Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, the author of one of the most poignant and endurin
gly popular novels of the twentieth century, left only a few other pieces of fic
tion when he died prematurely at the age of sixty. Childhood Memories and Other
Stories, here presented in a new translation by Stephen Parkin and including pre
viously deleted passages and the unpublished fragment 'Torretta', collects all o
f Lampedusa's extant shorter fiction and provides a revealing glimpse into the w
riter's workshop and the background to the composition of his masterpiece. From
the atmospheric recollections of the Palazzo Lampedusa and the Palazzo Filangeri
Cuto at the turn of the twentieth century in 'Childhood Memories' to the deligh
tful fable 'The Siren', from the gently humorous, bitter sweet tones of 'Joy and
the Law' to 'The Blind Kittens' - the first chapter of what was intended to be
a sequel to The Leopard - this volume showcases Lampedusa's unparalleled ob ser
vational powers and narrative skills.
