This episode of the Great Writers series focuses on Italian author Giuseppe Di Lampedusa. Born into wealth, this multifaceted Sicilian prince was also an astronomer and served in the armed forces. Lampedusa used his own family as a model for his epic novel &NFi;Il Gattopardo&NFi_; ("The Leopard"). It was posthumously awarded the Premio Strega and has since been recognized as one of the most important examples of 20th-century Italian literature.
Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon, two of England's most important World War I poets are sent, along with other traumatized combatants, to a rest home in order to treat their emotional troubles, caused by the psychological fatigue that suffer the soldiers fighting in the no man's land.
How could this privileged man of overwhelming accomplishment and talent be suicidal? Journey through the 84 years of the 20th century that are Waite's World with his friends, coworkers, and family for a unprecedented inside look at an extraordinary talent.