Although Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa was a prolific reader, until the last few years of his life he had written almost nothing for publication. He first conceived the book that became The Leopard in the 1930s, but did not follow through on the idea at that time.[3] According to Tomasi's widow, Tomasi first conceived the novel as a story to take place over the course of one day in 1860, similar to James Joyce's modernist 1922 novel Ulysses. In the end, only the first chapter conformed to this plan.[3]
In 1954 Tomasi traveled with his cousin Lucio Piccolo, another late-in-life author, to a literary conference in San Pellegrino Terme. Piccolo had been invited on the basis of his recently published poetry, and brought Tomasi as a guest.[4] Also attending were Eugenio Montale,[4] and Emilio Cecchi,[4] Shortly after this, he began writing; as he wrote in 1955, "Being mathematically certain that I was no more foolish [than Lucio], I sat down at my desk and wrote a novel."[5]
By June 1955 he completed a version of the first chapter, conforming to his original intent of a story set in a single 24-hour period in 1860.[6] At this time, few people around him were aware that he was writing: he had always spent large amounts of time alone; those periods were now spent at his writing desk.[7] He finally showed a four-chapter work in progress to close associates in early 1956, corresponding roughly to the first, second, seventh, and eight chapters of the eventual novel.[8]
In May 1956, Tomasi sent a four-chapter typescript to Mondadori in Milan.[9] That summer he wrote two more chapters (drafts of the third and fourth in the final version) and in October he sent these to Mondadori as well.[9] Mondadori rejected the novel in December 1956, although their rejection left open the possibility of considering a future version of the same work.[10] In early 1957 he wrote two more chapters (the eventual fifth and sixth), revised those he had already written, and sent typescripts to several people.[11] With Tomasi's permission, his student Francesco Orlando sent a copy to literary agent Elena Croce, daughter of Benedetto Croce, leaving the author anonymous.[12] Another recipient, bookseller and publisher Fausto Flaccovio, liked the book but was not in the business of publishing fiction; he suggested sending it to Elio Vittorini,[13] unsurprisingly this rather traditional novel did not appeal to modernist Vittorini, who found it "rather old-fashioned" and "essayish".[14]
Eventually, the copy sent to Croce bore fruit, but not in Tomasi's lifetime. In 1957 he was diagnosed with lung cancer; he died on 23 July 1957 in Rome.[14] Elena Croce sent the manuscript to the writer Giorgio Bassani, who brought it to the publisher Feltrinelli. On 3 March 1958, Feltrinelli contacted Tomasi di Lampedusa's widow to make arrangements to publish the novel.[12] It was published in November 1958, and became a bestseller, going through 52 editions in less than six months.[15] Il Gattopardo was quickly recognized as a great work of Italian literature.[16] In 1959 Tomasi di Lampedusa was posthumously awarded the prestigious Strega Prize for the novel.[17]
