The Leopard

For the film based on this novel, see The Leopard (film).

For the unrelated Hungarian film, see The Leopard (1918 film).

The Leopard

Signet paperback edition
Author	Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa
Original title	Il Gattopardo
Language	Italian
Genre	Novel
Publisher	Casa editrice Feltrinelli
Publication date	1958
Publication place	Italy
Media type	Print (Hardcover, Paperback)
Pages	330 pp
ISBN	ISBN 0-679-73121-0 (Pantheon edition)
OCLC	312310

The Leopard (Italian: Il Gattopardo) is a novel by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa that chronicles the changes in Sicilian life and society during the Risorgimento. Published posthumously in 1958, it became the top-selling novel in Italian history and is considered one of the most important novels in modern literature.

The novel was also made into an award-winning 1963 film of the same name, directed by Luchino Visconti and starring Burt Lancaster, Claudia Cardinale and Alain Delon.

The author

Tomasi was the last in a line of minor princes in Sicily, and he had long contemplated writing a historical novel based on his great-grandfather, another Prince of Lampedusa. After the Lampedusa palace was bombed and pillaged by Allied forces in World War II, Tomasi sank into a lengthy depression, and began to write Il Gattopardo as a way to combat it.

The title

Despite being universally known in English as The Leopard, the original title Il Gattopardo actually refers to a serval. Although uncommon north of the Sahara Desert, one of the serval's few North African ranges is quite near Lampedusa. This animal is in the coat of arms of Tomasi's family.

Plot summary

Most of the novel is set during the time of the Risorgimento, specifically during the period when Giuseppe Garibaldi, the hero of Italian unification, swept through Sicily with his forces, known as The Thousand. The plot focuses upon the aristocratic Salina family, which is headed by the stoic Prince Fabrizio, a consummate womanizer who rules his family with an iron fist. As the novel opens in May of 1860, Garibaldi's Redshirts have landed on the Sicilian coast and are pressing inland to overthrow the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.

Chapter 1 Summary

This novel is the story of a middle-aged, Sicilian aristocrat caught in the middle of a political and personal revolution. As his influence and status are eroded in the wake of a working class rebellion, his sense of status and self-importance is eroded in the wake of his personal encounters with ambitious members of the working class, and with his own superficiality. As the narrative follows the aristocrat, known as the Prince, to the ultimate confrontation with the inevitable and universal process of change, it develops themes relating to the shallowness of religious faith and the futile power of money.

The first chapter is set in May of 1860. "Introduction to the Prince", pp. 9-29. This chapter begins with a detailed description of the exquisitely-decorated room where the Prince and his family say their daily prayers. After the prayers are finished, the Prince (Fabrizio de Salina) wanders out into the garden, where the sickly, over-ripe smells of lush foliage threaten to overwhelm him with memories - specifically, of a dead soldier, who, in his last moments, had clawed his way into the garden and died there. He recalls the specific, gut-spilled details of the soldier's body, recollections that lead him to a brief contemplation of death (see "Quotes", p. 15). The Prince, perturbed by these thoughts, takes refuge in watching his dog, Bendico, joyfully dig up the garden, and in contemplation of the behavior of his wayward nephew, Tancredi.

At dinner, the Prince's family is aware that he is perturbed, and stays quiet. At one point, he angrily announces his decision to go into Palermo. The adults at the table, including the Princess and the Priest, know that the only reason he's going is to be with his mistress. As the Prince is driven in his carriage into the city, he passes Tancredi's villa, worrying again that Tancredi's fallen in with bad company (see "Quotes", p. 24) - specifically, with the rebels fighting the authority of the king and aristocracy. The military guardsmen, posted to prevent the entrance of the rebels, pass him freely into the city, where he makes his way to the home of his mistress. His thoughts veer back and forth between anticipation and self-loathing, between disgust with the Princess (who crosses herself whenever he has an orgasm) and self-righteousness at her prudery. Two hours later, his thoughts run a similar course, with the addition of a kind of disgusted satisfaction with his mistress and a satisfied disgust with his own body. He is driven back to the villa, again passes the bonfires and again worries about Tancredi. When he arrives back home, he finds the Princess in bed, thinks affectionately of her, climbs into bed with her, and finds he can't sleep. "Towards dawn, however," narration states, "the Princess had occasion to make the sign of the Cross."

