Controversy
The novel was assailed from all sides upon its publication. Even the first attempt at its publishing failed when Lampedusa was told by an Italian editor that "his novel is unpublishable." When it was finally posthumously published in 1958, conservative elements criticized its portrayal of the decadence of both the nobility and clergy. Leftist elements attacked the novel for its criticism of Italian unification and the destruction of the nobility. The novel's decidedly non-Marxist depiction of the Sicilian working class also enraged the influential Communist Party of Italy.
Despite or because of this controversy, The Leopard was to gain great critical acclaim, most famously from the English novelist E.M. Forster. In 1959, it won Italy's highest award for fiction, the Strega Prize.
Read more about this topic: The Leopard
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