The Leopard......Chapters 1 & 2

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The Leopard......Chapters 1 & 2

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1hemlokgang
Feb 3, 2009, 6:25 pm

Comments? Observations? Opinions? Questions? They are all welcome!

2socialpages
Feb 4, 2009, 2:04 am

I read this book a few months ago and remember being frustrated as I had to keep checking back to the foreward with its historical background so that I could understand who was who on the political scene.

3poplin
Feb 5, 2009, 7:24 pm

I'm only about 30 pages into it so far, so no real reflections--but I'm absolutely in love with it so far. Great pick, everyone!

4hemlokgang
Feb 8, 2009, 11:40 pm

Okay, I am about to start the book. I just read the introduction by Lampedusa's nephew who was able to get the book published posthumously for Giuseppe. Interesting tidbit, if you do not have the same edition I do, is that this was Lampedusa's only novel. Now for the story itself.....................

5teelgee
Editado: Feb 8, 2009, 11:50 pm

I have to finish Cold Comfort Farm first, then I will dive into The Leopard. I don't have that edition, hemlok - mine is published by Pantheon Books, 1991. Who did the translation in yours? Mine is by Archibald Colquhoun.

ET fix touchstone.

6hemlokgang
Feb 9, 2009, 12:08 am

teelgee, Mine is translated by Colquhoun as well, but it is a 2002 edition. It also has letters from Lampedusa about his unsuccessful hunt for a publisher, his last will, and other tidbits.

7teelgee
Feb 9, 2009, 12:31 am

Sounds great. Mine just has a two page historical bit. At least it's the same translator.

8klarusu
Feb 9, 2009, 10:19 am

Booo! Mine's not in at the library yet. I'm jealous! OK, so our part of the UK has been under piles of snow but where's good old fashioned librarian devotion, that's what I want to know! Seriously! They should be hiking from library to library with their inter-library loans just so I don't have to miss out ... See you in a week or so once I get there ;)

9englishrose60
Feb 9, 2009, 5:39 pm

Received my copy from Amazon today. It's a translation by Colquhoun with lots of extra info. Hope to read ch.1 tonight.

10JuanR
Feb 9, 2009, 6:02 pm

(The Leopard) was on the BBC radio at (I seem to remember) 10.45 each weekday back in the early days of Rock and Roll and I still remember how wonderful it was to listen to the story unfold. |The story was full of a certain mood. The central character was worried by the invasion) from the mainland(Italy) and the wind that made him feel cold brought changes into his Palace, his family and his life. Nothing would ever be the same again.

11hemlokgang
Editado: Feb 14, 2009, 4:12 pm

I just finished the first two chapters of The Leopard. There are some wonderful moments in the writing so far. I liked that the first chapter began and ended with the saying of the Rosary. It echoed the revelation which the Prince experienced when realizing that, as the French say, la plus que ca change, la plus que ca ne change pas du tout. The more things change, the more they stay the same. The realization seems to bring a great sense of peace to The Prince. I enjoy layered writing such as this.

I also thoroughly enjoyed the description of Sicilians as people who would not admit knowing the way to the village even if they could obviously see it from their own window. Island mentality, I think.

I am not finding the political/historical aspect quite so interesting. I am curious to see in what direction the plot will go from here.

On an emotional level.....I do not trust Tancredi!

12lilisin
Feb 14, 2009, 6:54 pm

11 -

Not to be a pain in the butt but it's "LE plus" not "la'.
And we actually say that as "Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.".

13hemlokgang
Feb 15, 2009, 1:29 pm

Perfect, lilisin. I knew I didn't have it quite right! Thanks.

14klarusu
Feb 15, 2009, 1:37 pm

I've just started it but it's drawn me in straight away - I'd be much further but I've been fighting sore throat/high fever which is not too conducive to reading speed! I love the atmosphere created in the beginning. Particularly enjoyed the description of the scents and design of the garden leading so quickly into the image of a rotten, eviscerated corpse - great imagery!

15teelgee
Feb 15, 2009, 2:04 pm

I've been struggling to stay with this, but now am drawn in completely by chapter 4. It is reminding me very much of War and Peace (Lite). Much foreshadowing happening - storms and such.

hemlok - I do not trust Angelica either!

16billiejean
Feb 15, 2009, 7:05 pm

#14 I hope that you are feeling better now. I have been sick, too. Time for Spring!

I like the characters in this story. I don't really know that much about the history behind it, so I am learning as I go. I find Tancredi to be an interesting character, walking the line between the old guard and the new guard. I am interested to see what he does next!
--BJ

17Cecilturtle
Feb 17, 2009, 7:37 pm

I had never heard of this book, so this is a great discovery for me. The foreshadowing is a little heavy-handed as is the imagery, but I love the social interaction and relationships between the characters.

Any thoughts on the translation of the title? It should have been "The Ocelot" (Il Gattopardo) which really looks more like a cheetah. I guess in English imagery, a leopard is more regal (and who really knows what an ocelot looks like anyway!).

