'The Leopard': Sicily, Italy and the Supranational Cultural Imaginary

In this lecture, Simonetta Agnello-Hornby gives her perspective on The Leopard, its author Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa and the role the novel has played in representing Sicily and its culture in Europe and beyond. She addresses three key questions: Have Italians, or some of them, or other Europeans changed their view and approach towards Sicily and Sicilians? Has the success of Visconti’s 1963 film had a greater effect on the image of Sicily abroad and in Sicily itself, than the book? Has the impact of gattopardismo benefitted Sicily economically and socially?

Presented in conjunction with and the support of The School of Humanities and Social Sciences at La Trobe University and The School of Languages, Literatures, Cultures and Linguistics at Monash University.

Presenter

Simonetta Agnello-Hornby, Multi award-winning author

Multi-award winning author, Simonetta Agnello-Hornby was born in Palermo and has spent most of her adult life in London. Her debut novel La Mennulara/The Almond Picker was published in Italy in 2002 by Feltrinelli. Translated into more than ten languages, it shortly became an international bestseller. Following the success of La Mennulara, she has published several novels such as, La zia Marchesa/The Marchesa, 2005; Boccamurata, 2007; Vento Scomposto, 2009; La Monaca/The Nun, 2010; 8Il veleno dell'Oleandro, 2013; Caffè amaro, 2016 and various memoirs, short stories, and nonfiction works. In 2016 she was awarded the Order of the Star of Italy in the rank of Grand Officer by the President of the Italian Republic. In November 2018, the publisher Feltrinelli will launch the graphic novel version of La Mennulara, created in collaboration with comic book artist and illustrator Massimo Fenati.