n  PARALLEL WORLDSn

Most peculiar this Fable. Or at least its beginnings.

It baffled me that after the initial proposition, the notion of a young nobleman exiling himself to live in the trees of his family’s estate--a proposition that has a great deal of charm and immediately captivates the reader--, a fair amount of the early part of the novel is devoted at making the unlikely believable, and the unbelievable likely.

For the ordered and systematic transposition of the life on the ground onto its parallel life in the trees made me wonder whether the initial idea was becoming less and less lofty.

Unquestionably, the novel never stopped being a great pleasure to read. Calvino’s prose (in translation, but I like to remind myself that Spanish and Italian are sister languages) is sheer delight. Clear and balanced sentences rich in imaginative detail. But the undoing of the doing – the bringing down to the ground what had been raised above it, or rather, the raising of the ground until the higher branches seemed just another ground, perplexed me.

That is until suddenly the magic of the allegory crystalized in my mind: Cosimo, the young nobleman, as the writer, as the creator of his own world, keeping a separate existence but never forgetting the world from which he originates and which he never stops observing. Life in parallel worlds.

With this interpretation, the setting of the story during the Enlightenment received a new glow for me too. I had been noting the various references: Paul Et Virginie; La nouvelle Héloïse. Tome I; Montesquieu; Clarissa, or, the History of a Young Lady; Henry Fielding. All mentioned with enthusiasm. Cosimo lived in the century of Utopias.

But this novel reminds us that absolutism followed the epoch of ideas, and that Cosimo’s parallel world, like most utopias, can dissolve.

What was Calvino trying to tell us about his world?

Rating: 4* of five

The Publisher Says: Cosimo, a young eighteenth-century Italian nobleman, rebels by climbing into the trees to remain there for the rest of his life. He adapts efficiently to an arboreal existence and even has love affairs.

My Review: This being a famous and well-studied book, I suppose the publisher didn't feel the need to do a sell-job on it. That little squib is barely a log-line!

I read this book first in ~1974, because it had a cool-looking jacket. It also had an Italian author, which was also cool. But the reading of it was a revelation because the titular Baron was the perfect rebel, firm of purpose and adamant of spirit. And all over what seems, at first anyway, such a ridiculous cause: Refusing to eat snails. I'd never had snails offered to me at that point, and I was in full agreement with the Baron. But as the pages flipped on, I could see what was really at stake was the right to set one's own boundaries, to establish a core identity by and for one's own self.

All adolescents resonate to that theme, I think, and that's why I'm surprised that this book isn't required reading until college. It would serve well in junior or senior year of high school. Anything that deals with the process and price of becoming and being an individual seems to me to be a good fit for that age. Plus it's beautifully translated, so it's easy to read.

And for the record, I ate snails the first time they were offered to me. They were delicious.

A witty and whimsical work by Calvino, at least the first part, the second not to much. Cosimo is twelve, the son of a nobleman is twelve when he takes to the trees after a quarrel with his father. He never comes down again. Our narrator is his you get brother and it is through him that we keep abreast of the doings of Cosimo.

Cosimo invents his own world in the treetop, a Utopia, life as he wants to live. He sees much, learns the books and so progresses in his knowledge. From the treetops he will make friends with thieves, all in love, fight with pirates and witness the French Revolution. Fantastical I know, but maybe that's the point. Not everyone fits into the society that they are expected too, and I think that is what this novel partly represents. Finding ones own ways, and yes the importance of literature, regardless of where one is living.

I enjoyed reading this in spurts, reading other things in between. I believe had.i read this straight through I think it might for me, have grown tiresome. I enjoyed this very different novel and the messages within.

... anyone who wants to see the earth properly must keep himself at a necessary distance from it ...
The Baron in the Trees ~~~  Italo Calvino



Italo Calvino has been on my bucket list of authors for quite some time. For some reason I just never got around to reading him; there were better known or flashier authors positioned higher on the list. Then, my friend, Matthew, reviewed a work of Calvino’s, The Castle of Crossed Destinies and in his review he mentioned The Baron in the Trees. I knew at that moment I needed to move Calvino to the top of my list.

