YOU MIGHT think that a nostalgic novel about a declining 19th-century Sicilian aristocrat by an unknown writer would have sunk without trace. Yet Giuseppe To-masi di Lampedusa's "The Leopard", first published in 1958 shortly after his death, became a classic. One reason is that it is an extraordinarily evocative piece of writing. Another is that it distils timeless truths about revolutions and the rise and fall of elites. Wherever you might be locked down, "The Leopard" will transport you to western Sicily, a "lovely, faithless land" of "sun and dust", of "carnal delights and golden crops", of lush gardens and barren mountains, of crumbling palaces and Ozy-mandian monuments to an ancient past of multiple invasions. Its people are sunk in a "voluptuous torpor", their vanity stronger than their misery, full of secrets nobody keeps.
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机译：您可能会认为，一部不知名的作家所著的关于19世纪西西里贵族不断下降的怀旧小说将无处沉没。然而，朱塞佩·托马西·迪·兰佩杜萨（Giuseppe To-masi di Lampedusa）死后不久于1958年首次出版的《豹》（The Leopard）成为经典。原因之一是这是一部令人回味的作品。另一个是它散布了关于革命和精英兴衰的永恒真理。无论您处在何处，“豹”都会将您运送到西西里岛西部，这里是“阳光与尘土”，“肉类佳肴和金黄农作物”，郁郁葱葱的花园和贫瘠的山峦，崩溃的“可爱，不忠实的土地”古老入侵的古老宫殿和奥曼帝国纪念碑。它的人民沉迷于“妖to的火炬”中，虚荣心比苦难还要浓烈，充满着秘密。
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