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The Leopard: A Novel | 
| Author: Giuseppe Di Lampedusa
Publisher: Pantheon
Category: Book
List Price: $14.95
Buy Used: $7.99
You Save: $6.96 (47%)
New (26) Used (12) from $7.99
Rating:  5 reviews
Sales Rank: 2970
Media: Paperback
Pages: 336
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5.1 x 0.9
ISBN: 0375714790
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9780375714795
ASIN: 0375714790
Publication Date: November 6, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: The only marking in this book, is a name stamp on 1st page..1966 edition time inc.
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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.
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| Customer Reviews:
 The Lelopard September 5, 2008
Lee V. Zlotnick (los amgeles)
Excellent book that takes you to the time period so thoroughly, you almost see yourself there. Great introduction to the history of Italy at the time, characters are totally believable.
Great service August 25, 2008
D. L. Plumleigh
The book, which looked brand new, arrived within a few days of placing the order.
ASTOUNDING AND SUBLIME August 9, 2008
Luca Graziuso (NYC)
71 out of 73 found this review helpful
Guido Waldman's traslation of Gioacchino Lanza Tomasi's introduction is a boon for the literary scene. Lampedusa's nephew, runs a detailed history of the the novel's publication and more importantly here included are passages Lampedusa wrote for the book that were omitted by the original Italian editors and subsequent English versions.
To read Di Lampedusa in Italian is like reading Proust in French, which is to say it is characterized by a melodious dalliance that lulls and swells in dreamscapes of intellectual brilliance. Guido Waldman, whose efforts include the Oxford edition of Ariosto's "Orlando Furioso" (not an enviable task - imagine translating into a collected allegorical prose Spencer's "Faery Queen"), invariably paces the rhythm of the English in a comparable rendition, while attuning the lyricism in delicate cadances.
"The Leopard" represents a command of style and a robust poetic affluence that is exceptional. The vigour and audacity of the novel is never compromised throughout its scope and vision, and moreover it is persistently haunted by spectres of an apocalyptic doom loitering lustfully. To read this novel is to witness the expression of a community in distress as it finds itself fidgeting to keep its composure while arrested amidst a stalemate, as it were a cultural limbo. Giuseppe Di Lampedusa fashions a circumventing microcosmic portrait that is nostalgic and entertaining. Episodes of ribaldry abound yet they always steer clear of expressing disrespect for a tradition and a cultural milieu that preserves its ambiguity and its inconsolable propriety. The discomfort of the probing characters is strung and picked so as to strike a melodious ravishment that transgresses all values and disarms the structural apogee of the narrative. In its many particulars, and brusque, yet delicate lyrical tendencies, this novel gives delusional recordings of an island distant and beyond memory. Here we hear the tourbadour's chant nearing with incredulous apathy, both the harmony of a siren song and the discordant twang of a swan song lingering beyond the sheet-music read. It's as if a protracted melancholia overtook a whole culture and a poetic instinct becomes embalmed in its people. Sicilians have a heritage of millions of years which resonates throughout, and apologizing for my not being a Sicilian, I would suggest a visit to Siracusa, Palermo, Catania, or even off the coast to Taranto (Calabria) to remind us that the Odyssey's tales mostly take place in and around this island. Di Lampedusa is a classic man of letters, with an Odyssyan propensity for exploring the whims of human nature and exposing the forces that cross the devide that stands between loyalty and desire. I have found such a high quality of "delightful disturbance" only in a handful of artists - Primaraly in De Chirico's paintings, which parallels astoundingly well alongside any reading of "Il Gattopardo". In literature one may well liken Di Lampedusa to the late Thomas Mann (esp. "The Magic Mountain"). In "The Leopard" a uniique stunning clarity pervades. Stunning for the acceptance of its fading way of life consacrating a culture in decadence; while the clarity of classical beauty is flawlessly contained. It is impossibly beautiful and sublime. Here Di Lampedusa conspires to invite us on a voyage with sails withdrawn, impressively seized within a standstill. Chimed from afar floats a decadent sweltering heat, while basking underneath is found the novel's storyline. Please plug your ears, or have someone tie you to something or other, else would that you were to tune in you'd never leave: In blissfull obliviousness you'd perish along this shoreline! Hereby the island's lure is a felicitous narrative that speaks fables of yesterday in daring, lingering overtones, consonant with the cunning splendid mirage of sex appeal.... And an applause to Guido Waldman, who deserves unrestrained praise for his labours as they shall now translate into our delights, adding considerably to the overall excellence of Archibald Colquhoun's translation, the novel has reached the shores of its definitive version.
one of the greats April 13, 2008
Nick Gogerty (Forest Hills, New York)
11 out of 23 found this review helpful
The Leopard is one of the great stories of empire fading. Even the grandest events taken meaning only when put into human scale and this works does this with incredible dexterity.
A Real Classic December 15, 2007
ktrmes (New York, New York USA)
45 out of 58 found this review helpful
That the Leopard is a great work of literature -- or as E. Said terms it, a great "late work" -- is now undisputed. This status is made all the more remarkable and poignant by the Leopard being Lampedusa's first novel and only being published posthumously.
I have read three versions of the Leopard: the hardcover (Everyman's Library), a earlier paperback version (Pantheon, Jul 23, 1991) and this recent paperback release (November 6, 2007). All these versions include translations by Archibald Colquhoun, but the translation presented in the hardcover differs from the paper versions'. Because of the use of such British spellings "colour" in the hardcover, that translation may be from a British market version.
In fact, however, the differences in the translations involve more than such simple substitutions. In the critical last paragraph for example, the differences are arguably substantive: "As the carcass was dragged off, the glass eyes stared at her with the humble reproach of things that are discarded in hope of final riddance..." (Everyman's Library) versus "As the carcass was dragged off, the glass eyes stared at her with the humble reproach of things that are thrown away, that are being annulled" (paperbacks.) A central concern of this last chapter is the notion of that which was once treated as sacred, "relics," having their status invalidated, the objects being shown not to be what they were once held to be -- examples include the sisters' religious artifacts being disqualified as relics by Church representatives and the remains of the faithful Bendico being shown not to stand for what the Prince's daughter, Concetta had long believed. Thus the word "annulled" including its flavor of an acknowledgment that an apparent status was actually never valid, never really was, would seem more evocative. Examples of differences in the translations such as this arise in a number of important parts of the story.
Finally, this latest paper version offers a valuable bonus, a set of excerpts from Lampdusa's correspondence relating to the Leopard which contain a set of interesting revelations including, for example, Lampedusa's identification of the importance of the Prince's dog Bendico in the story.
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