Viscount Medardo is bisected by a Turkish cannonball on the plains of Bohemia; Baron Cosimo, at the age of twelve, retires to the trees for the rest of his days; Charlemagne's knight, Agiluf, is an empty suit of armour. These three vivid images are the points of departure for Calvino's classic triptych of moral tales, now published in one volume and all displaying the exuberant talent of a master storyteller.
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About the Author
Italo Calvino was born in Cuba in 1923. He grew up in Italy. He was an essayist and journalist and a member of the editorial staff of Einaudi in Turin. In 1973 he won the prestigious Premio Feltrinelli. He died in 1985
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Our Ancestors,
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This review is from: Our Ancestors: "Cloven Viscount", "Baron in the Trees" and "Non-existent Knight" (Picador Books) (Paperback)
Calvino writes with a child's sense of wonder. Each of the stories within - and there are three, which I'll review separately in a minute - Each one has improbable story lines and magical situations, but at the same time these events can be accepted as reality easily because everyone else does. When Cosimo ascends to the trees for his entire life, people are confused as to why he would do it but the sheer ridiculousness of it all is never questioned. He is an easy author to read, and an entertaining one. All three of the stories seemed somehow elemental, enduring, as though he did not create them so much as found them. The stories were waiting for him like a statue waits for an sculptor or a painting for a painter. The Cloven Viscount The shortest of the three stories, The Cloven Viscount is about a man who is split in half by a cannon ball. One half returns to his kingdom where he rules, it is the evil half and goes about terrorising the peasants. The other half wanders about for a few years doing good deeds until it comes to its kingdom of birth. Naturally the two halves dislike each other, and even more naturally they both fall in love with the same woman. The ending is predictable, but it is the writing that makes this story worth it. The peasants and everyone simply accept that their lord is half a man, and an evil one at that (He goes around halving everything he finds: Pears, trees, butterflies, mushrooms, etc), and they accept as well when the 'Good Un' shows up. Baron in the Trees My favourite, and the longest. At twelve, Cosimo decides in a fit of anger to climb up into the trees and never return. We follow his adventures in the branches - finding friends, surviving, reading books and even falling in love - and this is just wonderful. Every page was a joy to read and the whole thing was remarkably believable. The writing was so amazing that I myself didn't want to walk around while I read it (I was reading it on a couch) because I felt like it wouldn't be right. The book is worth buying for this story alone. I did have a small problem with this story, though. There is a fairly large section to do with a war and rebellion that, for me, went on too long. Even though the focus remained on Cosimo throughout all this, I felt that the main thread had moved away from him too much. Either way though, this story is amazing, and the war bit really isn't that long. The Non-Existant Knight I liked this one, but not as much as the other two. I think I was still so much in awe of the Baron in the Trees that I didn't fully appreciate this story until ~50 pages in, but once I had gotten that far I was hooked. Agiluf, the Non-Existant Knight is an entertaining enough character, and he does get into adventures, but I did get bored in certain patches. The narrating nun I found to be tiresome and I thought she broke the story up too much. And Rimbaudt? Uninteresting until the end. But what an ending! Everything tied up neatly, and sadly, but humorously at the same time. In retrospect, the ending was predictable, I guessed it before it was announced, but that didn't change its impact or the sense of satisfaction I felt. Interestingly, even the rambling was described to an extant that I'm comfortable with and now, twenty minutes after I finished it, I've decided I enjoyed it a lot. In conclusion, this book is highly recommended. I haven't read anything else by Calvino, but after this I most certainly want to.
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