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Fiction. Literature. Historical Fiction. HTML: "Combining a British accent with seamless Italian pronunciation, Jonathan Aris's slow and steady narration lends an appropriate tone of dignity and melancholy to Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa's account of a lifetime of memories and tragedies." - AudioFile Magazine Like Colm T�ib�n's The Master or Michael Cunningham's The Hours, a novel about art and writing in the life of one of the greats. Set in a sun-drenched Sicily, among the decadent Italian aristocracy of the late 1950s, Steven Price's Lampedusa explores the final years of Giuseppe Tomasi, the last prince of Lampedusa, as he struggles to complete his only novel, The Leopard. In 1955, Tomasi was diagnosed with advanced emphysema; shortly after, he began work on a novel that would fail to be published before his death four years later. When The Leopard at last appeared, it won Italy's Strega Prize and became the greatest Italian novel of the century. Adhering intensely to the facts of Tomasi's life but moving deep into the mind of the author, Lampedusa inhabits the complicated interior of a man facing down the end of his life and struggling to make something of lasting worth while there is still time..… (more)
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Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa was an Italian Prince who grew up on Sicily not on the island of Lampedusa that was his family's birthright. Lampedusa doesn't sound like it was very hospitable being composed of volcanic rock with no source of fresh water on the island. The family's fortunes declined from year to year and when several villas were destroyed in World War II hardly anything was left. Guiseppe had fought for Italy in World War I, was taken prisoner and then escaped just before the Armistice. He made his way back to Sicily where he seemed to spend his time reading and reviewing books, particularly English literature. He travelled with his mother and alone until he met Alessandra Wolff von Stomersee, a Baltic German noblewoman. She was married at the time but the marriage was unhappy; Price hints that the husband was a homosexual. Eventually Guiseppe and Alessandra (nicknamed Licey) married but she continued to live in Riga and Guiseppe mostly stayed in Sicily with his mother. During World War II Licey made her way across war-torn Europe to Sicily. Licey and her mother-in-law did not get along. After the war was over the Princess insisted on living in the bombed out villa where she died. An idea for a book came to Guiseppe after his doctor told him he had emphysema (now it would be called COPD) and that if he wanted to have a longer life he should stop smoking. Instead of following this advice he kept smoking and wrote a book which he called Il Gattopardo. In English the title has been translated as The Leopard and the book is considered one of the finest works of modern Italian literature. But Guiseppe got rejections from two publishers that he submitted it to and he died before it was finally accepted by another publisher.
I have not read The Leopard but after reading this book I feel like I should. Price is obviously a fan and the structure of this book follows the structure of the Leopard. The writing is marvelous and the plot has some interesting devlopments. As a side note Price is married to Esi Eduygan who won the Giller Prize in 2011 for Half-Blood Blues. I hope their mantel piece is big enough to hold all the awards these two win.