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Victor Pegala's avatar

Giovanni Calvino is how Italians refer to the theological reformer John Calvin. Some scholars have drawn a parallel between the ways Marx and Calvin thought about material objects and how their value changes with consecration/circulation. And of course many phenomenologists are also Marxists - though the relationship is problematic. A network of lines that intersect.

Fabio Turel's avatar

I'm not sure if it makes it any easier to understand what he could have possibly meant, but "fenomenologico" corresponds to the adjective "phenomenological".

Salman Rushdie's avatar

Thank you for the correction. I should have used the noun, "fenomenologo," not the adjective. I have corrected it in the text.

Fabio Turel's avatar

Thanks for the beautiful anecdote about one of my most beloved writers, expressing admiration for another of my most beloved authors, told by a third one.

Rohini Chowdhury's avatar

I loved this. Italo Calvino is a very special writer for me. Thank you for writing this.

Dalboz's avatar

Wonderful to read this. I love Calvino's books, especially Invisible Cities. Such a noble and brilliant writer.

Nolan Grey's avatar

What an extraordinarily moving piece of writing that final detail about the comma actually made me gasp. It’s almost unbearably perfect: the writer who spent his life playing with narrative structure, with interruptions and beginnings that never quite resolve, ending mid-sentence, mid-thought, returning to an imagined paradise from his youth. The fact that Chichita could hear the punctuation in his dying words says everything about the intimacy of their connection and about Calvino himself. The story about García Márquez’s Nobel is wonderful too—Calvino’s instinctive reaction, then his gracious recovery to make it about Borges instead captures something essential about literary politics and genuine admiration existing side by side.

eric's avatar

One of the most ever favorite books I have read is “Invisible Cities"

Pages of words that made me believe places in dreams are real.

Nate Wey's avatar

If On a Winters Night is one of my favorite novels of all time. Had no idea you two were connected. Thanks for sharing. This was a really fun and warm piece to read.

Zubair Rezwan's avatar

I am translating it to Persian. I had hard time converting the resemblance of words "Comma" from English to Farsi. They sound "Kama" and "Kouma" in Persian. I added a note about it.

Claudia's avatar

Yes, indeed! Thanks for this… Calvino is my past, present, future..:-)

Carolyn Laffan's avatar

Such a lovely reminiscence. Thank you for sharing it. It is indeed comforting to think of Italo Calvino at home in Marsalia deep in conversation with the Baron.

Philip Stanier's avatar

I wrote my debut as a tribute to Calvino’s invisible cities. Remarkable writer.

Marion Monguillon's avatar

Italo Calvino’s Non-Existent Knight is a masterpiece to me.

Joe's avatar

Some years back, I stumbled over a large selection of Calvino’s novellas in a second-hand bookshop in rural Pennsylvania. Delighted, I purchased them all to distribute among friends. I’m currently reading Mr. Palomar but think it may be time to revisit If on a Winter’s Night, A Traveler next.