"Introduction to the Prince," pp. 29-48. The Prince's morning shave is interrupted by the arrival of Tancredi, who jokes with him about his visit to the city - Tancredi was at the guard post and saw him arrive. Tancredi also reveals his relationship with the rebels has deepened. The Prince suddenly imagines his beloved nephew dead in the garden with his guts trailing out like the rebel, and attempts to talk him away from the rebels. But Tancredi says he's fighting for a good reason. "If we want things to stay as they are," he says, "things have to change." Later, as the Prince gets dressed, he realizes the wisdom of Tancredi's words, and that he and his nephew are more aristocratically like-minded than he thought. After breakfast, the Prince (accompanied by the playful Bendico) goes into his office, which is lined with century-old paintings of the family's territory (see "Quotes", p. 33). As he sits at his cluttered desk, the Prince recalls how much he dislikes both the room and the work it represents. This dislike intensifies during visits from his accountant and one of his tenants, both of whom are allied with the rebels and both of whom assure him that the revolution will be peaceful and ultimately result in benefits for everyone, including the Prince. The Prince allows himself to be reassured, realizing that what makes him the aristocrat he is will remain unchanged no matter what.

The Prince's subsequent visit to Pirrone, atop a tower where the men practice their joint hobby of astronomy, reinforces this belief. Pirrone insists that the revolution will eventually result in the destruction of the church, with its wealth and property (like that of aristocrats like the Prince, he points out) to be distributed among the rebels. The Prince assures him that the transformations of time are inevitable, and while the Church is desperate to hold on to its status, to attempt to do so is foolish. Both angry and both resentful, the Prince and Pirrone take refuge in conversation on the safe topic of the stars, with "the bluster of the one and the blood on the other merg[ing] into tranquil harmony. The real problem," narration continues, "is how to go on living this life of the spirit in its most sublimated moments, those moments that are most like death."

At lunch, the Prince becomes aware that his family is worried about Tancredi, and the Prince makes an effort to appear simultaneously concerned and reassuring. When dessert is brought out, he is surprised and pleased to see it's his favorite - a large, castle-shaped jelly. Narration describes how the castle is essentially demolished before Paolo, the Prince's son and heir, gets a chance to have any. After lunch the Prince returns to the office, where he finds that two of his tenants have come with his share of their product - a particular cheese, which the Prince hates, slaughtered lambs, whose spilled guts remind the Prince of the soldier's, and a cluster of hysterical chickens. He gives orders for everything to be disposed of, for the windows to be opened to let out the smell, and for Ferrera to write out receipts. That evening, the Prince receives a letter urging him to flee to safety from the revolution. In response, he simply laughs. Later, as the family gathers to say their prayers, the Prince reads in a newspaper of the approach of Garibaldi, a rebel leader. The Prince is disturbed, but reassures himself that Garibaldi will be reigned in.

Chapter 2 Summary

This chapter is set three months later, in August of 1860. "Donnafugata," pp. 49 - 63. Narration describes how the Prince, his faithful dog, and his squabbling family arrive after a long hot drive at their country farm on the way to their estate at Donnafugata. As lunch is prepared, using water from the farm's well (see "Quotes", p. 50), narration describes the harsh song of cicadas as "a death rattle from parched Sicily at the end of August vainly awaiting rain."

As the Prince travels on to Donnafugata, he and the narration reflect on how the revolution had taken place, how the citizens of Palermo rejoiced, and how local leaders of the revolution had come to the Prince's palace and treated him with respect (one even flirting with Concetta). Narration also describes how the Prince had been having bad dreams (see "Quotes", p.56), and how "with the rising of the sun" (see "Objects/Places - The Sun"), the dreams and the fears triggered by them had faded.

