Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa
Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa (1896-1957) was an influential Sicilian writer known primarily for his novel "The Leopard," which gained international acclaim posthumously. Born into an aristocratic family, Lampedusa's early life was marked by extensive travel, including time spent in London and Paris, although he eventually settled in a decaying palace in Palermo. His education in law was interrupted by military service during World War I, where he was captured and imprisoned.
Despite his profound knowledge of literature, he published very little during his lifetime, with most of his literary work emerging after his death. Lampedusa's writings reflect deep emotional connections to his Sicilian heritage and family history, particularly his great-grandfather, an astronomer. The manuscript of "The Leopard," which critiques the socio-political changes in Sicily, was completed just before his death from lung cancer. Following its publication in 1958, it was recognized as a classic of Italian literature, further solidifying Lampedusa's legacy as a significant figure in literary history.
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Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa
Italian novelist and essayist
- Born: December 23, 1896
- Birthplace: Palermo, Italy
- Died: July 23, 1957
- Place of death: Rome, Italy
Biography
Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa (toh-MAH-see dee lahm-pay-DEW-zah) was born into an aristocratic Sicilian family in 1896. He traveled widely and spent some years in London and Paris, but he lived most of his life in a decaying family palace in Palermo. {$S[A]Lampedusa, Giuseppe Tomasi di;Tomasi di Lampedusa, Giuseppe}
At his father’s behest, Lampedusa studied law and prepared to enter the diplomatic corps, but his university career was interrupted when he was called up for duty in the Italian army in 1915. He was captured and served time in an Austro-Hungarian prison camp, from which he eventually escaped. In 1932 he married the Latvian psychoanalyst Alexandra Wolff-Stormersee and in 1956 adopted a son, Gioacchino Lanza, who would carry on his title.
Lampedusa wrote a number of essays that demonstrate a profound knowledge of French and English literature, but he published very little during his lifetime; among his papers were found essays on Stendhal, Prosper Mérimée, and Gustave Flaubert. He first appeared on the literary scene in 1954 at a literary congress with his cousin, the Sicilian poet Luigi Piccolo. Years earlier he had expressed the intention of writing a novel based on the life of his great-grandfather, who had been an astronomer and mathematician. In this book he wanted to set the biography of his grandfather among the historical events that had affected his family and the Sicilian people while expressing his own emotions and ideas with regard to himself, his family, and history.
On his return from the congress, at the age of sixty and feeling death to be near, Lampedusa began writing his novel. Finishing it in 1956, he submitted the manuscript to publishers who were, unfortunately, bound to find his view of history pessimistic and reactionary. One letter of rejection from a prominent Italian novelist employed as a publisher’s reader reached Lampedusa as he lay dying of lung cancer.
Another novelist, Giorgio Bassani, received the manuscript of The Leopard from a friend. Amazed that such a book should be written by an unknown writer, Bassani perceived its value immediately and telephoned Palermo to speak to Lampedusa, only to learn that he had died. The Leopard was published the following year, to international acclaim.
Bibliography
Cowart, David. “The Turning Point.” In History and the Contemporary Novel. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1989. A scholarly treatment.
Gilmour, David. The Last Leopard: A Life of Giuseppe di Lampedusa. New York: Pantheon Books, 1991. A complete biography.
Lansing, Richard. “The Structure of Meaning in Lampedusa’s Il gattopardo,” in PMLA. XCIII (1978), pp. 409-422.
Lucente, Gregory. “Lampedusa’s Il gattopardo: Figure and Temporality in and Historical Novel,” in MLN. XCIII, no. 1 (January, 1978), pp. 82-108.
Manacorda, Giuliano. Storia della letteratura italiana contemporanea: 1940-1965, 1967.
Pacifici, Sergio. “Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa: The View from Within.” In The Modern Italian Novel: From Pea to Moravia. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1979. The Leopard is analyzed in the wider context of Italian literature.
Ragusa, Olga. “Stendhal, Tomasi di Lampedusa and the Novel,” in Comparative Literature Studies. X, no. 3 (September, 1973), pp 195-228.
Salvestroni, Simonetta. Tomasi di Lampedusa, 1973.
Samona, Giuseppe Paolo. Il gattopardo, i racconti, Lampedusa, 1974.