Product Description
Set in the 1860s, The Leopard tells the spellbinding story of a decadent, dying Sicilian aristocracy threatened by the approaching forces of democracy and revolution. The dramatic sweep and richness of observation, the seamless intertwining of public and private worlds, and the grasp of human frailty imbue The Leopard with its particular melancholy beauty and power, and place it among the greatest historical novels of our time. Although Giuseppe di Lampedusa had long had the book in mind, he began writing it only in his late fifties; he died at age sixty, soon after the manuscript was rejected as unpublishable. In his introduction, Gioacchino Lanza Tomasi, Lampedusa's nephew, gives us a detailed history of the initial publication and the various editions that followed. And he includes passages Lampedusa wrote for the book that were omitted by the original Italian editors. Here, finally, is the definitive edition of this brilliant and timeless novel.

Amazon.com Review
The Leopard is set in Sicily in 1860, as Italian unification is coming violently into being, but it transcends the historical-novel classification. E.M. Forster called it, instead, "a novel which happens to take place in history." Lampedusa's Sicily is a land where each social gesture is freighted with nuance, threat, and nostalgia, and his skeptical protagonist, Don Fabrizio, is uniquely placed to witness all and alter absolutely nothing. Like his creator, the prince is an aristocrat and an astronomer, a man "watching the ruin of his own class and his own inheritance without ever making, still less wanting to make, any move toward saving it." Far better to take refuge in the night skies. What renders The Leopard so beautiful, and so despairing, is Lampedusa's grasp of human frailty and his vision of Sicily's arid terrain--"comfortless and irrational, with no lines that the mind could grasp, conceived apparently in a delirious moment of creation; a sea suddenly petrified at the instant when a change of wind had flung waves into frenzy." Though the author had long had the book in mind, he didn't begin writing it until he was in his late 50s. He died at 60, soon after it was rejected as unpublishable. Archibald Colquhoun's lyrical translation also contains 70 more precious pages of Lampedusa--a memoir, a short story, and the first chapter of a novel. In "Places of My Infancy" the author warns that "the reader (who won't exist) must expect to be led meandering through a lost Earthly Paradise. If it bores him. I don't mind." Luckily, the reader does exist; even more luckily, boredom is not an option.

CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.5 based on 67 reviews)

Breathtaking by J. Brady (Eugene, OR)

5 Stars
September 14, 2009
The Leopard is set in Sicily in the 1860's, around the time a united Italy was formed. The plot involves events in the lives of Fabrizio, Prince of Salina, and his family, set against a backdrop of revolution and the collapse of the old aristocracy. I read this in translation so my comments reflect that rather than the original Italian but the language is breathtaking. When Fabrizio walks into a room in the palace, the reader follows his eyes as they take in every detail and hear his reflections on the history of the objects there. There is such a strong sense of place. I was fascinated with his description of the Sicilian character. When a representative of the new national government asks him to join the Senate, describing all the improvements that will be coming to Sicily, Fabrizio declines, explaining that Sicilians don't want improvements. "They are coming to teach us good manners...But they won't succeed because we think we are gods." The story of his family is simple: love, marriage, jealousy, death, all seen through the old man's eyes and filtered through his understanding of the collapse around him. This is a marvelous book.

Il Gattopardo by Amadeus (Pittsburgh, PA)

5 Stars
August 28, 2009
If you are reading this review you are considering reading one of modern Italy's greatest literary achievements. Il Gattopardo (The Leopard) is one of those rare books you just don't want to miss. You've come this far, buy the book and prepare for some excellent reading.

One of the most beautiful novel ever written by Patrizia Riccardi (ny)

5 Stars
June 04, 2009
The novel focus on the figure of a Sicilian Prince and the sociatal changes during the historical Italian period called the Risorgimento. Italy was going to be unified and the Kingdom to whom Prince Fabrizio, and his world, belonged to be changed for ever. The Prince pessimistically sees the inevitable changes as negative. A new class is arising and not necesserly better than the one disappearing. The Prince believes that the voracious appetite for money, power and status of the new class will erode inevitably the values he believes in. He refuses the offered Senator seat at the Italian Parliament. He requests that it is given to a rich member of the Sicilian bourgesie as a symbolic passage of power to the new arising class.

Unsentimental, Unapologetic, and Uncompromising by Joby Hughes (Houston, Texas USA)

5 Stars
May 08, 2009
This books dissects a series of relationships amid a rapidly changing social and political order. It is set during the unification of Sicily and Naples into Italy. Favorite quote: "All will be the same though all will change." The story is used to reveal larger issues of family, love, dying, the effect of the passing of time on our life outlook, and the role of faith and ritual in daily life. It also addresses the cycles of ascending and declining aristocratic families across multiple generations. Slow at times, but always sure in its message and delivery.

A great classic about Sicily by Blue Eyes (nyc)

5 Stars
March 11, 2009
I found parts of this book a little hard to read, but it was worth sticking with, as it is a beautifully written masterpiece that sums up the essence of what it is to be Sicilian. This particular edition had some great material about the tragic circumstances in which this novel was not published until after the author's death.

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