As his entourage draws nearer to Donnafugata, the Prince anticipates his usual warm welcome. The welcome is indeed warm, with both the officials of the town, including the new mayor, Don Calogero, and its citizens, including the church organist, Don Ciccio, greeting the aristocratic family as gladly as always. Narration describes the Prince's graciousness, the Princess' fatigue, and the somewhat seductive way Tancredi brushes flies away from Concetta's face. After the service, the Princess invites the officials to the traditional first night dinner, with Don Calogero asking to bring his daughter Angelica instead of his wife. As the Prince gives his consent, the Prince also invites the villagers to visit later in the evening. "And the Prince," narration says, "who had found Donnafugata unchanged, was found very much changed himself; for never before would he have issued so cordial an invitation: and from that moment, invisibly, began the decline of his prestige."

As the Prince inspects his property and possessions, the manager lists everything that's been done to keep the estate in order, and then passes on some local news - Calogero, who was active in the revolution, has become a wealthy landowner and businessman, to the point where he has almost as much money as the Prince. He adds that Angelica, Calogero's daughter, has become quite full of herself as a result, and the Prince wonders what dinner will be like with the two of them there. He realizes that he is somewhat resentful of Calogero's status, but narration comments "deep down he had foreseen such things; they were the price to be paid." He then goes into the house for a nap and a bath before dinner.

"Donnafugata", pp. 63 - 75. The Prince's bath is interrupted by the sudden, urgent arrival of Pirrone, who, in spite of being embarrassed at seeing the Prince naked, nevertheless passes on his message. Concetta, fearful of her father's reaction, has asked Pirrone to tell the Prince that she is in love with Tancredi, that she believes he is in love with her, that she believes he's about to propose, and that she wants to know what she is to say in response. Narration describes how the Prince's fondness for his daughter is based in her apparent submissiveness and placidity, but that he's missed the occasional flash of steel will in her eyes when she doesn't get what she wants. Narration also describes his thoughts of Tancredi, whom he believes is destined for great things - things that will require more money than Concetta will bring to her marriage. Keeping his thoughts to himself, the Prince tells Pirrone to tell Concetta that the Prince will discuss it with her later - when he's sure "it's not all just the fancy of a romantic girl."

After a nap, the Prince goes out into the garden, where his contemplations of an erotic statue are interrupted by Tancredi's teasing comments about sanctified and unsanctified sex, comments which he also applies to a small crop of beautifully ripe peaches in a nearby grove. The Prince uneasily changes the subject, and he and Tancredi gossip their way back to the house, where they join the rest of the family and as some of the already-arrived dinner guests in the house. Soon after, Calogero arrives, and the Prince is relieved to see that he's dressed very badly. His relief ends abruptly when Angelica arrives - he finds her attractive enough to feel a stir of sexual attraction. Tancredi, unusually for a young man so fond of female beauty, merely returns to his conversation, but Pirrone, looking through his Bible, spends the rest of the evening reading the stories of Delilah, Judith and Esther, all women who enjoyed the sensual company of men and who manipulated them to advantage.

"Donnafugata", pp. 75 - 85. Narration of this section begins with a detailed, sensual description of the dinner's first course. As the guests each enjoy their food, narration comments that they did so "because sensuality was circulating in the room..." This sensuality, narration adds, emanates from Angelica, who flirts openly with Tancredi - who, in his turn, finds himself attracted to both Angelica's beauty and her money. For her part, Concetta is furious (see "Quotes", p. 77), and at the conclusion of dinner, as Tancredi flirtatiously tells the enraptured Angelica stories from his revolutionary battles, including a raucous story about an incursion into a convent in the company of a man named Tassoni, Concetta berates him for being bad mannered.

The following day, the Prince and his family uphold a centuries-old family tradition and visit a convent founded by a female ancestor. Narration details the reasons why the Prince is one of only two men allowed to enter the convent. While everyone is waiting for admission, Tancredi suddenly announces his wish to go into the convent as well, saying that a particular interpretation of the rules would allow it. Before the Prince can respond, Concetta makes cutting comments about how Tancredi has already been in a convent (in the story he told Angelica at dinner the night before). Before Tancredi can respond, and before the Prince can absorb the meaning of Concetta's words, the nuns open the door. After his visit, the Prince is surprised to learn that Tancredi has left supposedly because Tancredi suddenly remembered an urgent letter he had to send. After returning from the convent, the Prince looks out his window at Donnafugata's town square and sees Tancredi, dressed in what Tancredi has previously described as his "seduction color," carrying a box of peaches (from the grove visited in Chapter 2 Part 2) and knocking on the door of the house where Angelica lives with her father the mayor.