Matthew said to me of The Baron in the Trees it is n  Charming, well-written, whimsical, oddly poignant... Calvino at his bestn. He is correct on all points.

The Baron in the Trees is an extraordinary, eccentric, intelligent, and sparkling fantasy concerning Cosimo, the eldest son of a noble family, who, in a moment of defiance, vows to live out his life up in the trees ~~ and does so. I absolutely loved inhabiting this strange world Calvino created.



Fed up with the grandiosity his father demands, Cosimo’s rebellion is to climb into the great oak tree in their garden and refuse to come down. Almost immediately, Cosimo realizes he’s never going to set foot on the ground again; soon he learns the great oak connects to the grand forest of the adjoining estates. Immediately, an entirely new world is opened to him. Cosimo makes new friends, learns new skills, and creates a life for himself in the trees.

Every time you’re ready to get used to Cosimo’s new life in the trees, he meets and befriends a silly, whimsical robber or engages a daschund to help with hunting. The Baron in the Trees is a fairy-tale, coming-of-age novel and romance all rolled into one, but what sets it apart is the understated use of satire.



Cosimo isn’t content to just live in the trees; our young hero wants to learn all there is to learn; he initially convinces his tutor to climb the trees as well for lessons, but soon Cosimo turns to books for his learning. The young Barron ends up becoming the teacher and will share his new found knowledge with anyone who has a love of learning. Eventually, Cosimo begins correspondences with the greatest minds of his time; he becomes not only a man living in trees, but an esteemed scholar, known the world over.

It is flourishes like this that make Cosimo such an enchanting character. Life in the trees is not the most interesting thing about Cosimo; he’d be a fascinating character on the ground as well ~~ though it is difficult to envision him on the ground. Cosimo has more adventures than most land lovers dream of, and he meets so many interesting characters along the way ~~ life in the trees has not limited him in anyway. Thru all of these adventures, remains Cosimo the most compelling person of all those he encounters.

The Baron in the Trees reads like a collection of parables centered around Cosimo. Like many parables, there’s definitely a sense of wonderment and playfulness, and they are very funny.

I could end this review by making some philosophical pronouncement or waxing poetical, but honestly, I recommend reading The Baron in the Trees because it will make you smile.

"(..) surrounding buds of phrases with frameworks of leaves and clouds, then interweaving again, and so running on and on and on until it splutters and bursts into a last senseless clusters of words, ideas, dreams, and so..."

Once upon a time, somewhere between the innocence of childhood and the pluck of the bold rebel, a young Italian nobleman called Cosimo exercised his right to dissent after twelve long years of abiding by the inherent societal norms of his aristocratic title and refused to eat beheaded snails defying parental authority. In order to avoid the wrath of his authoritarian father, Cosimo climbed to the top of an enormous holm oak situated in the garden of the family state and promised to never touch the ground again, becoming the irreverent Baron in the Trees thenceforth.

This is how this tale, related from the first-person narrative by Cosimo’s little brother who adopts the role of impartial chronicler, unfolds with the recognizable paced rhythm and whimsical tone of legends and fables. Only that instead of following the moral exploration of a Little Prince and a sagacious fox, the reader is engulfed on this occasion by the incredible story of an eccentric Baron who creates a unique life among the treetops where he is free from the mundane routine and sometimes absurd obligations of earthbound existence. Cosimo’s proximity to the open skies allows him to ponder the deeper issues of his period and after devoting years to studying and reading the classics, and without ever climbing down from the trees, he achieves all sort of extraordinary feats like corresponding with Diderot and Rousseau, founding secret freemasonry societies or becoming an invaluable military strategist during the French Revolution when he meets Napoleon face to face.

