Francis Tanabe Washington Post Book World Senior Editor Thursday, June 26, 2003; Noon ET
Welcome to the online meeting of The Washington Post Book Club, a monthly program presented by the editors and writers of Washington Post Book World. Post Book World Senior Editor Francis Tanabe will be leading the discussion on this month's selection, 'The Leopard' by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa. A transcript follows.
Editor's Note: washingtonpost.com moderators retain editorial control over Live Online discussions and choose the most relevant questions for guests and hosts; guests and hosts can decline to answer questions.
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Francis Tanabe: Welcome to the Washington Post Book Club's online chat. Here are some quotations from “The Leopard” by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa which we can refer back to during our book chat.
Perhaps the line most often quoted from “The Leopard” is the following:
(1) “If we want things to stay as they are, things will have to change.”
(p. 22, Everyman’s Library edition, Knopf, 1991; translated from the Italian by Archibald Colquhoun, with an introduction by David Gilmour.)
This is Tancredi’s line which is preceded by “Unless we ourselves take a hand now, they’ll foist a republic on us.”
(2) “Italy was born onthat sullen night at Donnafugata, born right there, in that forgotten little town, just as much as in the sloth of Palermo or the clamour of Naples; but an evil fairy, of unknown name, must have been present. . . “(p.82)
(3) In Sicily it doesn’t matter about doing things well or badly; the sin which we Sicilians never forgive is simply that of “dong” at all. We are old, Chevalley, very old. For over twenty-five centuries we’ve been bearing the weight of superb and heterogeneous civilisations, all from outside, none made by ourselves, none that we could call our own. . . (p.130)
(4)”I belong to an unlucky generation, swung between the old world and the new, and I find myself ill at ease in both. (p. 133)
(5) For the significance of a noble family lies entirely in its traditions, that is in its vital memories; and he was the last to have any unusual memories, anything different from those of other families. (p. 181)
(6) “He was making up a general balance sheet of his whole life, trying to sort out the immense ash-heap of liabilities the golden flecks of happy moments. (p. 182)
(7) “She slid a little suede-gloved hand between one elbow and another of the weeping kneelers, apologised, drew closer. It was she, the creature for ever yearned for, coming to fetch him; strange that one so young should yield tohim; the time for the train’s departure must be very close. When she was face to face with him she raised her veil, and there, chaste but ready for possession, she looked lovelier than she ever had when glimpsed in stellar space.
The crashing of the sea subsided altogether. (p. 185)
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Baltimore, Md.: I just finished the novel, The Leopard, by Giuseppe di Lampedusa. It is so beautifully written that I was inspired to copy out part of chapter one as a “found” poem.
AFTERNOON PRAYERS
Palermo, Italy, 1860
Nunc et in hora mortis nostrae. Amen. The daily recital of the Rosary was over. For half an hour the steady voice of the Prince had recalled the Glorious and the Sorrowful Mysteries; for half an hour other voices had interwoven a lilting hum from which, now and then, would chime some unlikely word: love, virginity, death; and during that hum the whole aspect of the rococo drawing room seemed to change; over the silken walls appeared abashed; even the Magdalen between the two windows looked a penitent and not just a handsome blonde lost in some dubious daydream, as she usually was.
Now, as the voices fell silent, everything dropped back into its usual order or disorder. Bendico, the Great Dane, vexed at having been shut out, came barking through the door by which the servants had left. The women rose slowly to their feet, their oscillating skirts as they withdrew, baring bit by bit the naked figures from mythology painted all over the milky depths of the tiles. Only an Andromeda remained covered by the soutane of Father Pirrone, still deep in extra prayer, and it was some time before she could sight the silvery Perseus swooping down to her aid and her kiss.
The divinities frescoed on the ceiling awoke. The troops of Tritons and Dryads, hurtling across hill and sea amid clouds of cyclamen pink seemed suddenly so overwhelmed with exaltation as to discard the most elementary rules of perspective; meanwhile the major gods and goddesses, the Princes among gods, thunderous Jove and frowning Mars and languid Venus, had already preceded the mob of minor deities. They knew that for the next twenty-three and a half hours, they would be lords of the villa once again.
