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
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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