Chapter 3 Summary

This chapter is set two months later, in October 1860. "The Troubles of Don Fabrizio," pp 86 - 104. This chapter begins with a lyrically-written introduction to the silent, still, dim, early morning world at Donnafugata in which the Prince likes to walk with Bendico. (see "Quotes", p. 87). Narration then describes how Tancredi writes every week, but never to Concetta and always with comments that he would like the Prince to pass on to Angelica, who, in turn, visits every day, pretending to come to see the girls but in reality to learn news of Tancredi. All the while, Prince is becoming more and more uneasy with the unaccustomed tact he has to employ with the rest of the family and with the world at large since the revolution. Narration likens his unease to that of a modern man accustomed to leisurely trips in a small airplane who suddenly finds him on a fast trip in a jet.

One particular day a letter arrives from Tancredi in which he asks the Prince to ask Angelica's father for permission for Tancredi to marry her. He uses several arguments to convince the Prince to do so, among them being she will bring money into the family and guarantee that the family will continue to have status in the post-revolutionary society. The Prince finds himself agreeing with many of Tancredi's points, and takes a little second-hand sensual pleasure in knowing that he'll soon be able to enjoy seeing Angelica more often. The next morning, the Prince, in the company of his usual morning companions, Don Ciccio (the organist) and Bendico, takes his gun with him on his walk and shoots a rabbit. "The animal," narration states, "had died tortured by anxious hopes of salvation, imagining it could still escape when it was already caught, just like so many human beings." Later, the Prince and Ciccio eat their picnic lunch and settle down for a nap - with narration describing how, at that same moment, Garibaldi and his rebels were fighting hard, but feeling the breeze passing over the Prince, ruffling their hair as well. Instead of sleeping, however, the Prince finds himself contemplating the recent Plebiscite of Unification, which is a vote taken on the question of whether Sicily should politically join with Italy. The Prince remembers how windy and dusty it was on the day of the vote, and how he couldn't decide which way to mark his ballot. Eventually he voted "yes," and then recalls the excitement that greeted the result - a unanimous vote in favor.

"The Troubles of Don Fabrizio," pp 104 - 125. Back in the present, the Prince contemplates what he believes to be the historical significance of the vote and also its deeper meaning (see "Quotes", p. 104), which leads him to ask Ciccio what the people of Donnafugata really think of Calogero. Ciccio speaks at angry length of how many people dislike Calogero in spite of, or perhaps because of, his embodiment of a harsh reality - that "every coin spent in the world must end in someone's pocket." The Prince then asks the question that's really on his mind - what is Angelica truly like? Ciccio speaks rapturously of her beauty, grace and sophistication, and then speaks crudely about how her family's coarseness seems to have not affected her. The Prince firmly tells him that from now on, because she and Tancredi are to be married, she must be spoken about with appropriate respect. Ciccio bursts out that for Tancredi and Angelica to marry, it would be the end of the good qualities of the family! The Prince thinks to himself, however, that the marriage would not be the end of everything, but the beginning!

The Prince takes his time dressing for his meeting with Calogero, and when he finally goes downstairs, he has a vision of the two of them as animals (see "Quotes", p. 115). Their conversation is, for the most part, polite, with both men making occasional slips into tactlessness but both ultimately making the truths of the situation quite apparent. For the Prince, that truth involves Tancredi's excellent lineage but extreme poverty, while for Calogero the truth involves his wealth, which is much greater than the Prince expected, and the fact that Calogero is in final negotiations to purchase the title of Baroness for his daughter. After agreement is reached that the marriage is to proceed, Calogero departs to consult with Angelica, who, he is convinced, will say yes. The Prince goes to bed, passing the room where his daughters are playing. Several of them notice him and smile, but Concetta "was embroidering and, not hearing her father's steps, did not even turn."

Narration then describes how, as preparations for the wedding between Tancredi and Angelica progressed, the Prince and Calogero each became more like the other - the Prince became more ruthless in his business dealings, while Calogero saw the value of good manners and better grooming. Calogero, narration suggests, began "that process of continual refining which in the course of three generations transforms innocent peasants into defenseless gentry."