Nevertheless, what makes this parable unforgettable is Calvino’s dexterity in mixing the magic connotation of Cosimo’s arboreal existence with shattering realism, for Cosimo falls sick, has a very vigorous sexual life and plays an essential part in his community, in which he amazingly manages to integrate himself in spite of the physical isolation of his whereabouts.
The dualistic nature of the story engenders a new archetypal figure, that of the active nonconformist, the revolutionary dissenter who rejects the establishment struggles for the improvement of his fellowmen in apparent seclusion. A man straddling two worlds, the utopian and the terrestrial, a man who discovers himself in every leaf, who finds reason in the boughs that cradle him to sleep, whose ideological militancy is a hotchpotch of his natural watchtower made of pines, elms and oaks, a man who symbolizes the limitless imagination that should move the world forward.
In the same way there is ascending poetry to be heard in the rustle of dancing foliage, there is metaphysical revelation without a hint of religiosity to be found in the image of a man who lived literally above his peers with both head and soul looking up at the endless possibilities tattooed in cerulean skies.

١.
نوشتن مى تونه براى خود نويسنده لذتبخش باشه: نوشتن مى تونه خيال بازى باشه، شبيه خيال بازى هاى كودكى، اما كمى پيچيده تر، كمى واقع گرايانه تر، كمى پخته تر. خيال بازى هاى كودكى و نوجوانى هر چند پر شورترن، اما زيادى خام و نسفته ن. آدم بعد از ديدن و مطالعه كردن متوجه ميشه چقدر امكانات متفاوتى توى جهان هست كه مى تونه تخيل رو پيچيده و ظريف كنه، اما توى خيال پردازى هاى كودكى ش از اون ها بى اطلاع بوده.
نويسنده مى تونه يك ايده رو بگيره و حولش تخيل كنه و بهش شاخ و برگ بده. مثلاً پسرى تصميم مى گيره بالاى درخت زندگى كنه. خب، اين پسر فقيره يا از اشرافه؟ هنگام عملى كردن تصميمش با چه مخالفت هايى مواجه مى شه؟ براى زندگى روى درخت به چه مشكلاتى براى تأمين گرما و غذا و حتى قضاى حاجت بر مى خوره؟ مردم چه نگاهى به اين كارش دارن؟ آيا آدم هاى ديگه اى هم هستن كه بالاى درخت زندگى مى كنن؟ و... فكر كنم به اين شيوه ميگن "باران فکری" يا "طوفان فكرى"، هر چند زياد در اين مورد نخوندم و اطلاع دقيقى ندارم.
آيا كالوينو با اين شيوه مى نويسه؟ نمى دونم. اما موقع خوندن خودمو جاش مى ذاشتم و فكر مى كردم اين طور بازيگوشانه نوشتن چقدر مى تونه براى خود نويسنده لذتبخش باشه.

البته مى دونم كه "نگارش خودكار" هيچ وقت نتيجۀ مطلوبى نداره و منظور من هم نگارش خودكار نيست. فكر نكنم اصلاً اين تكنيك واقعاً به قوۀ خيال پر و بال بده. قوۀ خيال نياز به زمان و آرامش و در خود فرورفتن داره. حتى گاهى تخيل توى ساعات به خصوصى از شبانه روز فعال ميشه و بايد منتظر اون ساعات موند. همين طور گاهى به محرك هاى خارجى نيازه، آدم عكسى ببينه، فيلمى ببينه، در مراسمى حضور پيدا كنه و تخيلش فعال بشه. با نگارش خودكار هيچ كدوم از اين شرايط مهيا نيست.

٢.
داستان پر از ارجاعات به دنياى بيرونه:
حضور ولتر، چند بار با نامه نگارى و يك بار حضورى،
حضور بى نظير ناپلئون،
حتى حضور شاهزاده آندره از جنگ و صلح.
و حضور مختصر روسو و ديدرو، از طريق نامه نگارى.
اين بازيگوشى ها مخصوصاً براى كسى كه از قبل با اين شخصيت ها مختصر آشنایی داشته باشه، باعث مفرّح تر شدن رمان مى شه. من مخصوصاً سر گفتگوى ناپلئون و بارون درخت نشين، حسابى خنديدم.

