Research Paper on:
Taking Risks in Tomasi di Lampedusa's Il Gattopardo

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of Sicily with all of its powerful and arrogant aristocrats. While the work was intended primarily as an autobiographical look at Lampedusas family and its history, he surely was not  ignorant of the fact that his work would receive a great deal of criticism. Anyone familiar with their social and political world knows that pointing out its flaws will bring  a great deal of criticism to the author. Bearing that in mind the following paper examines the autobiographical nature of Lampedusas work and then examines the criticism it received. In  presenting these subjects it will become clear that while Lampedusa was clearly focused on the history of his family, he was also an intelligent man who knew what he was  doing, and perhaps focused on a criticism of his society in order to not only illustrate the times under discussion in his novel, but also to point out the weaknesses  and faults of his society. The Autobiographical One reviewer illustrates that "The novel, apparently based on the life of di Lampedusas great-grandfather, is the story of a proud,  sensual, Sicilian aristocrat at the time of Italys Risorgimento (1860 or thereabouts), and his reaction to the changes he sees in his society: mainly the inevitable, indeed necessary, but still  in some ways regrettable displacement of the aristocracy from their traditional position" (Horton). In this relatively simple description of the novel it is very clear that the story is one  that tells the history of one of Lampedusas ancestors. And, bearing in mind that when we tell the story of ones life it is often important to tell their political  dealings as well, it becomes obvious that Lampedusa knew what he was doing. It should perhaps be understood that while some life stories do not need to incorporate any