ITALIAN LITERATURE #2 : THE LEOPARD by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa 

I have re-read in these days and that’s true: almost every page is intensely heartfelt, and the second to last chapter (death of Don Fabrizio) is on a higher level than the entire novel. To me, that’s perfection.

Thank you! Great to connect with you here.

It’s a very deep and personal look at the history of that period (1860) in Italy, by someone who came from a noble family and therefore knew exactly what he was talking about! Have you read any books by Leonardo Sciascia? He is more modern but he also is a writer to go to if one wants to understand Sicily (he wrote a lot about the Mafia).

It’s so worth it. And different from many “standard” classics, unique. It doesn’t have one boring paragraph.

It is one of my favorite novels. Full of nostalgia. The final part is incredibly touching.

I stopped to look this one up...you included it in your top 5 perfect novels, I ordered it and it is HERE waiting for me !! Amazing

@@Leebearify Haha I’m honored that you take my literary suggestions so seriously!

Thank you! Glad to connect and to have found your channel. I do mainly videos about the Divine Comedy - I plan to have one for each canto in a couple of years. 7 done, 93 to go : )

@@tomlabooks3263 that sounds wonderful. I am a big fan of long projects- I’m currently reading Proust’s In Search of Lost Time with my friend Leo of A Little Book Life. Volume One down- six more to go.

Thank you! I completely agree with you, his style is so tight and concise. The book might have some highs and lows in terms of lyricism, and some specialists see a few minor flaws in his stylistic choices, but every page is so heart-felt and the melancholy of memories is real. I recently found a 1960 documentary that showed (in the first 2 minutes) the coffee shop where Tomasi di Lampedusa wrote The Leopard. If you’re interested, it’s here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-NV-frg58UKw.html

@@tomlabooks3263 Thanks, will check that out.

Hi George, thanks and great to find you here! Bring on the Italian lit recommendations, especially the forgotten and obscure works! I'll look into Del Giudice tonight.

Excellent!! You will love it, Adriana. Thanks for watching and for subscribing to my channel.

Thank you ! 🙏🏻

Great to connect with you here! I’m planning to slowly cover all of them in the next year (or 2).

@@tomlabooks3263 Fantastic! I started reading exclusively in Italian a little over 3 years ago as part of my own “immersion program”, and I really appreciate your synopses of books that I’ve either read or have bought and are on the TBR list. It helps me decide which one to read next. And you’ve given me a couple of new ones to consider. Even just focusing on the best literature, Strega winners, etc, the list is very long. I’m currently reading Quer pasticciaccio brutto de Via Merulana … that slowed me down quite a bit until I learned the trick of reading it aloud to myself. The dialects he uses (or makes up) are much easier to understand when I hear it… But I would LOVE to hear your take on that one!

@@dinosilone7613 Well, that one has a lot of Roman dialect in it - not very easy for me, either!! But it’s such a fun book.

Sorry about my delayed reply. Yes, that film is such a visual joy ! And musical as well. You might be right... Try to give the English translation a shot, and see how that works for you! I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Yes I did see that movie adaptation, and I remember liking it a lot. Especially the reconstruction of the Gattopardo palace, the lavish costumes, the banquet and the ball scene. The ancient Sicilian town and landscape in the background gave it a special beauty.

I'd say "yes" it lacks a conventional hero, although the Prince of Salina is definitely the hero of the novel. In painting this decadent character, Tomasi di Lampedusa was celebrating the life of his own grandfather, and the world that he used to represent. Not a conventional, enemies-defeating hero, but a man who symbolizes an entire era. About the sentence that says "men and women are not heroic": it's a statement that highlights the difference between fiction and reality, so I don't see how it relates to The Leopard, which is very much a biography.