Italo Calvino, The Art of Fiction No. 130 (1992) • Hacker News Board

Re: Italo Calvino, The Art of Fiction No. 130 (1992)

#11

Post by ycombinete » Thu, Oct 24, 2019, 6:15 AM UTC

retsibsi wrote: post #9

realbarack wrote: post #4

One of my favorite passages of prose is from Calvino's "Invisible Cities"; I can't pass up the opportunity to share it on HN: "When a man rides a long time through wild regions he feels the desire for a city. Finally he comes to Isidora, a city where the buildings have spiral staircases encrusted with spiral seashells, where perfect telescopes and violins are made, where the foreigner hesitating between two women alw…

Invisible cities was too visual for me (I have a weak visual imagination, so I can't appreciate books that rely too heavily on images), but I really liked If On A Winter's Night a Traveler, and this quote reminds me that I want to read more Calvino. Would you (or anyone else here) recommend another book of his, given those preferences/weaknesses of mine?

His letters. Wonderfully written, and not visual at all.

Re: Italo Calvino, The Art of Fiction No. 130 (1992)

#12

Post by alberto_ol » Thu, Oct 24, 2019, 6:30 AM UTC

retsibsi wrote: post #9

realbarack wrote: post #4

One of my favorite passages of prose is from Calvino's "Invisible Cities"; I can't pass up the opportunity to share it on HN: "When a man rides a long time through wild regions he feels the desire for a city. Finally he comes to Isidora, a city where the buildings have spiral staircases encrusted with spiral seashells, where perfect telescopes and violins are made, where the foreigner hesitating between two women alw…

Invisible cities was too visual for me (I have a weak visual imagination, so I can't appreciate books that rely too heavily on images), but I really liked If On A Winter's Night a Traveler, and this quote reminds me that I want to read more Calvino. Would you (or anyone else here) recommend another book of his, given those preferences/weaknesses of mine?

Italian here. I read all Calvino's novels and short-stories in high school. I would suggest The Nonexistent Knight and Cosmicomics. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Nonexistent_Knight https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmicomics

Re: Italo Calvino, The Art of Fiction No. 130 (1992)

#13

Post by retsibsi » Thu, Oct 24, 2019, 6:43 AM UTC

p0llard wrote: post #10

retsibsi wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's even enjoyable by people who would be put off by the phrase 'alarmingly postmodern'. It's playful and weird and meta, sure, but it's not difficult (or purely an excuse for Calvino to show off), and there is sincerity not far below the surface.

Perhaps I chose my words poorly; I very much enjoyed reading it, and would strongly recommend it to anyone.

Sorry, I didn't mean that as a criticism, and your message was pretty clear. I just thought that some people (possibly me, if I hadn't already read the book) might be unnecessarily put off by that final phrase.

Re: Italo Calvino, The Art of Fiction No. 130 (1992)

#14

Post by retsibsi » Thu, Oct 24, 2019, 6:46 AM UTC

ycombinete wrote: post #11

retsibsi wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Invisible cities was too visual for me (I have a weak visual imagination, so I can't appreciate books that rely too heavily on images), but I really liked If On A Winter's Night a Traveler, and this quote reminds me that I want to read more Calvino. Would you (or anyone else here) recommend another book of his, given those preferences/weaknesses of mine?

His letters. Wonderfully written, and not visual at all.

Thanks! Not something I would have naturally gravitated to, but I think I might enjoy them.

Re: Italo Calvino, The Art of Fiction No. 130 (1992)

#15

Post by kaffeemitsahne » Thu, Oct 24, 2019, 6:48 AM UTC

retsibsi wrote: post #9

realbarack wrote: post #4

One of my favorite passages of prose is from Calvino's "Invisible Cities"; I can't pass up the opportunity to share it on HN: "When a man rides a long time through wild regions he feels the desire for a city. Finally he comes to Isidora, a city where the buildings have spiral staircases encrusted with spiral seashells, where perfect telescopes and violins are made, where the foreigner hesitating between two women alw…

Invisible cities was too visual for me (I have a weak visual imagination, so I can't appreciate books that rely too heavily on images), but I really liked If On A Winter's Night a Traveler, and this quote reminds me that I want to read more Calvino. Would you (or anyone else here) recommend another book of his, given those preferences/weaknesses of mine?