Narration also describes, in a tone that's at times enraptured and at other times pointedly cynical, Angelica's first visit to the Prince and his family following her betrothal to Tancredi. Dressed beautifully, she makes her entrance with perfect timing, and immediately endears herself to the Prince by embracing him and calling him a nickname given to him (and shared with Angelica) by Tancredi. Only Bendico, growling in a corner, seems unhappy to see her. Finally, narration also describes how Angelica, as she's listening, coolly considers the financial and sexual prosperity that awaits them (see "Quotes", p. 132), and comments that a few years after the marriage, Angelica becomes one of the most powerful backroom politicians in Italy.

Chapter 4 Summary

"Love at Donnafugata," p. 126 - 174 A week or so later, the family's quiet evening is interrupted by the sudden and unexpected arrival of Tancredi, who has brought a friend with him (Count Carlo). After taking a few minutes to dry off and change, Tancredi and the Count come into the family drawing room, now in their full dress uniforms, which fascinate the Prince's daughters and puzzles the Prince, who says he thought they were still fighting for Garibaldi. Tancredi and the Count react with disgust, saying there was no way they could stay with such a rough outfit when positions with the new king's army were available. Tancredi then produces the ring he purchased for Angelica with money sent to him by the Prince. A moment later, Angelica rushes in, having been informed by a note that Tancredi is back. The lovers embrace; sensuality fills the air, and narration describes in detail what Tancredi feels at that moment.

Narration then describes in complex, poetic detail how love and sensuality fill the subsequent days at Donnafugata. The Count dreamily, and ineffectually, pursues Concetta, while Concetta's younger sisters (Carolina and Caterina) dream romantically of Tancredi and the Count, and Tancredi and Angelica spend their time exploring the palace's many rooms, each of which contains some representation of a leopard, the family insignia. Narration describes how, on several occasions, Tancredi and Angelica are tempted to give in to their mutual sensual desire, but never do... and how this idyllic time of romantic, intimate gaming between them was a happy prelude to the miserable, unsuccessful marriage that followed.

One day during this idyllic time, a government representative (Chevalley di Monterzuolo) arrives and tells the Prince that because of his aristocratic background and social influence, the government wants him to sit as a chosen (as opposed to elected) member of the Senate, where he would both advise and monitor the government. At first, the Prince is quite silent, leading Chevalley to attempt to flatter him into accepting the offer (see "Quotes", p. 163) - an attempt that doesn't work. The Prince explains at increasingly intense, often poetic length, why he, like other Sicilians, has no interest in being involved in government. "In Sicily," he says, "it doesn't matter about doing things well or badly; the sin which we Sicilians never forgive is simply that of 'doing' at all." He goes on to describe how Sicily's ways of thinking and being and doing are those of an old tired society that doesn't want to change. "This violence of landscape, this cruelty of climate, this continual tension in everything ... all these things have formed our character, which is thus conditioned by events outside our control as well as by a terrifying insularity of mind." Chevalley makes one more attempt at persuasion, but the Prince tells him that Sicilians think they're gods and don't need to change and/or improve their status. "Their vanity," he says, "is stronger than their misery."

The following morning, the Prince accompanies Chevalley to the train station. As they walk through the streets of early morning Donnafugata, both of them overwhelmed by the squalor and despair surrounding them, both men think the situation has got to change, but where Chevalley believes it will, the Prince is convinced it won't. As the chapter draws to a close, Chevalley wipes the grime off the train's window. "The landscape," narration suggests, "lurched to and fro, irredeemable."

Chapter 5 Summary

The events of this chapter take place several months later, in February of 1861. "Father Pirrone Pays a Visit" Father Pirrone visits his hometown, where he is welcomed with teary embraces and warm, friendly memories. Conversations with friends, at times tense and at times mirthful, lead Pirrone to a lengthy speech explaining why the Prince and other aristocrats don't really have any reaction one way or the other to the events of the revolution - they "live in a world of their own ... all they live by has been handled by others". He concludes by saying that the feelings and attitudes that give rise to class sensibility never truly die. His elderly mother comes in, jokes about how he's still talking even though his friends have fallen asleep, and helps him get his visitors home. As he prepares for bed, Pirrone thinks that God is the only being who could have devised a life with so many complications.

