Calvino ha sempre avuto la capacità di emozionarmi, meravigliarmi, ma con "Le cosmicomiche" mi ha stupito in un modo che mai avrei immaginato.
In questi racconti parte dal mondo dell'astronomia, la scienza, la cosmogonia per raccontare il mondo, l'esistenza, la storia umana e i problemi che la abitano.
In "La distanza della luna" per esempio, racconta delle difficoltà che si incontrano nella comunicazione, in "Anni luce" della distanza, ne "I dinosauri" dell'accettazione di sé e di conseguenza dell'altro.
Sono racconti che portano a riflettere, a capire e a trovare una risposta, una ragione alle nostre piccole e grandi domande.

auu koliko je ovo zanimljivo : volim kada mi nešto pomjeri književne granice na ovakav način, posebno kada se toliko račva u pravcima izvan antropomorfnog : ne poznajem sf žanr, ali ovo nije to, i sam kalvino naznačauje da je sf okrenut budućnosti a ovo više ide u prošlost, u daleku, mitsku prošlost ili, prije, oponašanje mitologija i kosmogonija, jer nije ni to : ovo su priče o nastanku svemira i našeg svijeta koje su čista razvezana fikcija, a opet tako uvjerljive, verovatno i zbog prirodno-naučne odore : ovde su astronomija, teorija evolucije, kombinatorika i fizika samo inspiracija za književno izmišljanje priča o, primjerice, tome kako se mjesec postepeno udaljavao od zemlje, sve dok su zemljani više nisu mogli skakati na njega i grabiti kašikama mječevo mlijeko, kako su se igrale igre u svemiru shodno zakrivljenosti i nastanku atoma, kako su se primećivali postupci junaka od strane naseljenika drugih galaksija i kako se o tome komuniciralo svetlosnim godinama, o tome šta je mislio jedan mekušac u evolutivnom procesu stvaranja školjke i stvaranja slike, vidljivosti, oblika uopšte, te kako je uvijek zaljubljeno tražio tu jednu, itsl. : veoma predivno i iščašeno, a stil pisanja vrhunski

کمی طول کشید تا باهاش ارتباط برقرار کنم اما در نهایت خوب بود. اولین کتابی بود که از کالوینو خوندم. سبکش جالب بود در نوع خودش.

Le Cosmicomiche sono un inno alla fantasia umana e alla profonda fiducia in essa. Con un occhio che trascende il tempo e una penna meravigliosa, Calvino inserisce l'uomo e il suo modo di pensare nelle grandi questioni cosmologiche, offrendoci il punto di vista che ne avrebbe avuto un essere umano se gli fosse stato possibile (fisicamente) viverle (a questo proposito, magistrale il suo modo di affrontare e descrivere gli aspetti resi complicati dalla limitatezza umana di avere un corpo ed esistere in tre dimensioni). Così, in quasi tutti i racconti, motore di uno dei cambiamenti della lunga storia dell'universo diventa l'amore, o meglio una donna; sempre ritornano i temi delle relazioni con gli altri, della paura del diverso, di tutti i meccanismi che si vengono a creare quando gli uomini vivono insieme, alla base dei quali sta il giudizio degli altri e gli effetti che ha su di noi. Calvino riesce a dare coerenza anche agli incoerenti cambi di pensiero che animano continuamente l'uomo, più di una volta leggendo ho pensato che la frase che veniva dopo era l'unica che sarebbe potuta venire. Un libro da leggere e rileggere, senza stancarsi mai.

I started this book years ago and then forgot I’d started it. It’s an odd little book. A bit like a series of modern-day myths based around our ‘scientific’ understandings of the universe.