I have no visual imagination at all, but loved Invisible Cities. Just wanted to mention this so other non-imagers don't discard this wonderful book :)

Re: Italo Calvino, The Art of Fiction No. 130 (1992)

#16

Post by retsibsi » Thu, Oct 24, 2019, 6:48 AM UTC

alberto_ol wrote: post #12

retsibsi wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Invisible cities was too visual for me (I have a weak visual imagination, so I can't appreciate books that rely too heavily on images), but I really liked If On A Winter's Night a Traveler, and this quote reminds me that I want to read more Calvino. Would you (or anyone else here) recommend another book of his, given those preferences/weaknesses of mine?

Italian here. I read all Calvino's novels and short-stories in high school. I would suggest The Nonexistent Knight and Cosmicomics. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Nonexistent_Knight https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmicomics

Thanks! Cosmicomics rings a bell as something I'd considered reading but never got around to, and those mini-synopses on the Wikipedia page are pretty enticing.

Re: Italo Calvino, The Art of Fiction No. 130 (1992)

#17

Post by qfwfq_ » Thu, Oct 24, 2019, 8:31 AM UTC

retsibsi wrote: post #9

realbarack wrote: post #4

One of my favorite passages of prose is from Calvino's "Invisible Cities"; I can't pass up the opportunity to share it on HN: "When a man rides a long time through wild regions he feels the desire for a city. Finally he comes to Isidora, a city where the buildings have spiral staircases encrusted with spiral seashells, where perfect telescopes and violins are made, where the foreigner hesitating between two women alw…

Invisible cities was too visual for me (I have a weak visual imagination, so I can't appreciate books that rely too heavily on images), but I really liked If On A Winter's Night a Traveler, and this quote reminds me that I want to read more Calvino. Would you (or anyone else here) recommend another book of his, given those preferences/weaknesses of mine?

Cosmicomics has long been my single favorite collection of written work. Calvino's amazing.

Re: Italo Calvino, The Art of Fiction No. 130 (1992)

#18

Post by kristianov » Thu, Oct 24, 2019, 9:21 AM UTC

qfwfq_ wrote: post #17

retsibsi wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Invisible cities was too visual for me (I have a weak visual imagination, so I can't appreciate books that rely too heavily on images), but I really liked If On A Winter's Night a Traveler, and this quote reminds me that I want to read more Calvino. Would you (or anyone else here) recommend another book of his, given those preferences/weaknesses of mine?

Cosmicomics has long been my single favorite collection of written work. Calvino's amazing.

Username checks out!

Re: Italo Calvino, The Art of Fiction No. 130 (1992)

#19

Post by riffraff » Thu, Oct 24, 2019, 9:44 AM UTC

retsibsi wrote: post #9

realbarack wrote: post #4

One of my favorite passages of prose is from Calvino's "Invisible Cities"; I can't pass up the opportunity to share it on HN: "When a man rides a long time through wild regions he feels the desire for a city. Finally he comes to Isidora, a city where the buildings have spiral staircases encrusted with spiral seashells, where perfect telescopes and violins are made, where the foreigner hesitating between two women alw…

Invisible cities was too visual for me (I have a weak visual imagination, so I can't appreciate books that rely too heavily on images), but I really liked If On A Winter's Night a Traveler, and this quote reminds me that I want to read more Calvino. Would you (or anyone else here) recommend another book of his, given those preferences/weaknesses of mine?

it's been a while since I read it, and it wasn't my favourite, but I believe Palomar[0] was much less visual than Invisible Cities.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._Palomar

Re: Italo Calvino, The Art of Fiction No. 130 (1992)

#20

Post by bschne » Thu, Oct 24, 2019, 10:40 AM UTC

realbarack wrote: post #4

One of my favorite passages of prose is from Calvino's "Invisible Cities"; I can't pass up the opportunity to share it on HN: "When a man rides a long time through wild regions he feels the desire for a city. Finally he comes to Isidora, a city where the buildings have spiral staircases encrusted with spiral seashells, where perfect telescopes and violins are made, where the foreigner hesitating between two women alw…

This is another one that really stuck with me:

"But with all this, I would not be telling you the city's true essence; for while the description of Anastasia awakens desires one at a time only to force you to stifle them, when you are in the heart of Anastasia one morning your desires waken all at once and surround you. The city appears to you as a whole where no desire is lost and of which you are a part, and since it enjoys everything you do not enjoy, you can do nothing but inhabit this desire and be content. Such is the power, sometimes called malignant, sometimes benign, that Anastasia, the treacherous city, possesses; if for eight hours a day you work as a cutter of agate, onyx, chrysoprase, your labor which gives form to desire takes from desire its form, and you believe you are enjoying Anastasia wholly when you are only its slave."