Wonderful interview and couldn't help identifying (in an aspirational sort of way) with Gioacchino (whose book I bought yesterday), for there are extraordinary parallels between G.B. Edwards' The Book of Ebenezer le Page and The Leopard. Lampedusa and his creation, Don Fabrizio, are both nostalgic vestiges of a pre-modern world, casting critical eyes on the new, mercantile vulgarity that encroaches upon their island. G.B. Edwards and his creation, Ebenezer, respond in similar ways to equivalent encroachments on Guernsey. The fact that Don Fabrizio is an aristocrat and Ebenezer a peasant, only sharpens the symmetry, for both are anachronisms whose ancient wisdom encourages them to resist change.Don Fabrizio’s relationship with his impetuous nephew, Tancredi, parallels the real Lampedusa’s friendship with Gioacchino, the young cousin he eventually adopted, just as Ebenezer’s relationship with the rebellious Neville Falla, the young man who will eventually marry his illegitimate grand-daughter, resembles Gerald’s friendship with me (to whom he gave his typescript). Each of us was appointed the heir of the author and each helped get our mentor's single, late masterpiece published after his death, after rejections by publishers who should have known better....
Wonderful interview and couldn't help identifying (in an aspirational sort of way) with Gioacchino (whose book I bought yesterday), for there are extraordinary parallels between G.B. Edwards' The Book of Ebenezer le Page and The Leopard. Lampedusa and his creation, Don Fabrizio, are both nostalgic vestiges of a pre-modern world, casting critical eyes on the new, mercantile vulgarity that encroaches upon their island. G.B. Edwards and his creation, Ebenezer, respond in similar ways to equivalent encroachments on Guernsey. The fact that Don Fabrizio is an aristocrat and Ebenezer a peasant, only sharpens the symmetry, for both are anachronisms whose ancient wisdom encourages them to resist change.Don Fabrizio’s relationship with his impetuous nephew, Tancredi, parallels the real Lampedusa’s friendship with Gioacchino, the young cousin he eventually adopted, just as Ebenezer’s relationship with the rebellious Neville Falla, the young man who will eventually marry his illegitimate grand-daughter, resembles Gerald’s friendship with me (to whom he gave his typescript). Each of us was appointed the heir of the author and each helped get our mentor's single, late masterpiece published after his death, after rejections by publishers who should have known better....
A unique presentation of Tomasi de Lampedusa and the history of Sicily 🌿
Gioacchino is such an engaging speaker - a wonderful insight into one of my favourite writers. Thank you for uploading this!