The Leopard..........Chapters 3 & 4

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I loved the sensual romp through the castle! I still do not like Tancredi, but have become increasingly fond of the Prince.

Clearly Lampedusa used the book as a vehicle for sharing his perceptions of Sicily, Sicilians, aristocrats, and the bourgeoisie, and his perceptions are so interesting. He makes wonderful use of metaphor throughout the book.

I like the Prince as somebody fascinating to be watched from afar. I don't see his character as contemptible even though if he treated me in some of the ways he treats his family he would have a long time enemy. He is quick to anger; nowadays we don't treat most angry people with much respect, but in an age of nobility and room on earth to rage, anger might not have been as universally distasteful.

All of the people are pursuing their interests. Some of those interests, food for example, are similar at all levels of society. Only the Prince seems, however, to have aesthetic interests (I take his interest in astronomy to be aesthetic).

I talked my church book group into reading this for discussion in March before it came up here. I'm glad I did and have both outlets.

Robert

#2 - the romp in the castle is the best! I love architectural imagery so I found that scene both evocative and original.

There are also great asides, like Concetta's snide remarks to Angelica and Father Pirrone's nervous turbine twiddling of the thumbs that really make the scenes come alive.

I also adore the contrast between the Prince and Don Calogero - the old and new regimes perfectly represented, which is why I find a bit odd the author should spend so much time describing the politics (ie parts of chapter three) - the characters I find speak for themselves and details like the scene with Chevalley settle everything in place, historically speaking.

I find the style quite easy and light (I'm reading the Colquhoun translation) - more than I originally thought. I do find Lampedusa's occasional references to modernity a little startling, though (of course, I don't have the exact quote but he does a comparison to Jet planes, that threw me for a loop!)

I have great expectations for the end!

I like all the animal imagery throughout -- leopard, elephant, jackal, hare, toad. I found the Prince more interesting here than the nephew Tancredi. I especially enjoyed the Prince's conversation with Chevalley about Sicily and why he would not be a senator.

I enjoyed these chapters even more than the previous two.
--BJ

I also enjoyed the castle romp and the scenes with Bendico, but to me the political discussion was the most interesting part of the book so far. I feel everything that preceded Don Fabrizio's refusal to join the Senate mainly established a framework to help the reader understand that decision. I was most moved by Don Fabrizio's reaction to Don Ciccio's outburst about his vote being changed to a yes. I frankly wasn't sure the old boy had it in him ...

"Now he knew who had been killed at Donnafugata, at a hundred other places, in the course of that night of dirty wind: a newborn babe: good faith; just the very child who should have been cared for most, whose strengthening would have justified all the silly vandalisms. Don Ciccio's negative vote, fifty similar votes at Donnafugata, a hundred thousand noes in the whole Kingdom, would have had no effect on the result and this maiming of souls would have been avoided."

"Don Fabrizio could not know it then, but a great deal of the slackness and acquiescence for which the people of the South were to be criticized during the next decades was due to the stupid annulment of the first expression of liberty ever offered them."

I loved the Don's take on Sicily's place in the new Italy when Chevalley invites him to represent Sicily in the Senate. He weaves together history, Sicilian culture, the weather and the landscape into an unforgettable portrait of the land and its people. His question, "what would the Senate do with me, an inexperienced legislator who lacks the faculty for self-deception, an essential requisite for wanting to guide others?" hints at an interesting view of why people succeed in politics.

The parting comments, and Chevalley's exit in a carriage propped on four wheels the color of vomit pulled by a horse all hunger and sores lurching across an irredeemable landscape, seemed fitting.

I'm really glad we this book was chosen, I'm learning so much about a time period in Italy that peviously I knew nothing about. Also, I'm surprised at how easy it is to read, I was half expecting to be bogged down in dense political discussions that I'd skip:)