The next day, Pirrone finds his sister Sarina in tears in the kitchen, and gets her to admit that her daughter Angelina (whom Pirrone mentally compares to the beautiful Angelica and finds wanting) has gotten pregnant. The father, she confesses furiously, is the girl's cousin, the son of Pirrone and Sarina's uncle. Narration describes a long-standing family feud between Pirrone's father and his uncle, a feud which will, Pirrone believes, make coping with this particular situation particularly difficult. He also believes, however, that God brought him home at this particular time to deal with it. After mass, he goes to visit his uncle and manipulates both him and the father (Santino) into accepting what he proposes as the terms of marriage. He also arranges for them to come see Angelina and her family that evening. Back home, he manipulates Angelina's family into agreeing to the terms of marriage by giving up his own inheritance. Santino and his father arrive; the marriage is contracted, and the young people are happy. Later, on his way home, Pirrone realizes that Santino and his father probably planned Angelina's seduction so they could get their hands on property they believed was rightfully theirs, and also realizes that the aristocracy and the peasantry are, at least on one level, more alike than he thought.

Chapter 6 Summary

This chapter is set almost two years after the last, in November of 1862. "A Ball." The Prince, the Princess, Concetta and Carolina attend a ball, one of the most important of the busy Palermo social season. The Prince is both excited and concerned about the evening to come - excited because it will be the first time Angelica and her beauty, are to be presented to the public; he's concerned because he's afraid Don Calogero will make a fool of both himself and the Prince. When Angelica (looking beautiful) and Don Calogero (looking acceptable) arrive shortly after, Angelica, hanks to detailed training in etiquette given to her by Tancredi, makes a huge social success. The Prince, once satisfied that she's been accepted, wanders through the rooms of the Palazzo Ponteleone where the ball is being held, becoming increasingly gloomy at the callowness of the young men, the boredom in the older men, and the silliness of the girls (see "Quotes", p. 205). "They thought themselves eternal," narration writes, "but a bomb manufactured in Pittsburgh Penn[sylvania] was to prove the contrary in 1943." When the Prince notices Tancredi and Angelica dancing happily together, oblivious to the other's desperation, and greed, he comes to realize and accept, if only for a moment, that whatever happiness the lovers feel is to be celebrated, no matter what (see "Quotes", p. 208), and so he slips into the library.

There the Prince contemplates a painting entitled "Death of the Just Man," and considers his own death (see "Quotes", p. 210). His thoughts are interrupted by the arrival of Tancredi and Angelica, who are taking a break from the dancing. As they speak playfully of the painting and of death, and as the Prince smilingly realizes how truly young they are, Angelica asks him to dance with her. Flattered, the Prince agrees. They are a successful couple and dance well, with the Prince's memory flashing back to the days of his youth "when, in that very same ballroom he had danced with [the Princess] before he knew disappointment, boredom, and the rest." As the dance finishes, he realizes the other dancers have stopped and are watching them, his "leonine air" preventing the onlookers from bursting into applause. Angelica asks him to eat with her and Tancredi, and for a flattered moment almost says yes, but then again remembers his youth, recalls how embarrassing it would have been for him to have an old relative eating with him and a lover, and politely excuses himself.

"The ball," narration states, "went on until six in the morning..." - well past the time of general fatigue but just late enough for goodbyes that didn't insult the hosts. The Prince sees his family into their carriages, saying he wants to walk home and get some air. As he walks, he's passed by a cart loaded with gut-spilling bulls fresh from the slaughter house and dripping blood onto the road. Further on, he looks at the stars to the west, see Venus there (see "Quotes", p. 219), and wonders when they, and Venus in particular, will reawaken in him a sense of love and joy?