برمیگردم به روزی که محسن نامجو آمد روی‌ سن
و خبر مرگ مادرش را شنید.
محسن نامجو خواند “دنیا وفا ندارد ای نور هردو دیده” و گریه کرد...
همه‌ی مان در زندگی گاها به آن سطح می‌رسیم که دیگر تمام کنیم قصه را.
اما تمام نمی‌شود،اگر قرار باشد تمام نشود نمی‌شود...
خیلی سعی کردم حالم از این کتاب بهم بخورد نمیدانم چرا! انگار با ایتالو کالوینو پدر کشتگی داشتم.
راستش به یکی از دوستانم گفته بودم کالوینو نویسنده‌ی چرتی است بخاطر همین تمام سعی خودم را کردم که از کتاب بدم بیاید اما نشد!
و نمی‌شود ...
چه کسی می‌تواند این کتاب را بخواند و عاشق کالوینو نشود؟!
یه شاهکار به معنای واقعی کلمه.
کوزیمو جوانی‌ست که از سر صفره قهر می‌کند و به بالای یک درخت میرود و میگوید دیگر پایین نمیآیم...
کسی در خانه حتی فکر نمیکند که ممکن است دیگر کوزیمو به خانه نیاید.
راستش همه‌ی ما در زندگی کوزیمو بودن را تجربه کرده ایم.گاها میبری و میروی...
اما برمیگردی ...
یک شب زمستانی دم در بمانی میفهمی خانه چقدر شیرین است حتی با هم نشینی با هیتلر.
اما کوزیمو تصمیم خودش را گرفته،چهارچوب خودش را تعیین کرده...
اصول و قواعد خودش را دارد...
کوزیمو نماد جوکری است که از جامعه که خانه کوچ ترین عضو آن است بیرون می‌زند...
بنظرم هدف کالوینو این بود که آیا یک نفر می‌تواند از جامعه بیرون بیاید یا نه؟!
که بنظر من کوزیمو نتوانست و کسی نمی‌تواند...

La prima volta è stato amore perché sognavo una casa sull’albero e Cosimo realizzava un mio sogno ad occhi aperti.

La seconda rifletteva le mie passioni di adolescente: quel prendere le distanze dalla società borghese, la ribellione che corre parallela all’amore per la comunità.

La terza è oggi: è la scoperta, in questa mia età matura, che un libro, una storia e suoi personaggi, non ti abbandonano.
Anche dopo anni li ritrovi lì dentro di te.

Una spolveratina ed ecco ricomparire la Generalessa con quello sguardo severo che nasconde un morbido cuore di mamma.
Giri la pagina e ritrovi tale quale quell’insopportabile sadica di Battista...
E Cosimo per me non ha mai smesso di andare di albero in albero ...

E’ stupendo questo ritrovare senza che ci sia il sapore scialbo della minestra riscaldata.
E' un rinnovarsi della meraviglia, invece.
Una scarica di emozioni e sensazioni che ti fa vivere questa fantastica avventura come fosse la prima volta.

Un godimento inesprimibile.



” Si conobbero. Lui conobbe lei e se stesso, perché in verità non s’era mai saputo. E lei conobbe lui e se stessa, perché pur essendosi saputa sempre, mai s’era potuta riconoscere così.”

