Abstract

This paper investigates the various stylistic ways in which the author of "The Leopard" emphasizes the bestial and sordid attributes of every human character in his novel, idealizing and humanizing in the meantime the real beasts which rub them. In Tomasi's perspective animals express an anti-humanistic and nihilistic vitalism that derives from the nietzschean philosophy and also to some extent from D'Annunzio's work. This viewpoint is one of the chief sources of inspiration for The Leopard which fulfilment and best outcome will achieved in the short novel "The Siren".