Part 3 and its first story are called T Zero. This story is not identified as being narrated by Qfwfq, and none of the rest of the stories are either. Only part 1 of Priscilla was introduced by Qfwfq but as they form one piece we can assume they all are narrated by him.
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This is the same style he adopts for the rest of part 2. Again, I find myself struggling with this section. It's all discussion of the cellular level, so there's nothing to get hold of - no characters, no images except cells dividing.
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Qfwfq describes this process in detail but again, there's no real story here. Calvino is more interested in the biological process itself than he is in creating a story out of it.
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The first story in this section is called 'Mitosis', defined by the NHGR as 'the process by which a cell replicates its chromosomes and then segregates them, producing two identical nuclei in preparation for cell division.'
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Part 2 of the book is called 'Priscilla' and begins with several quotes from scientists but also writers and philosophers such as Sartre and Bataille.
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In Blood, Sea there is a plot but it is secondary to Qfwfq trying to explain the concept of the story in precise detail. This balance (or, to my mind, imbalance) will repeat itself throughout the rest of the volume.
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Qfwfq tries to get the reader to picture the story as a series of images from a graphic novel. For me this isn't very successful and each description interrupts the story. But it's an early sign that Calvino is more interested in playing with form in this volume.
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It is in the second story, The Origin Of The Birds, where things change. The story itself (of how birds came into being) is again not a million miles from the stories in the first volume but here Calvino adds a new element.
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And indeed that story could fit easily in the first volume. Qfwfq disagrees with a female companion about the soft pieces of the Moon falling to Earth, and the relationship between the two of them is what grounds the surreal imagery.
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The first story, The Soft Moon, suggests we are in for more of the same that we had in that first volume of Cosmicomic stories. A scientific theory is outlined and then Qfwfq narrates a story based on the idea. And as on that volume we open with a story about the Moon.
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Time And The Hunter is split up into 3 sections. The title of the first section is 'More of Qfwfq' - something which gives a clue as to a major difference between this and the original Cosmicomics volume.
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When I started writing this episode a while ago it was going to focus on the environment in Calvino's work, with particular focus on Marcovaldo and Smog. But re-reading The Road To San Giovanni recently for #CalvinoBookClub added a whole new layer. The delay in writing it ended up improving it.
Been meaning to read (or re-read) Calvino's Time And The Hunter? Why not join in with August's #CalvinoBookClub and share your thoughts on it?
August's #CalvinoBookClub title is Time And The Hunter - the second volume of the cosmicomic stories (called T Zero in the US), published 1967. Why not read it along with me and share your thoughts using the hashtag?
I'll be reading it in The Complete Cosmicomics, translated by William Weaver.
I've been struggling with #CalvinoBookClub a little this year. I don't feel I've had anything particularly insightful to say, not sure if it's me or that I did the books I was most passionate about last year. So I'm going to select titles and take a more relaxed approach.
We simply don't know. But does it matter? To judge fiction purely for its historical accuracy is a category error, it has different aims to history. And as Calvino points out, memory is unreliable so complete accuracy is impossible anyway. #CalvinoBookClub #MemoriesOfABattle
But of course these are fictions, stories. They feel more real - but are they? Clearly they are informed by Calvino's own experiences but are the stories, the plots, based on real events or invented? And are the fictional Partisans a fair reflection of the real ones? #CalvinoBookClub
In this instance there is the extra complication of the numerous stories he wrote about the Partisans, all of which feel more direct and create a stronger feeling in the reader of what it felt like to be with the Partisans.
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Again, Calvino's discomfort with autobiography, and his scrupulous approach to truth mean he can not simply recount a possibility inaccurate memory and call it autobiography - he has to deconstruct, to examine not only the events he is trying to remember but memory itself.
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This bears immediate fruit; 'immediately I try to describe the battle in a way I didn't see it, the memories...suddenly pick up speed and direction...Memories of what I didn't see in the battle take on a more precise order and sense than what I really experienced"
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Fearing being cut off in enemy territory, they retreat, but he remembers little of this. In the 'present' Calvino considers a new approach; 'I could bring into focus everything I later found out about the battle'.
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Calvino follows this by admitting that his brigade was not actually part of the battle he is 'remembering' - they hear Fascist songs and realise the battle was lost before they became involved in the fighting - 'My memories of the battle end here.'
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He continues on the unreliable memory theme; 'my fear now is that as soon as a memory forms it immediately takes on the wrong light, mannered, sentimental as war and youth always are...I don't know if I am destroying the past or saving it'.
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A morning on which he was walking with Partisan comrades through woods at 4am, carrying a heavy machine-gun ammunition box. Despite the piece's title, Calvino's brigade is not part of the initial attack, instead held in reserve to cut off escaping fascists. #CalvinoBookClub #MemoriesOfABattle
In fact Calvino begins by talking about memory itself, and how things you do remember can be hidden in your mind. He's trying to remember one particular morning, not completely sure why that one from 30 years earlier.
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That leaves Memories of a Battle. Readers of Calvino's early short stories might think they know what to expect from this piece, but rather than a piece of straight autobiography Calvino returns in it to questioning the reliability of the form.
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Two of the essays did not hold my attention. La Poubelle Agréée describes Calvino's rubbish disposal routine in Paris in exhaustive detail - far more detail than the piece can support. From The Opaque I am afraid remains there, difficult to follow or care about. #CalvinoBookClub
This piece for example is a perfectly pleasant read but doesn't lend itself to analysis - Calvino describes his memories of going to the cinema as a young man, his taste in films at that time and reflections on some of the famous actors. #CalvinoBookClub
Now at this point I have a confession to make. One of the reasons I have put off the #CalvinoBookClub until the last minute this month is that I have struggled to come up with much to say about some of the essays.
A Cinema-Goer's Autobiography probably interests me more now than on any previous reading, as I have recently dived more deeply into the world of black & white cinema, making me more familiar with the actors and films mentioned here.
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