The Leopard by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa
Set during the Italian Risorgimento, Sicilian aristocrat Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa’s The Leopard (Il Gattopardo) charts the ennui of the fading Sicilian aristocracy. Faced with the transition from Bourbon rule to that of a unified Italy it charts the crumbling fortunes of an aristocratic family as they face political and social upheaval.
Published in 1958, a year after his death, The Leopard is di Lampedusa’s only novel. He may have set his novel in the nineteenth century, but having lived under Fascist rule and through the two World Wars, the novel attempts to portray the Sicilian mentality and its resistance to change with an air of almost despondent inevitability. Nevertheless the novel has become an international best seller, and is perhaps the most famous novel by a Sicilian writer. This is partly because of its evocation of the island’s complex mental and physical landscape, and also the success of Luchino Visconti’s 1963 film of the novel starring Burt Lancaster, Alain Delon and Claudia Cardinale. Shot around Palermo and Cefalù, this colourful costume drama is a faithful rendition of the novel that depicts the opulence and strictures of aristocratic life against a lavish backdrop of palazzi and luscious scenery.
Added 2008/08/04 @ 18:37:38
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