It's a good education about Italian unification too. I really didn't know much about it.

18Mr.Durick
Feb 17, 2009, 7:43 pm

Xavier Cougat used to carry an ocelot around with him. Salvadore Dali has been pictured with one. In some jurisdictions individuals may own them in America; in other jurisdictions they are banned as wild animals. The look like robust house cats.

I think your guess about English imagery in this regard is on the mark.

Robert

19WilfGehlen
Feb 17, 2009, 11:42 pm

What to say? From the reviews, I expected something of Chekhov, but he does not make his appearance in the first two chapters.

Detailed description, but not evocative for me, more of a list. Perhaps sated from just finishing My Antonia. From the end of Chapter 2, view from the window: / one of the benches / three old men / four mules / a dozen or so urchins.

And what's with the olfactory and earthy images? / the garden . . . exhaling scents that were cloying, fleshy, and slightly putrid / a pile of purplish intestines had formed a puddle under his bandoleer / a deep well . . . slaked thirst, spread typhus, guarded the kidnapped, and hid the corpses of both animals and men / thirteen flies in his glass of fruit juice . . . strong smell of excrement wafted in from the street / Angelica's little finger in the air when her hand held her glass . . . an attempt . . . to remove with a finger a bit of food stuck in her very white teeth / carefully avoided a urinating mule, and reached the Sedaras' door. Oh for a waft of fresh air from one of the Sedaris sibs!

Well, there's hope from >15 teelgee:. Looking forward to Chapter 4.

20tracyfox
Feb 18, 2009, 12:31 pm

In hopes of getting more out of my reading, I am trying to participate in some of the group reads on LT this year. I knew nothing about The Leopard, nothing about southern Italian geography and nothing about the unification of Italy coming in. This lack of knowledge, coupled with the fact that my edition (Colquhoun, 1988) contains no notes or introduction at all, probably means I am relying completely on Lampedusa to tell me what's going on.

I find the language a bit thick. It definitely slows down my reading, but this slowing has helped me keep track of the cast of characters and map of places.

I agree with WilfGehlen that the writing is not really evocative of place or time. However, I do think Lampedusa's prose lets me imagine what it would be like to inhabit a really large, almost oafish, body but still feel graceful and sensual. I loved Don Fabrizo's feeling of pride when his very act of rising made the floor tremble, the gentle way he smoothed out his broad white waistcoat and fussed about a tiny coffee stain, the juxtaposition of his violent bending of coins and cutlery with the tender caressing saved for his wife and telescope, and the relish with which he invited the priest to help him towel off after his bath. The Prince's reactions to the scents in the garden, the squalor of the inns en route to Donnafugata and the perceived slights of various grandees all enriched my ability to imagine things from the Leopard's viewpoint.

I find the dog, Bendico, adds a great dimension to the story and acts as a bellwether for Don Fabrizo's emotional state. In a way, I think the dog is a stand-in for all the Prince's unnamed children who don't seem to have much of a role in the story thus far.

Thanks for hosting this group and keeping it open to the general LT membership!

21Donna828
Feb 23, 2009, 9:17 pm

I'm late to the party, but I am enjoying The Leopard so far and agree that the title Leopard has a much finer ring to it than The Ocelot.

>15 teelgee:: War and Peace Lite....loved that comparison, teelgee. Not much of a revolution going on (so far anyway) when an aristocratic family can travel cross country to take their month-long summer holiday as usual.

Loved the dinner with the mayor and his daughter. The lovely Angelica sure upset Concetta's applecart, didn't she? Perhaps she dodged a bullet as there are several comments about not trusting Tancredi. He does seem a bit too charming, but I haven't formed an opinion of him as yet.

>21 Donna828:: I, too, am taken with Bendico who appears to be the Prince's best friend. I liked his description of Bendico being "happily incomprehensible" like the stars. Back to reading now.

22HeathMochaFrost
Mar 6, 2009, 9:13 am

It's been forever since I participated in one of these Group Reads, and clearly I'm still a little behind, having just finished chapter 2 last night.

I found chapter 1 a bit difficult, but by the close of chapter 2, I'm much more interested in the flow of things, and am getting the characters straightened out. (Italian is very unfamiliar to me, and the fact that people's names are used interchangeably with their titles or positions - Prince, Princess, mayor - it's a bit hard to follow - but I'm getting there!)

> 15 teelgee said, "I do not trust Angelica either!"

I found it very interesting that as the narrator introduced Angelica, he included the sentence, "Only many months later was it known that at the moment of that victorious entry she had been on the point of fainting from anxiety." That information makes me view her in a much more sympathetic light, and makes me very curious to learn more about her. Without that one bit of info, I too would probably be ready to dislike or not trust her. That it was known "many months later" but the narrator is telling us right now when we first meet her, I believe it's meant to make her more sympathetic to readers - and it worked on me!

Looking forward to the coming chapters!