Wolfe and Calvino

Jesper Svedberg · 23 Feb 2000, 18:35 · from urth-v0028.mbox · original

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From: Jesper Svedberg <jesper.svedberg at mailbox.swipnet.se>
Subject: (urth) Re: Wolfe and Calvino
Date: Wed, 23 Feb 2000 19:35:24 +0100
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> From: "Thomas Jeenicke" <Thomas_Jeenicke at public.uni-hamburg.de>
> Subject: Wolfe and Calvino
> Date: Tue, 22 Feb 2000 14:21:15 +0100
>=20
> Alga suggested in the Whorl-list (message dated 18 Feb 20:06:28) that =3D
> Wolfe could have read Italo Calvino. He might have, but I don't see much =
=3D
> evidence. I think (though maybe I don't know Calvino good enoug) that =3D
> memory per se is not a theme for Calvino, at least not a main theme. =3D
> Nearest (but still quite different) to Wolfe, in my opinion, seems to be =
=3D
> Calvino's labyrinthian novel "Se una notte d' inverno un viaggiatore" =3D
> (first published 1979 - I don't know if there's an english translation, =
=3D
> if so, the title must be something like "When in a night of winter a =3D
> traveller"), which ends in a library (Borges!).
> The whole topic Wolfe-Borges-Calvino raises one question in me: Is Wolfe =
=3D
> a "postmodern" writer? - If that is actually a usefull literary =3D
> categorie (I'm not sure).

The only thing I've read by Calvino is _The Tree Baron_ (title? the
original was
_Il Barone Rapante_ anyway) and the first few pages of _Invisible
Cities_. I'd say
that Wolfe has more in common with Calvino stylewise than contentwise,
the other
similarity would be that they are both intelligent authors who write
intelectual
novels. Although, after taking a quick look at _Invisible Cities_ I
can't help
wondering if Wolfe has read Calvino, _IC_ had the same sense of wonder
that I got
from reading TBotNS, albeit it seemed even more obscure.


  // Jesper Svedberg

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