The Gospel According to Saint Matthew, The Decameron, The Canterbury Tales...
Pasolini referred himself as a 'Catholic Marxist' and often used shocking juxtapositions of imagery to expose the vapidity of values in modern society. His essays and newspaper articles often critized the capitalistic omologation and also often contributed to public controversies which had made him many enemies. In the weeks leading up to his murder he had condemned Italy's political class for its corruption, for neo-fascist terrorist conspiracy and for collusion with the Mafia and the infamous "Propaganda 2" masonic lodge of Licio Gelli and Eugenio Cefis.
His friend, the writer Alberto Moravia, considered him "the major Italian poet" of the second half of the 20th century.