The Leopard
Giuseppe di Lampedusa (1896-1957)
Your comments
Although beautifully written in the original ( the translation could be better) this finely depicted study of a
class, a family, an individual in decline somehow failed to engage me as much as I had expected. A worldweary,
pessimistic, aristocrat bemoaning his fate fails to inspire one as an heroic figure. However the psychological
analysis of his character, the span of 50 years in the fortunes of Sicily and the family are handled masterfully
and with great economy. It goes beyond the geographical and chronological setting to embrace anywhere and anytime
when an old order gives way to the new. This is what makes it a classic.
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