الوعي المتجاوز أرض الحكاية
الخروج إلى الكونية
لإدراك غير مقيّد بتقاليد النشأة الأولى
ارتقاء تطوري يطالع اللحظة
ويقرأ التاريخ
ويبحث من مرتكز الآن
عن مسار لا يقيده المكان والزمان
خاص بوجوده الناطق بذاته
وجود لا يبالي بمعايير الطبقة
وميراث العائلة السجينة في حصار الجدران العتيقة
يالرؤية من أعلى
بعض الروايات سيرة مختصرة لإنسانيتنا
هكذا البارون ساكن الأشجار
أو البارون المتسلّق
أو البارون المتمرد
لإيتالو كالفينو (1923 - 1985م) الذي اختار موضوعه
انطلاقا من استراتيجية التطور الدائري
إننا نسير في خط ممتد
لكنه يتشكل من دوائر قابلة للتكرار بدرجة ما
إننا نثمرد ونتعلم ونبدع فنكتب أوراق حضارتنا كما تطرح الأشجار فروعها
شجرتنا الكبيرة كل منا فرع فيها
في الثانية عشرة ندرك أننا نختلف
أننا نستطيع أن نبني أنفسنا من داخلنا
كما فعل السابقون الذي نظروا لأعلى واستلهموا المساحة الممتدة بين الأغصان المتشابكة والسماء الرحبة
كانت الخريطة واضحة أمامهم
إنهم يرون من موقع الراوي الذي يسيطر على مساحة شاسعة
في مرمى البصر عالم حافل بالنماذج والأساليب
في قلب الأشجار أصوات وحركة
الكون مسكون بصخب ودراما حيوية
يدركها من اعتاد التأمل من خارج الأطر
في الثانية عشرة نبحث عن أنفسنا في الكون الفسيح
وفي نفوسنا المتشابكة المسارات والدهاليز
مثل غابة كبيرة ترويها مشاعرنا
ترعاها أفكارنا
مثل حي بن يقظان وروبنسن كروزو
كأن العالم لنا نتفهمه من جديد
نتذوقه بأعصابنا المتوترة
نتسلمه من حواسنا وتجاربنا
يقاطعني مصطفى: لكنها ثنائية ياصديقي
هناك بطل فوق الشجرة يصوغ المفاهيم ويحدد الرؤى ويضع النظريات ويستقبل المنجز العالمي ويدفع إلى التطور
ذاك الخط المحوري في منتصف القرن العشرين
وهناك من يقف في المنتصف مراعيا المسافات والأحوال
مندمجا في التقاليد ومساندا للبطل صاحب القرار الذي يواجه العالم من نظرية فوقية
الاثنان لا ينفصلان
كل دون كيخوته يحتاج إلى سانشو بانثا
وكل أبي الفتح السكندري يتابعه عيسى بن هشام
من غابة أومبروزا بجنوة
تبدأ رواية كوزيمو
الاسم مشتق من الكون ، الكوزمية
التي يرويها أخوه دييجو
ومن نهاية القرن الثامن عشر
نرى روسو وفولتير ونابليون
ونستمع إلى المواطنة
ودخل القرن التاسع عشر
ليتركنا البطل الذي تمرد واخترع وأحب وتفلسف
وساعد المزارعين والعمال واحتوى عتاة الإجرام
واحترمه المتشردون والنبلاء
ويصعد إلى السماء محافظا على عهده
ألا يلتصق بالأرض التي يعشق قصتها
ويلهم مبدعيها
ويضيف حكايته
بصوت الأخ المحافظ الذي يبدو عاقلا ناجحا
بينما هو يتألم لأنه لم يجرب
رحلة إبداع الذات كأخيه
البارون متسلّق شجرة الحضارة الرمزية التي غرسها كالفينو في غابة السرد
اختارت المترجمة عنوانا أقرب إلى الترجمة الإنجليزية
وابتعدت عن كلمة المتسلّق التي تحمل دلالات سلبية في العربية
لكنها عند إيتالو كالفينو تؤكد حالة التحفّز الطموح لتحقيق ذات لها خصوصية
تستحق أن تكون نمطا لأسلاف مهدوا الأرض لرحلة التحضّر
وهم يعانون من الارتحال الروحي في الفضاء العلوي

