Thank you for the article. It's very helpful when reading, the text is very dense.
I briefly read about the history of Rome during those years, it's a very confusing story with the Pope, the French... History is complicated. But I find it interesting that the Kingdom of Italy in 1860 was without Rome. It's not surprising that they wanted to unite.
In this part, Fabrizio's wife seemed very unpleasant to me. I can't understand how one can want to marry off their daughter to their own nephew and then get upset and say that "a nephew is not a son," it immediately made me think that she wouldn't be against marrying her own children to each other. This was common in aristocracy, of course, but it seems they should have always understood that it wasn't very healthy. And she should have been happy for her daughter that her husband might not be a relative now. But then I felt sorry for her and her fate, living with such a despot. At least she was able to speak her mind.
And what about the new dogs? Where is our beloved dog Bendico? I hope he's alright.
We briefly teach the subject of incest later in the book, how these aristocrats kept marrying within the family and that was another push toward their own extinction. Maria Stella seems to be not very bright, to speak plainly, but we also see her exclusively from Fabrizio's point of view, so, who knows.
The two dogs in the chapter are hunting dogs, they're doing their job! Bendicò is exclusively a pet, we're even told that he's not allowed to eat chicken because bones would upset his stomach, he has special meals prepared for him I think.
You asked if we are liking the book overall - yes, I'm loving it! I'm a bit over-committed with books at the moment, so there have been some long pauses in reading but whenever I pick up The Leopard, I think: oh that's right, this is very good.
And it is! The writing is vivid and astute and also wry - we see each character both front on and sideways (if that makes sense). For example, much of the story is broadly from Don Fabrizio's perspective, and yet there is a fair amount of dramatic irony going on. We see his blind spots and flawed thinking.
I was really struck by that description of the rabbit - such a beautiful passage - and what stayed with me was the comparison to a human being: 'the animal had died tortured by anxious hopes of salvation, imagining it could still escape when it was already caught, just like so many human beings.' I have not read any further ahead, but I'm imagining that this might be one of the broader themes - people imagining they can still escape history / their fate / the future - when they are already caught.
Tancredi is probably in love with upward mobility and surviving in times, rather than in love with Angelica. A bonus that she is beautiful, or not.
Loving this book. The environment artfully reflects what is happening to Don Fabrizio. Hope we read more of Concetta.
Tancredi is also 20 and not in the least a romantic, how in love could he be?
We will see a lot more about Concetta, but not in the way you guys think!
Thank you for the article. It's very helpful when reading, the text is very dense.
I briefly read about the history of Rome during those years, it's a very confusing story with the Pope, the French... History is complicated. But I find it interesting that the Kingdom of Italy in 1860 was without Rome. It's not surprising that they wanted to unite.
In this part, Fabrizio's wife seemed very unpleasant to me. I can't understand how one can want to marry off their daughter to their own nephew and then get upset and say that "a nephew is not a son," it immediately made me think that she wouldn't be against marrying her own children to each other. This was common in aristocracy, of course, but it seems they should have always understood that it wasn't very healthy. And she should have been happy for her daughter that her husband might not be a relative now. But then I felt sorry for her and her fate, living with such a despot. At least she was able to speak her mind.
And what about the new dogs? Where is our beloved dog Bendico? I hope he's alright.
We briefly teach the subject of incest later in the book, how these aristocrats kept marrying within the family and that was another push toward their own extinction. Maria Stella seems to be not very bright, to speak plainly, but we also see her exclusively from Fabrizio's point of view, so, who knows.
The two dogs in the chapter are hunting dogs, they're doing their job! Bendicò is exclusively a pet, we're even told that he's not allowed to eat chicken because bones would upset his stomach, he has special meals prepared for him I think.
You asked if we are liking the book overall - yes, I'm loving it! I'm a bit over-committed with books at the moment, so there have been some long pauses in reading but whenever I pick up The Leopard, I think: oh that's right, this is very good.
And it is! The writing is vivid and astute and also wry - we see each character both front on and sideways (if that makes sense). For example, much of the story is broadly from Don Fabrizio's perspective, and yet there is a fair amount of dramatic irony going on. We see his blind spots and flawed thinking.
I was really struck by that description of the rabbit - such a beautiful passage - and what stayed with me was the comparison to a human being: 'the animal had died tortured by anxious hopes of salvation, imagining it could still escape when it was already caught, just like so many human beings.' I have not read any further ahead, but I'm imagining that this might be one of the broader themes - people imagining they can still escape history / their fate / the future - when they are already caught.