News

Everything must change

March 25 2020

During this time of enforced isolation, these quotes from one of my favourite books caught my attention.

They are from The Leopard by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa: a wonderfully evocative portrait of a Sicilian aristocrat, Don Fabrizio Salina, at the time of Italian unification. His nephew supports unification because “Everything must change so that everything can stay the same”. (The book is beautifully narrated by Alex Jennings here or in Visconti’s gorgeously lush film version).

Don Fabrizio admires his cynical nephew, clever enough to fall in love with a member of the new moneyed bourgeoisie. But he knows that, as a member of the old ruling class, he is part of “an unlucky generation …. suspended between the old world and the new …. and ill at ease in both”.

The Piedmontese politician sent to persuade him to become a Senator in the new Italy is told by Don Fabrizio that he is not suitable. He has no illusions. He lacks “the faculty of self-deception, that essential requisite for anyone wanting to guide others”. The politician needs to look for those who are “good at masking and blending … their obvious personal interests with vague public ideals.”

There have been few better summaries of the political class.

The politician leaves, his final thoughts on the Sicilians summarised as: “All were fundamentally equal. All were comrades in misfortune.”

Not just Sicilians, these days.

Photo by Mattia Bericchia on Unsplash