That's when love makes you climb trees and come down only to put you (very momentarily) at your beloved's feet.
Between a philosophical tale and Munchausen-style adventures, this admirably written book is devoured from cover to cover. A sort of Italian Voltaire, Calvino highlights the spirit of enlightenment here through the somewhat hysterical story of a man from the end of the 18th century who, after his childhood, will only live in the trees.
This book is also a lovely tribute to trees! We fly from branch to branch, leaf to leaf, tree to tree, season to season, and finally, we see our baron disappear in the air, as mysteriously as in his appearances. Man-bird, man-mystery, an almost legendary hero in his country, as much respected as feared, Cosimo will end as he lived: above mediocrity and terrestrial heaviness.
There was a perfect reading moment, as hilarious as it provokes reflections on our way of living and our relationship with the world.

بارون درخت نشین دومین کتاب از سه گانه "نیاکان ما" و مانند دو اثر دیگر این سه گانه به سبک رئالیسم جادویی نوشته شده است.طنز خاص کالوینو در این کتاب نسبت به ویکنت دو نیم شده پررنگ تر به نظر می رسد که دلیل این امر،ترتیب نگارش کتاب ها و بالغ شدن قلم کالوینو است. بارون درخت نشین،داستان طغیان و سرکشی ست. طغیان علیه خانواه،علیه ساختار جامعه و حتی علیه زمین زیر پایمان.در میان داستان این جمله از زبان پدر شنیده می شود که:"شورش را با متر و ذرع اندازه نمی گیرند،حتی یک راه چند وجبی هم می تواند شورش در نظر گرفته شود".کوزیمو ی 12 ساله بعد از کشمکش های متوالی سرانجام چاره رهایی از بند ها را در این می بیند که زمین را ترک کرده،و چند متری بالاتر روی درختان به زندگی ادامه دهد.با خود عهد می کند که هرگز پایش را حتی برای لحظه ای روی زمین نگذارد.به جامعه ای آرمانی می اندیشد،به جمهوری درختستان.در جایی از داستان می گوید دنیا را وارانه خواهد کرد،و آن هنگام که همه انسان ها به خوبی روی درخت ها جای گرفتند و انسانی روی زمین باقی نماند،خود به روی زمین باز خواهد گشت و به تنهایی خواهد زیست.برادر کوچکتر که کوزیمو را هنگام شورش تنها گذاشته است،داستان 53 سال آینده زندگی کوزیمو را روایت می کند.
خواننده هر چه که بیشتر می خواند،بیشتر در می یابد که هدف و انگیزه کوزیمو را از این طغیان درک کرده است،شروع به تفسیر و تحلیل می کند.اما در انتهای کتاب،روبرو شدن با آرمانی که حتی خود کوزیمو هم نمی تواند توجیح اش کند،همچون آب سرد بر او فرو می ریزد و خیالاتش را می شکند.شاید بی اختیار به یاد خود بی افتد،بغض کند،چند قطره اشک بریزد،چون خود را از کوزیمو هم سرگردان تر می بیند.سرگردانی که بر خلاف کوزیمو، چند متر پایین تر،میان گل و لجن به دور خود می چرخد و بر خود می پیچد.آرزو کند که چون کوزیمو،اندک زمانی را در دنیایی دیگر سیر کند،آرمانی داشته باشد هرچند غیر قابل توجیه و پایانی مانند او ...افسوس