Francis Tanabe: There are so many thoughtful, lovely, well-crafted sentences in this novel. Here is the opening. "Now and at the hour of our death. . ." in Latin, is the opening. Thank you for typing it out.
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Lenexa, Kan.: Mr. Tanabe: Have long wanted to do it justice (started it once in early '60s and knew Visconti's film). Some things I especially enjoyed (your comments?). Thanks.
The great story of one man and the human condition (The prince in a dark moment: "where there's death, there's hope."). The novel is also a great story of Sicily and its rich history.
The beautiful, cultured, witty (as translated) writing and humor: "Bendico's delicious nonsense", Tancredi ribbing the prince about his lust, Father Pirrone's soliloquy to the long asleep herbalist ...
The courtship (thought of Tanizaki), love, and heartbreak at Donnafugata. Concetta (later a spinster "relic") lost her beau to the dynamics of nouveau-riche and the Risorgimento itself.
The charisma, wisdom, and sensuality of Prince Fabrizio: his "Gesummaria" Maria Stella (six childen and "I've never seen her navel"), the voluptuous Mariannina (Luchino had her just right), his great death scene (recalling it all, the succubus taking him away) ...
Francis Tanabe: I've seen the Visconti film a long time ago. According to the Guardian, the film has been reissued in DVD form. And, by the way, the British paper has chosen Lampedusa's "The Leopard" as their book club selection for July.
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Alexandria, Va.: What connections do you see between the changing values shown in the Sicily of The Leopard and the moral climate of the United States today?
Francis Tanabe: I don't know if the quotations I've typed has gone through. But I mention one that is quite famous:
"If you want things to stay as they are, things will have to change."
This is a conservative manifesto, in a way. What the current administration seems to be doing in the US today and in foreign affairs can be interpreted as following Tancredi's line in "The Leopard."
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Montgomery Village, Md.: I've been wanting to read The Leopard since I'd read an article about it in the New Yorker around 1990. The fact that it was going to be the book under discussion was what it took to get me to go out, buy it and read it.
It certainly is a sensuous book.
The chapter "Father Pirrone Pays a Visit" seems to stick out, though. I'm wondering what the author's purpose was in including it. Or is there perhaps no deeper meaning than just telling the story?
Francis Tanabe: Sensuous it is, indeed. The chapter in which Tancredi is courting Angelica on the palace grounds, going from room to room is breath-taking. It is in the rich details that Lampedusa is familiar with since it was one of the palazzos or villas he lived in.
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Lenexa, Kan.: Thanks. I've always liked the literature of decay (Faulkner's Compson family, Henry Roth's Hapsburgs -- you mentioned Mitchell's antebellum South) and found the subject esp. appealing in "The Leopard":
At one point, Fabrizio frustrated with the conflux of the "old" and the "new" muses, " ... he, the Leopard, who for years had swept away difficulties with a wave of his paw."
Also, in a lascivious moment, Fabrizio thinks that his forebears could have had a rare sensual wonder like Angelica as a whim of his doman. As it is, he envies his nephew who has tasted that "flavor of strawberries and cream which to him would always be unknown!" Your thoughts? Thanks.
Francis Tanabe: "Flavors of strawberry and cream"! Makes the reader swoon with delight. The author's descriptive powers are formidable. Here is his description of Angelica:
"Angelica arrived at six in the evening, dressed in pink and white; her soft black tresses were shadowed by a big straw hat of late summer on which bunches of artificial grapes and gilt heads of corn discreetly evoked the vineyards of Gibildolce and the granaries of Settesoli. . .(p. 101)
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Francis Tanabe: I wonder if there are readers of Sicilian origin who were offended by Lampedusa's criticisms? Apparently many were, although others defended the writer's comments as close to the truth.
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Francis Tanabe: There is a biography of Lampedusa available in English. The author is David Gilmour who seems to be the authority on the Italian writer. In the last chapter Gilmour mentions the reaction of readers abroad. E.M. Forster in the Spectator wrote that "this noble book" was "not a historical novel but a novel which happens to take place in history.
A French reviewer "concluded that the book had "the density, the gravity and the breadth that one can expect in a solitary work, meditated upon for an entire life, of which it expresses the essence."
