Reliques et déchets dans Le Guépard (Il Gattopardo) de G. Tomasi di Lampedusa

Abstract

The Sicilian novel The Leopard (Il Gattopardo), written between 1955 and 1957 by Prince Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, is a reflection on the political and social changes brought about in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies by Italian unity in 1860–1861. The aim of this article is to highlight the importance in the novel of relics, rubbish and objects abandoned after the death of their owners. On the one hand, their fate symbolises social transformations, but on a more general level it also suggests the ephemeral and tragic nature of human existence.