Generally, the characters aren’t actually human, but we are talking anthropomorphic characters all the same. Sexual desire, unrequited love, trying to leave your mark. A lent a friend Mitchell’s The Last Dinosaur Book and she mentioned that one of the stories in this is about a dinosaur. I remember knowing that too. It is perhaps one of the better stories in the collection. It has themes I’m particularly interested in – how the ‘cultural Other’ is defined, how their definition changes with time, sometimes to opposites, how they are mostly an object of fear, even while we mock them. The story of the woman on the moon is also a lovely thing. I felt some of these were not as well realised as the others. Falling forever in parallel lines or waiting for the galaxy to make a complete cycle. But Calvino is Calvino.

علی رغم گویندگی پر ذوق و شوق و ترجمه بانمک کتاب، من زیاد خوشم نیومد. کتاب مجموعه ای از چند داستان کوتاه بود که با حالتی طنز، مفاهیم علمی [مورد قبول وقت] رو بیان می کرد. بیشتر داستان ها اولش جذابیت زیادی داشتن و خلاقیت نویسنده توجه رو جلب می کرد اما با پیش روی، من تو بیشتر داستان ها موضوع اصلی رو گم می کردم و آخرشون سردرگم می شدم. با این حال چند تا از داستان ها رو دوست داشتم.

The Cosmicomics are a set of short stories published in the sixties by Italo Calvino. All of them follow the same structure: it starts with a sentence from a scientific publication, usually about the creation of our universe and planets. And then our narrator Qfwfq tells us he remembers that period in time, and takes us back in time on his train of thought.

These stories are dreamy, philosophical and funny at the same time. I think of them as bedtime stories for adults – they have the enchanted feel of a bedtime fairy tales, but not really the story structure, nor necessarily the happy endings. But these stories will make you think, make you feel in awe of this world, put a smile on your face and before you know it, you are ready to put yet another day away.

It’s impossible to pick just one favourite story in this collection; there are too many fabulous ones. In ‘The Distance of the Moon’ Qfwfq tells us of a time that the Moon was closer to the Earth, and how on a full moon they would go out on the sea with ladders and climb up on the Moon’s Surface.

In ‘The Lightyears’ Qfwfq is studying the sky with his telescope and comes across a sign board that reads “I saw you”. Some quick mathematics that involves juggling light-years reveals to him that exact 200 million years ago he indeed something he wasn’t proud of, and someone witnessed it. A lot more signs are put up after that.

In ‘All at One Point’ the whole universe hasn’t expanded yet, and they are all living on one point. The Z’zu family tends to hang their laundry to dry at this one point, which is quite inconvenient as it’s a rather large family. But the real cracking point is when Qfwfq starts telling about the times when the lovely lady Ph(i)Nko goes to bed with her lover. Given that there is only one bed, and that there is only one point in space, she actually goes to bed with all of them, so to speak.

These stories are utterly imaginative and creative to the point it becomes unbelievable someone spun this stories starting from just a few scientific boring lines. I have a feeling I will be re-reading these stories for many years to come. They’re just too good to be left on the I-read-them-once-pile.

تخیل ناب. آنقدر که در بعضی داستان ها فضا ناملموس و همین باعث جذابیت بیشتر میشد. کشمکش ذهن برای جا باز کردن در دنیای کالوینو‌. مارپیچ، دایی آبزی، سالیان نوری و فاصله ماه رو خیلی دوست دارم.

This is a strange and creative work. The briefest of descriptions about Calvino say something like "he's one of the world's greatest fabulists". So, generally people know what they are getting into when they crack the cover. But I'm not sure that I know what I experienced, even now.

So, the set up is easy--a bunch of stories about the evolution of the universe. But what the hell does that even mean?

For one, each story begins with an italicized blurb that reads like something out of a science text book. But is that really what they are? None of these epigraphs are attributed to a source, so I have to assume that they are Calvino's own paraphrase, but should we take them as "scientific fact"? Or are they something else?