Italy's Eugenio Montale, who in his youth had been the first Italian critic to recognize the talent of Svevo, was among the first to see the merits of The Leopard. (p. 185--quoted from Gilmour's biography)
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Lenexa, Kan.: I agree Angelica arriving to meet the aristocratic family and also at the ball was marvious. Lampedusa describing the rapture of the two young lovers at Donnafugata invokes Watteau's famous painting (the one your colleague would own in a more just world).
The last chapter "Rustics" (with its multiple meanings) was also superb, didn't you think?
Finally, a non conservative might see Tancredi matched closer to 1776 than to what is going on now under the current administration.
Francis Tanabe: Yes, Mike Dirda's favorite painting by Watteau. I did see it years ago here in Washington. I reread the last chapter, "Relics" this morning and it got me wondering about Lampedusa's writing it. He knew that he was dying of lung cancer and that he was writing against time. His views on death seems at time so detached, though. Perhaps he reached that level in life --the philosophical mind--which allowed him this bird's eye view. And with such irony!
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Montgomery Village, Md.: I can imagine that many were -- and still are -- offended by Lampedusa's take on Sicilians. Think of the reaction to "Portnoy's Complaint" and Mordecai Richler's Sammy Glick book. As a Jew, I can see both the truth and distortions in these works. But can others? Nobody, particularly those who feel vulnerable, likes their dirty laundry hung out for others to see.
Francis Tanabe: Lampedusa is sometimes so cynical about the future of Sicily and his descriptions of lower-class Sicilians offensive. I have never been to Sicily but I take Lampedusa's observations with a grain of salt. After all, he is writing from an elevated position who perhaps wasn't too close to the peasants and the ordinary citizens. When we get to know a country and its people, we develop a feeling, an empathy that struggles, that can see the distortions. I certainly agree with your comments.
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Lenexa, Kan.: It is sad that the author died unaware -- even perhaps with his hopes dashed -- of the acclaim that came later. I do recall him being quoted that he struggled with procrastination his whole life.
Anyway, he seemed to have a very nice, cultured life (even reading clubs of French literature held in his home). Let's hope Schopenhauer's idea that posthumous fame has its own reward in knowing one deserves it applied to him. A one-book corpus a kind of "Song of Myself" is a nice legacy anyway, isn't it? Thanks.
Francis Tanabe: It certainly is a sad story. He was a procrastinator and according to his biographer, what stirred on to writing this novel was his cousin, a poet, who successfully had his poems published.
About his book getting published--Lampedusa could have gone about it differently, avoiding Mondadori's rejection by getting more involved in the process. Apparently he was a very shy man.
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Francis Tanabe: I have a query from Jeanne in Washington, D.C.:
"I would love to read the new edition reprinted by Feltrinelli with an extra chapter which Lampedusa's widow refused to have published. The extra chapter was about the infatuation of Don Fabrizio for Angelica. I read about this last year in an Italian newspaper article which gave as its source a book by Riccardo Tanturri, "Il Gattopardo innamorato" published by Rubattino. do you know whether this new edition or the new chapter is available in English yet?"
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Montgomery Village, Md.: I didn't come away with a negative feeling toward the peasants, except wanting them to emerge from their poverty. Lampedusa makes the emerging middle class seem like the coming of a plague, though.
Francis Tanabe: Yes, he was merciless in his description of Angelica's father, the mayor of the town, a nouveau-riche with plenty of political clout.
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Francis Tanabe: Jeanne informed me that there was a film about Lampedusa. I think it's "Il mistero del Gattopardo: Tomasi di Lampedusa, ritratto di un aristocratico." A film by Giuseppe Tornatore.
I would love to see it if it's available on DVD or on tape.
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Francis Tanabe: For further discussion, you could log on to the Guardian website next month. They have a convenient chart explaining the timeline of Lampedusa's ancestors and Garibaldi, etc. The Everyman's Library edition also contains a chronology.
Thank you for participating in our discussion of Lampedusa's book. Next month, Jennifer Howard will be discussing Raymond Chandler's classic, "The Long Goodbye."
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washingtonpost.com: That wraps up today's show. Thanks to everyone who joined the discussion.
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