think that a nostalgic novel about a declining 19th-century Sicilian aristocrat by an unknown writer would have sunk without trace. Yet Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa’s “The Leopard”, first published in 1958 shortly after his death, became a classic. One reason is that it is an extraordinarily evocative piece of writing. Another is that it distils timeless truths about revolutions and the rise and fall of elites.
Wherever you might be locked down, “The Leopard” will transport you to western Sicily, a “lovely, faithless land” of “sun and dust”, of “carnal delights and golden crops”, of lush gardens and barren mountains, of crumbling palaces and Ozymandian monuments to an ancient past of multiple invasions. Its people are sunk in a “voluptuous torpor”, their vanity stronger than their misery, full of secrets nobody keeps.
The protagonist, Fabrizio, Prince of Salina, is based on Lampedusa’s great-grandfather. He is a conservative, attached to feudal order, but self-aware. His world is challenged in 1860 by Garibaldi’s invasion of the island. At night, on the hills around Palermo, glimmer the flickering lights of dozens of bonfires lit by the rebel band, “silent threats to the city of palaces and convents” .
Although he has several children, Fabrizio sees his true heir in Tancredi, his zestful nephew who prepares to join Garibaldi. “If we want things to stay as they are, things will have to change,” Tancredi explains. That sentiment has entered the political vocabulary of the Latin world asChange is personified by Don Calogero, the shrewd mayor of Donnafugata, an inland town and location of Fabrizio’s favourite palace.
The victors of revolutions often ape the rulers they dislodge. That is especially so in the Latin world, where many have been rearrangements of the furniture rather than genuine upheavals. Lampedusa was not alone in believing that unification had taken Sicily backwards .
Huge sections of the dialogue in the film are taken directly from the novel
Fantastic read about the decay of aristocracy.
My favorite novel
The book is absolutely worth reading.
It's a fabulous film and I've watched it several times. Burt Lancaster is terrific.
if i dont know what evocative means can i still read the article? HELP