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Dec. 30th, 2009 03:35 amPut off Castle of Crossed Destinies till last because it seemed tedious and unpleasant. It is, too, to the extent these traits are possible in Calvinoland--the self-imposed obstacles hem him in rather than channeling his energies unto new force, fresh vistas. Bad Oulipo voodoo.
There's strong touches in the second part, Tavern of Crossed Destinies, when he lets himself ignore his own rules, but by that time you're bored with the project, forcing yourself through in irritation, and wouldn't recognize purest plainest genius. I'd say start with part 2 if you ever choose to read this. You'll pick up the rules as you go.
Before that I read Plunge into Real Estate in the [60.] Difficult Loves UK volume, which I'd put off because it's about real estate. Good, probably not great. If [61.] Castle's Calvino's only third-rate book, this may be his only second. Quite possibly I've just reached burnout, finally, or have gotten too tired and distracted; it does make postwar Italian Riviera construction deals a lot more interesting than you'd imagine.
Previous to that was [59.] Numbers in the Dark which is phenomenal, especially for being an uncollected stories volume. I expected the late stuff to be great, though not as great as I found it, but most of the early stories will also stay with me forever. He was already there as a teenage fable-writer (or however one should describe what he does)--his plunge into communist social realism was probably that, a fall, though this slumming brought us some great communist social realism if we're up for that, and some fascinating hybrid stories like Smog. Rather than list favorites I recommend just buying it and discovering your own. As a book it's scarcely weaker than Complete Cosmicomics, with many stories up there with Invisible Cities itself. There's a fun late story, "The Burning of the Abominable House," that feels like a deliberate parody of his '70s tarot project.
I'm not done with Calvino. I've been chipping away at a few of his non-fiction books and there's some fiction ones I haven't read in years: the three novels in the Our Ancestors volume, including The Nonexistent Knight, one of his several peaks; Under a Jaguar Sun which I remember enjoying; and of course If on a winter's night a traveler which I've locked myself into teaching. I'll love it again. Surely some of them will too.
There's strong touches in the second part, Tavern of Crossed Destinies, when he lets himself ignore his own rules, but by that time you're bored with the project, forcing yourself through in irritation, and wouldn't recognize purest plainest genius. I'd say start with part 2 if you ever choose to read this. You'll pick up the rules as you go.
Before that I read Plunge into Real Estate in the [60.] Difficult Loves UK volume, which I'd put off because it's about real estate. Good, probably not great. If [61.] Castle's Calvino's only third-rate book, this may be his only second. Quite possibly I've just reached burnout, finally, or have gotten too tired and distracted; it does make postwar Italian Riviera construction deals a lot more interesting than you'd imagine.
Previous to that was [59.] Numbers in the Dark which is phenomenal, especially for being an uncollected stories volume. I expected the late stuff to be great, though not as great as I found it, but most of the early stories will also stay with me forever. He was already there as a teenage fable-writer (or however one should describe what he does)--his plunge into communist social realism was probably that, a fall, though this slumming brought us some great communist social realism if we're up for that, and some fascinating hybrid stories like Smog. Rather than list favorites I recommend just buying it and discovering your own. As a book it's scarcely weaker than Complete Cosmicomics, with many stories up there with Invisible Cities itself. There's a fun late story, "The Burning of the Abominable House," that feels like a deliberate parody of his '70s tarot project.
I'm not done with Calvino. I've been chipping away at a few of his non-fiction books and there's some fiction ones I haven't read in years: the three novels in the Our Ancestors volume, including The Nonexistent Knight, one of his several peaks; Under a Jaguar Sun which I remember enjoying; and of course If on a winter's night a traveler which I've locked myself into teaching. I'll love it again. Surely some of them will too.