Take the blurb that heads "Games without End" for example:

"When the galaxies become more remote, the rarefaction of the universe is compensated for by the formation of further galaxies composed of newly created matter. To maintain a stable median density of the universe it is sufficient to create a hydrogen atom every 250 million years for 40 cubic centimeters of expanding space. (This steady state theory, as it is known, has been opposed to the other hypothesis, that the universe was born at a precise moment as the result of a gigantic explosion.)" (63)

Wasn't stead-state theory largely debunked before Calvino set these tales down? Granted, he calls "big-bang" the "other hypothesis," and devotes the preceding story ("All at One Point") to just that idea, but all of this and the title itself makes me think that Calvino was laughing on the page. Perhaps his point was to loosen the tie of dogmatic scientism. Perhaps simply to point out that even hard science requires a narrative to have significant explanatory power. Perhaps something else?

Sometime in your life you've heard the advice: "Write what you know." At one time in my life, I was convinced that this is all authors ever really do. But this seems to be the opposite of what Calvino is doing here, to dazzling effect.

All eleven of these tales are good, but if I had to pick a top-three-in-no-particular-order, they would be:
1) All at One Point
2) How Much Shall We Bet?
3) The Light-Years

A quick word about the translation:

I read William Weaver's Italian-English translation. I don't read Italian, but from the English end, it seemed very well done. The prose read so fluidly, yet so playfully idiosyncratic, I almost forgot that it wasn't written in English.

قوۀ تخیل کالوینو قابل ستایش است. داستان از زمانی می‌سراید که هنوز زبانی وجود نداشت. سخن از زبان آخرین دایناسور یا آغازیان گفتن. دشوار می‌نماید.
روی زمین دراز می‌کشم، دست هایم را باز می‌کنم و چشم‌هایم را می‌بندم. امتداد دست‌هایم را تصور میکنم. حس می‌کنم هزاران سال است که زیسته‌ام. و حیات و آگاهی محدود به حیطۀ ذهن و روان من نمی‌شود. گویا آگاهی مرموزی تمام جهان را پر کرده است. پیش از زبان و زمان و مکان.

Soberbia muestra de literatura cosmogónica, fantasía etérea con toques de comedia en los albores del universo. Su gracia estriba en la mezcla de lo prosaico con lo infinito, en teñir de pasión la creación de las galaxias, hacer del nacimiento de la vida un amanecer cualquiera y sentir una ansiedad imparable a la velocidad de la luz.

Hay ciertos relatos que rizan el rizo, y a veces con tanto enredo se pierde el goce, más en otros las formas desplegadas justifican cualquier tropiezo, dejando imágenes para el recuerdo, de un lirismo imaginativo extremo a través de una prosa sin mácula, como Calvino acostumbra.

Mi relato favorito, el primero, "La distancia de la Luna". Me conquistó de entrada esta crónica aventurera sinigual, ideal para los amantes selenitas que enloquecen en luna llena. De ahí preferí tomar con calma el resto de los relatos, sin apresurar la lectura, este gran autor italiano entra mejor.

Muy recomendable.

در کمدی‌های کیهانی، تخیل نیرومند، طنز پاک و ظریف و توجه به واقعیت و تاریخ در هم آمیخته است. کالوینو قبل از نوشتن کمدی‌های کیهانی بیش‌تر علوم را مطالعه کرده است، از انیشتین گرفته تا یاکوبسن، از هگل گرفته تا سیبرنتیک. هر فصل کتاب با قطعه‌ای شروع می‌شود که به نظر می‌رسد خلاصه‌ای خشک و آموزشی از یک کتاب فیزیک، نجوم یا زمین‌شناسی است. بعد ناگهان راوی ظاهر می‌شود و هریک از این خلاصه‌ها برای او دستاویزی می‌شود تا زندگی‌های مختلفش را تشریح کند.»
كمدي‌هاي كيهاني يك مجموعه داستان كوتاه نوشته ايتالو كالوينو است كه اولين بار در سال ۱۹۶۵ ميلادي چاپ شد. داستان‌هاي اين مجموعه، خيال‌پردازي‌هاي مبهوت كننده‌اي حول حقايق علمي شناخته شده هستند.
کلا کتاب جالبی بود . خوشمزه بود