The Leopard: A Novel
Book Information
- Publisher
- Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
- Published
- 2007-11-06
- Pages
- 336 pages
- Language
- 英語
- Size
- 13.06 x 2.26 x 20.32 cm
- ISBN-13
- 9780375714795
- ISBN-10
- 0375714790
- Price
- 3122 JPY
- Category
- 洋書/Literature & Fiction/Genre Fiction/Historical
NOW A NETFLIX SERIES • In this powerful novel, an aristocratic family grapples with societal upheaval and personal struggles against the backdrop of sweeping historical change. "A majestic, melancholy, and beautiful novel." —The New Yorker • "A masterwork . . . A superb novel ."—Newsweek in 1860s Sicily, Don Fabrizio Corbera, Prince of Salina, remains skeptical and stoic as he faces civil war and his family's loss of wealth and status. The prince's favorite nephew, Tancredi, who opportunistically supports the unification efforts, marries Angelica, a beautiful woman from a lower social class, to secure his future. This marriage symbolizes the shifting social order and the decline of the aristocracy. As Don Fabrizio struggles to adapt, he retreats into his love of astronomy, finding solace in the unchanging stars while his world crumbles around him. Ultimately, he must decide to resist the forces of change or come to terms with them. Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, the last in a line of Sicilian princes, drew inspiration from his own family's decline to write this novel in the 1950s. The dramatic sweep and richness of Lampedusa’s observation, his seamless intertwining of public and private worlds, and his sure grasp of human frailty imbue The Leopard with beauty and power.
GIUSEPPE DI LAMPEDUSA was born in Sicily in 1896 and died in 1957. The Leopard was his only novel.
Reviews
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Possibly one of the most important novels of 20th century Italy. Essential reading for anyone interested in Italy, Sicily, the strange world of Palermo society in the 19th century, the beginnings of the mafia. Beautifully written - not without touches of dry humour (Lampedusa was a fan of Dickens) - acute and subtle delineation of character. Not surprisingly the book was condemned at first by the church, the shady world of the mafia and progressive political parties.
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Re-reading this book after 50 years I believe that it is a truly great novel. It is a vivid and poetic evocation of mid-19th century Sicilian society as the aristocratic families are caught up in the Risorgimento. The story is so cleverly and engagingly told that I could not put the book down before the finish. I feel that I have lived through this period of Italian history and that I now have a better understanding of Sicily. A must read for anyone contemplating a visit to the Mezzogiorno.
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I loved it
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The two Sicily's, Adriatic volcanoes, Vallacrocia Indian saint death, the Talos Principle and Zagreb manuscripts, Malta megaliths and never the Gta or Mafia games led me to this book. I ran into a bookshop and read the last lines smiling of Jhumpa Lahiris last book before Sandeshkhali dawned at a Puri train visit. I ll give this copy to Kalibari temple in Lucknow where I live when the mother asks with an annotation scribed. I always want to visit Arunachal monastery and Kamakhya but never have till now. There s little romance in the world anyway.
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Probably the best Italian novel I have read (of course, I cannot recall any others). We see the dying days of the age of feudalism as the Kingdoom of the Two Sicilyies (I never could spell) is replaced by the Kingdom of Italy and the aristocracy loses ground to the modern world. The hero takes his name from the animal on his coat of arms. We learn to like and admire him (at least I did) yet realize that the world is a better place without such people.