Not a review per se, just felt like sharing the fact that I completed The Leopard by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, a historical novel set in Sicily at a time when the last vestiges of feudalism surrender to Risorgimento. Prince Don Fabrizio, the author’s great grandfather, is the central figure caught in transition, at once wanting to hold on to the past, but realistic enough to see the writing on the wall as Garibaldi arrives at Sicily’s doorstep. Chapters read as a series of poignant episodes in Fabrizio’s feudal manner of life; each step leading to further erosion and eventual demise, analogous to Italy’s path toward unification.
It seems the stars offer the Prince his only means of escape, finding pleasure peering through his telescope, making calculations with the aid of Father Pirrone by his side.
“At a crossroad he glimpsed to the sky to the west, above the sea. There was Venus, wrapped in her turban of autumn mist. She was always faithful, always waiting for Don Fabrizio on his early morning outings, at Donnafugata before a shoot and now after a ball.
Don Fabrizio sighed. When will she decide to give me an appointment less ephemeral, far from carcasses and blood, in her own region of perennial certitude?”
My copy is a 1960 Pantheon Books, Inc., NY copy; another one of those many books that lined the shelves of my parent’s library. As a youngster, I always admired the Lampedusa coat of arms on the cover, never imagining that it would take me another 40 or so years to actually read it!
My review: A great novel.
In celebration of my completion, I grabbed a bottle of Villa Pozzi,; Nero D’Avola…