" این دفتر را از آن رو می نگارم که جای دیگری را برای بیان اندیشه های خود نمی شناسم.در گذشته وضع این گونه نبود.تا برادرم بود پیش خودم می گفتم : او به جای همه ما فکر می کند و من کاری ندارم جز اینکه زندگیم را بکنم.برای من،رویدادی که نشانه عوض شدن زمانه بود،فرا رسیدن نیروهای روسی یا ضمیمه شدن سرزمین ما به پیه مونته یا برقراری مالیات های تازه و چیزهایی از این گونه نبود.روزی به دگرگونی زمانه پی بردم که پنجره را باز کردم و برادرم را بالای درختان ندیدم.اکنون که او نیست حس می کنم باید به بسیار چیزها بیندیشم.به فلسفه و تاریخ و سیاست.چند نشریه را مشترک شده ام،کتاب می خوانم،به مغزم فشار می آورم.ولی آنچه را که او می خواست بگوید در این نشریه ها و کتاب ها نمی یابم.حقیقتی که او جستجو می کرد از تیره دیگری بود.حقیقتی بود یکپارچه که نمی شد آن را با واژه ها بیان کرد،بلکه باید با آن و درون آن زندگی می کردی.همانگونه که او زیست.تا دم مرگش سرسختانه به خویشتن وفادار ماند و تنها به این وسیله بود که توانست به ما درسی بیاموزد.

کوزیمو لاورس دوروندو
میان درختان زیست
همواره زمین را دوست داشت
به آسمان رفت "

Una lettura speciale. Non dovrei parlare della semplicità del romanzo, potrei essere frainteso e pensare che lo considero un libro superficiale o per bambini. Se mi concentro sulla linea sottile che divide l’inverosimile dal plausibile nella storia, sono a un passo dal catalogare il romanzo come surreale.

La sua agilità narrativa, così come le sue descrizione di situazioni e personaggi in maniera molto chiara e pulita, mettono il lettore in grado di percepire nitidamente le proprie contraddizioni. Molte volte la storia di Cosimo (protagonista del romanzo) diventa prevedibile. Il lettore può anticipare il ritmo della scrittura non perché sia un susseguirsi di argomenti, ma perché capisce e comprende molto bene il personaggio. [rileggendomi in questo passaggio mi sono capito poco, allora aggiungo una nota sotto per spiegarmi meglio]*1

Italo Calvino utilizza una cornice pseudo-fantasy del passato per raccontare i problemi del presente, coerenza logica nella struttura che lega questo romanzo agli altri due della serie "I nostri antenati": Il visconte dimezzato e Il cavaliere inesistente
Così, con questo Barone rampante lo scrittore ci porta in una Liguria tardo settecentesca in cui un giovane nobile decide di smettere di poggiare i piedi per terra e vivere per sempre tra gli alberi. Questo ragazzino (poi uomo) è Cosimo (personaggio indimenticabile) e conosciamo la sua storia grazie a Biaggio, suo fratello e narratore.

La magia di questo libro sta nel fatto che questa idea di base passa dall'essere un'eccentricità alla cosa più logica del mondo. Calvino è così bravo che fa capire ai sani di mente la logica del matto. Ci fa guardarci allo specchio e chiederci: perché non vivo anch’io sugli alberi? La risposta è semplice: non c'è nessuno più coraggioso e libero di Cosimo Piovasco di Rondò.

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Nota *1) Complementare al secondo paragrafo.
Per farmi capire meglio vi propongo un esempio pratico così diamo il Nobel postumo a Calvino e la chiudiamo qui.
Mettiamo che siamo sul torrente Merdanzo (già con questo nome al torrente, visto l'uso evacuatore da parte di Cosimo, sarebbe da Nobel automatico).
Allora, torniamo sul torrente Merdanzo, mettiamo che sia un fiume fresco e cristallino, di colpo vediamo apparire in fondo al fiume un pezzo di qualcosa buttato lì, spazzatura o magari il risultato dei bisogni fisiologici di Cosimo, vediamo nitidamente nell'acqua pulita questo pezzo di merda e pensiamo: Ma cacchio! che fiume sporco!
Ma pensate un po' meglio: È più sporco questo fiume che ci permette di vedere la spazzatura nel suo fondale o quello che ci impedisce di farlo a causa delle sue acque torbide?

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Nota *2) Grazie alla magia di internet ho scoperto che il fiume Merdanzo esiste davvero in Liguria, niente Nobel per Calvino.

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