Abstract This text is an examination of Italo Calvino's two texts 'Invisible Cities' and 'If on a Winter's Night a Traveller'. This paper discusses how both texts explore the theme of illusion versus reality and each offers instances of this phenomenon taking place. If there is a significant difference between the two texts - aside from their subject matter - it lies in the writing techniques Calvino employs to create his desired effect.
From the Paper "Italo Calvino's two texts, Invisible Cities and If on a Winter's Night a Traveller, both deal with the theme of illusion versus reality. This paper will explore the concepts of illusion versus reality as they occur within each text and explain how Calvino's writing style can be explained with regards to each text. With that in mind, it is to a discussion of Calvino's two popular and critically-acclaimed texts that this paper now turns. To begin with, Calvino's Invisible Cities is written in such a way as to create a sort of dreamscapes of the mind. "
Abstract This paper introduces the author Italo Calvino. The paper presents a brief background of Calvino's life and discusses several of his literary works. The paper contends that much of Calvino's writings, especially "Castle", is indicative of the 'nouveau roman', the new novel, popular in Europe during the 1950s and 1960s that tried different ways of altering the normal narrative approach. The paper examines the metaphorical use of tarot cards in Calvino's work, specifically citing examples from "The Waverer's Tale" and "Castle of Crossed Destinies".
From the Paper "Historians differ on the origin of tarot cards. Most believe that Egypt was the first to use similar images and symbols. Tarot is also represented from the early Greek, Roman, Norse and Indian cultures to the Italian and French medieval courts. The first clear reference to tarot is based on an Italian sermon from about 1500 A.D. (Pratesi). Regardless of origination, it is agreed that many civilizations-ancient to modern-have commonly used the tarot to divine the future. It is not unusual, then, to see references of these cards in literature. Writers integrate it into their plot; poets use it as imagery. Italo Calvino's Castle of Crossed Destinies provides an excellent example of tarot not only used within the plot, but as a narrative metaphor. He weaves his narration around a group of medieval travelers staying at a castle who find themselves incapable of speaking."
Abstract This essay looks at how Calvino views the nature of narrative in the novel "If on a winters night a traveler" and how his intentions can be both serious and satirical. The paper explores the narrative devices that Calvino uses in his novel, and his lack of adherence to generic and narrative conventions. The paper also looks at the demystification of the notion of authority and authorship in the novel, and cites in this subject Roland Barthe's "Death of an Author."
From the Paper "In Alan Haspel's essay Calvino's Fairy-tale, he states that 'The didactic beginning of this novel is a mechanism Calvino utilises to ensure the reader that a fantastic, adventurous story is about to begin'. This is true to a certain extent as it does help build up suspense but I feel that the main reason Calvino uses this style is to parody the words of a storyteller reading to a young child. I think that this is his way of mocking both, the storyteller role of the writer, and the position of the innocent reader who has just picked up the book. Calvino begins the novel by speaking to the reader in a patronising tone, as if to a child. Calvino has comic intentions because he uses an intrusive and knowing tone to satirise the authority that other writers feel they have. On the other hand Calvino's intentions could be serious and the tone could be seen as conversational, a way of helping the reader to become more engaged in the novel. The storyteller beginning is a great contrast to the complex, psychological nature of the last few stories. This represents the way in which the reader develops through reading the novel."
Abstract This paper compares the novels of Calvino's 'Invisible Cities' to Borges? 'The Library of Babel'. It summarizes the stylistic and thematic similarities between the work of the great Argentine, Borges and the postmodern Italian, Calvino. The author illustrates how these writers seeks to emphasize the reader in their stories.
From the Paper "Striking parallels exist between the work of Italo Calvino and the great Argentine, Jorge Luis Borges. To begin with, both writers, as John Barth deftly summarizes, ?wrote in a clear, straightforward, unmannered ? but rigorously scrupulous style?, (Barth, 2) or, as Mclaughlin put it: "the brevity that encompasses infinity" (Mclaughlin, 108). They preferred the laconic short take, and even Calvino's longer works are "modular and combinatory, built up from smaller, quicker units" (Barth, 2). They were prevailingly disinclined to social/psychological realism, favoring ?myth and fable and science in Calvino's case, literary/philosophical history and "the contamination of reality by dream" in Borges? case? (Barth, 2). In keeping with typically postmodern tendencies, "both writers inclined toward the ironic elevation of popular narrative genres", as well as the "ironic recycling of stock images" (Barth, 2-3). Finally, Barth explains how both of these brilliant authors managed to combine in their fiction the values he calls "Algebra" and "Fire", referring to formal ingenuity and passion. Two works that exemplify all of these characteristics are Calvino's Invisible Cities and Borges? The Library of Babel. These two works provide a suitable platform for discussion of some of the most salient themes and formal characteristics associated with these renowned authors."
Abstract This paper presents an overview of the book "If on a Winter's Night a Traveler" by Italo Calvino. The paper outlines the three ways that Calvino tries to emancipate and liberate the slaves of reading. Calvino starts off by challenging the reader's expectations about a book so in the future readers will begin other books without any prejudices, especially in regards to the author or the genre. Secondly, he attempts to show the readers how reading too deeply into a story as well as reading books superficially, is not the way of approaching any book. Lastly, Calvino informs the readers about how different perspectives to the same book are legitimate, and that they can also add to the experience of a book.