Chapter 7 Summary

This chapter is set almost twenty three years later, in July of 1885 "Death of a Prince" This poetically written chapter begins with the statement that for years, the Prince had felt he was dying, "as if the vital fluid ... life itself in fact and perhaps even the will to go on living, were ebbing out of him ... as grains of sand cluster and then line up one by one, unhurried, unceasing, before the narrow neck of an hourglass." Narration describes how a last minute visit to a doctor tired him so much that it was decided he should not go back to the villa outside Palermo but stay in a hotel in Palermo itself. As he's settled into the hotel, the Prince recalls the fates of several of his family members - Tancredi's political success, and the deaths of Father Pirrone from old age, of the Princess from diabetes, and of Paolo after being thrown by a horse. He also recalls the maturation and dignity of Concetta - who, he realizes, is the true heir of what was good and noble and enduring of his family. He dismisses her son and biological heir, Fabrizietto (named after his grandfather the Prince) as dissolute, shallow, and aimless.

As he feels the flow of life away from him increasing, the Prince considers the joys (sensual, spiritual, political and animal - in particular, the loving and playful Bendico) and sorrows (political, sexual, and familial) he's experienced, concluding that out of the seventy-three years he's been alive, he's only fully lived three of them. In his last moments, with his family gathered round, he sees a young woman appear - beautiful, exquisitely dressed, sensitive, and smiling lovingly. Narration describes her in terms identical to those in which it describes a beautiful woman glimpsed at the train station on the way back to Palermo - in other words, death was present in his life even then. As the woman helps him to his feet, he sees her face, and to him she looks "lovelier than she ever had when glimpsed in stellar space." The implication is that the woman is Venus, a manifestation of love and joy.

Chapter 8 Summary

This chapter is set fifteen years later, in May of 1910. "Relics" pp. 234-242 This chapter begins with a reference to "the old Salina ladies," three elderly sisters whose right to have private masses in their home is, as the chapter begins, being investigated by representatives of the local Cardinal. That investigation, narration suggests, is being undertaken because the ladies have certain relics in their home that, according to rumor, may not be authentic. Eventually, narration reveals the ladies are the three daughters of the Prince - the authoritarian Concetta, the blunt-spoken Carolina, and the paralyzed Caterina. As the priests enter the chapel, they are surprised to see a sensuously-painted Madonna hanging behind the altar, and walls lined with "relics" (fragments of a saint's body or clothing). Narration describes how the sisters collected these relics through an intermediary, Donna Rosa, to whom Caterina and Carolina sometimes confessed their dreams of saints and who, sometimes within a week or two of hearing the dreams, miraculously produced a relic of the dreamed-of saint. "Then," narration adds, "Donna Rosa died, and the influx of relics stopped almost completely." When they leave the chapel, the priests speak among themselves about how so many of the relics and the painting seem to be of doubtful origin. After the priests leave, Concetta retires to her bedroom,(see "Quotes", p. 241), where she keeps several locked boxes of decaying mementos of her past, including the skin of her father's dog Bendico, which had been made into a rug and which is now completely moth-eaten. There, because she is the most realistic of the three sisters, she foresees what is about to happen - the confiscation of the relics and the painting, the re-consecration of the chapel, the inevitable spreading of stories of the Salinas' humiliation, and the equally inevitable destruction of what's left of the family's prestige. Her thoughts are interrupted by a servant announcing the arrival of "the Princess" - Angelica. Concetta readies herself and goes down to meet her.

"Relics" pp. 244-255 The well-preserved Angelica, widowed after Tancredi's death a few years before (and already suffering, according to narration, from the illness "which was to transform her into a wretched specter three years later") meets Concetta in the sitting room. She chattily tells Concetta of her plans for celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of the Garibaldi revolution, says that she'll do her best to keep the family's conflict with the Cardinal, with whom she's close, from getting too nasty, and warns Concetta that an old friend and fellow soldier of Tancredi's, Senator Tassoni, is coming to call. Tassoni then arrives, and after speaking flatteringly of how well Tancredi spoke of her, confesses to Concetta that one night Tancredi tearfully confessed that he had told a lie to Concetta about Tassoni, the story (told in Chapter 2 Part 3) about their being involved in a raid on a convent. Tassoni adds that Tancredi knew he knew had upset her and had carried the guilt of that night with him all his life. After Tassoni and Angelica leave, the shocked Concetta realizes that all the anger, frustration, bitterness, and resentment she had directed at Tancredi for what she believed was an ill-mannered attempt to impress Angelica was a mistake. She also realizes that his subsequent attempt to go into the women-only convent (Chapter 2 Part 3) was an attempt to make up with her, and that her bitter comments in response were what drove him to Angelica (see "Quotes", p. 250).

