European Modernism in Tomasi di Lampedusa’s Literary Lessons: From criticism of Sicilian backwardness to dialogue with tradition

Abstract

Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa is an example of a writer to whom Edward Said attributed the notion of “late style.” Isolated from intellectual life for much of his existence, the Sicilian aristocrat found in self-directed reading and, later, in the teaching of English and French literature, the formal grounding and critical repertoire that would support the writing of his only novel, Il Gattopardo, conceived in the final years of his life and published posthumously. In this article, we suggest that, by engaging with modern European literature in his literary lessons, the author formulated reflections that guided his own writing and that served, at the same time, as a response to a notorious Sicilian cultural backwardness, to which he gave formal treatment in his novel.