From the Paper "Calvino is trying to liberate the slaves of reading by defying their expectations. Calvino first does this when he lets the reader be a character in the story, consistently throughout the story referring to the reader in the second person. It is quite unusual that the author is talking to the reader as if they are right next to each other: "Well, what are you waiting for" Stretch your legs, go ahead, put your feet on a cushion??(pp.3). The narrative is set up in a way that sounds as if a mother is reading a fairy-tale to her child. In this way, the author is making the reader feel comfortable when reading and hence trying to emancipate the reader. This fairy-tale motif is used throughout the book, especially in terms of structure. Calvino echoes the structure of the Arabian Nights story of Shahrazad, who, in order to save her life, told one story after another, linking the climax of the story to another story, which once reaching the climax, was linked once again to a brand new story. However, Calvino appropriates the story with a postmodern twist, than defies the expectation of the reader."
Tags: postmodern, winter, reading, reader, literature
Abstract The paper explains Calvino's theme in his work "Marcovaldo: or the Seasons in the City" that the normal everyday lives of people are filled with magic and wonder, if we take the time to look. The paper analyzes how Calvino conveys this message and focuses on how the main character, Marcovaldo, finds magic in the small things in life. The paper notes Calvino's underlying idea that life is what we make of it and we are responsible for the lives we pursue.
From the Paper "Italo Calvino's Marcovaldo, or Seasons in the City is a series of stories in the style of magical realism, with a meaning delivered by the author that seeks to look below the surface of otherwise mundane events to find a hidden meaning and hidden stories upon closer examination of normally unnoticed or mundane details in every day life. The magical stories that the author extracts from seeing normal events from an unusual standpoint in an industrial town in Northern Italy is the stuff that dreams are made of, and that the meaning and message of this book is made of. In a word, the author seems to be challenging us all to re-orient our eyes, and see life anew, and appreciate the magic, mystery and wonder in this world."
A comparison of fact and fiction in the two tales of the adventures of Marco Polo - "The Travels: Marco Polo" by Marco Polo and "Invisible Cities" by Italo Calvino.
Abstract This paper discusses and compares Marco Polo's "The Travels: Marco Polo" and the Italian postmodern author, Italo Calvino's "Invisible Cities." It specifically looks at how the books relate the exploits of the 12th century adventurer, Marco Polo, as tales of wonder and amazement. The paper particularly focuses on Calvino's mix between fact and fiction in the work.
From the Paper "The main rhetorical joining strategy in Calvino is merely the use of the frame tale, with no sense of chronology or linear narration or urgency for telling the stories. Despite Polo's protest, the stories about the cities themselves are fairly disconnected and disparate. Calvino's Polo catalogues the cities under different headings, but there is no mention about the struggle to get to the city, or an attempt to locate the city in a specific country. In fact, the structure of the work seems to eschew such temporal grounding. The only grounding is the fairly theoretical debates about the nature of truth between Kublai Khan and Marco Polo, dispersed between descriptions of the different locations."
Abstract In this article the writer provides an analysis of Calvino's book "Marcovaldo or The Seasons in the City". The writer explains that this book concerns industrialism in Northern Italy after WWII. Further, the writer discusses how the main character's life is impacted by the effects of industrialism and capitalism.
From the Paper "The industrialization that pervaded Northern Italy after World War II created changes in the cities there, as well as their inhabitants. Such changes and their impact are often the focus of Calvino's 'Marcovaldo The Seasons in the City'. Marcovaldo's experiences are viewed with humor and poignancy by Calvino from his flights of fancy while being forced to toil in a thankless position for the S.B.A.V. Co. to his struggles to ... "
From the Paper "This paper will discuss Italo Calvino's book Marcovaldo, or The Seasons in the City. This book is a collection of twenty short stories, all of which depict events in the life of the title character, Marcovaldo. The stories are placed within the book in a seasonal order; in other words, the first story takes place in Spring, the second in Summer, and so on, consecutively. This gives the effect of the reader experiencing a span of several years duration in the life of Marcovaldo.
Marcovaldo is a poor workman living in an industrial city in northern Italy during the 1950's and '60's. Although he is a factory worker in an urban area, Marcovaldo "possessed an eye ill-suited to city life," and is always noticing the signs of..."
Abstract This paper examines the notion that, while a literary work will continue to thrive for a long time, the figure of the author will vanish. To this extent, the paper analyzes a quote by Italo Calvino that expresses this idea. The paper relates "The Death of the Author" by Roland Barthes to a discussion on James Joyce's "Ulysses," explaining how Joyce questions the authority of the author in "Ulysses," his cyclical vision of literature, his use of inter-textuality and varying styles, and his aim to damage the 'tyranny of the author'.
From the Paper "Ulysses is renowned for its extensive use of intertextuality, through which Joyce could be said to undermine his own position as author. Ulysses propounds a cyclical, modernist view of history and of literature. The story of Homer's The Odyssey is self-consciously recuperated, its characters brought to life in twentieth century Dublin. The myth is revived, and the banal is elevated by a mythic dimension. Simultaneously, the past and the present are brought into ironic contrast, to comic effect. The past is renewed in Ulysses, but Joyce seems to doubt that anything completely 'new' can ever exist; history is a cycle, people are 'types' not individuals, and literature is a process not of creation, but of recycling. In this way, Joyce seems to doubt the author's ability to 'create', to ever be original, and it is this ability to create which is viewed as the main function of the author, and is the reason for much of society's admiration for them."
Abstract The following third year environmental studies assignment is a book review of "The Baron in the Trees". The review looks at the story, major themes and evaluates the book. The paper focuses on the themes of nature civilization and freedom oppression.
From the Paper "The Baton in the Trees is the fictional account of Cosimo Piovasco di Rondo the rebellious son of Baron Arminip Piovasco di Rondo. After refusing to eat the snails that he had tried to free, Cosimo decides that he will protest his oppressive situation by moving into the trees and never coming down (Calvino 12-13). Cosimo's relations initially think that he is going through a phase and try to ignore his antics (Calvino 14). However, Cosimo is serious about remaining in the trees and manages to remain in the tree his entire life."