The next day, the Cardinal inspects the chapel and tells the ladies to replace the painting behind the altar. He leaves behind a priest to go through the relics and determine which are genuine, and a few hours later the priest emerges with a basket full of useless relics and the news that the few left behind are genuine. He then goes, leaving Caterina furious and Carolina in a faint. For her part, Concetta returns to her room, and contemplates the relics there with new perspective. She realizes an unpleasant smell is coming from what remains of the Bendico rug, and orders it thrown out. "During the flight from the window," narration states, "its form recomposed itself for an instant; in the air there seemed to be dancing a quadruped with long whiskers, its right foreleg raised in imprecation. Then all found peace in a heap of livid dust."

Characters in "The Leopard"

The central character in the novel is Don Fabrizio Corbera, the charismatic Prince of Salina, who dabbles in astronomy and mathematics. Fabrizio recognizes the tremendous changes coming to Italian society and what that means for himself, his family, and the aristocracy in general.

Don Fabrizio's nephew, Tancredi Falconeri, plays a supporting role as a new form of aristocrat, one who parlays the declining value of his family name into political power through his interpersonal skills and via marriage to the wealthy and beautiful but untitled Angelica Sedàra, daughter of the crude Don Calogero Sedàra, who has made his money by capitalizing on the chaos sown by the Redshirts.

Other characters include Father Pirrone, the Corbera family priest; Concetta Corbera, Don Fabrizio's daughter, who appears destined to marry her cousin Tancredi but who is spurned by him when Angelica arrives; Maria Stella, Don Fabrizio's wife; and Bendicò, Don Fabrizio's faithful dog, who serves a symbolic purpose throughout the book, even after his death.

Controversy

The novel was assailed from all sides upon its publication. Even the first attempt at its publishing failed when Lampedusa was told by an Italian editor that "his novel is unpublishable." When it was finally published after the death of author, conservative elements criticized its portrayal of some characters, who are Catholic priests, as more concerned with earthly power than about religion. Leftist elements attacked the novel for its criticism of Italian unification and the destruction of the nobility.

However, the novel was to gain great critical acclaim, most famously from the English novelist E.M. Forster. In 1959, it won Italy's highest award for fiction, the Strega Prize.

Film, TV or theatrical adaptations

Main article: The Leopard (film)

The novel served as the basis for a movie directed by Luchino Visconti. The film, starring Burt Lancaster, has been described as a fresco of Sicilian life because of its opulent recreation of life. The saturated colours, cinematography, and Visconti's renowned attention to detail all helped make it the winner of the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival.

20th Century Fox cut the film dramatically for its original 1963 release, but in the1980's Visconti's vision was re-released with English subtitles and the famous ballroom scene restored to its full 45 minute running time.

Quotation

"If we want things to stay as they are, things will have to change." (spoken by Tancredi)

"We were the Leopards, the Lions, those who'll take our place will be little jackals, hyenas; and the whole lot of us, Leopards, jackals, and sheep, we'll all go on thinking ourselves the salt of the earth." (spoken by Don Fabrizio)

Current editions

• An edition of Il gattopardo following the manuscript of 1957 is published by
• Milano : Feltrinelli Editore, Universale Economica ISBN 88-07-81028-X

• Archibald Colquhoun’s English translation, The Leopard, originally published in 1960 by Collins (in the UK) and Pantheon Books (in the US) is available from
  • London : The Harvill Press, Panther ISBN 1-86046-145-X
  • London : David Campbell, Everyman's Library ISBN 1-85715-023-6
  • New York: Pantheon Books ISBN 0-679-73121-0

Notes and references

• Il romanzo e il film: somiglianze e differenze "The Novel and the Film: resemblances and differences". In Italian. Accessed 15 October 2006.
• "The Role of Leadership in the Novel THE LEOPARD" (1958, Lampedusa) (After clicking on link, scroll down page)