When Posterity Reaps the Reward

Contented people are all alike, but aspirational types, who are by definition always unsatisfied, tend to be aspirational in their own ways. Of this latter category of unhappy folks what about those who have not made it and remain hopeful until the very end (which means they’re doomed to life of almost unremitting suffering)? In the unfortunate event, they do get their Leopard published, they may spend their last days putting the final touches on a masterpiece whose acclaim they will never enjoy. Naturally someone’s going to profit, at least from the legacy of genius. This is not always the way that elusive quality of notoriety is attained, but it did occur in the case of  Count Giuseppe Tomaso di Lampedusa whose great masterpiece, Il Gattopardo encompassing the fall of the Bourbon dynasty and the advent of Garibaldi's Risorgimento only brought him posthumous fame.

Read "The Prophet" by Francis Levy, TheScreamingPope