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Il Cavaliere Inesistente = The Nonexistent Knight, Italo CalvinoThe Nonexistent Knight is an allegorical fantasy novel by Italian writer Italo Calvino, first published in Italian in 1959 and in English translation in 1962. The tale explores questions of identity, integration with society, and virtue through the adventures of Agilulf, a medieval knight who exemplifies chivalry, piety, and faithfulness but exists only as an empty suit of Armour.تاریخ نخستین خوانش فارسی: روز هشتم ماه می سال 2002میل...
Calvino whimsy and wizardry compressed into less than 150 pages. Published in 1959, The Nonexistent Knight completes Our Ancestors, the Italian maestro's "heraldic trilogy" consisting also of The Cloven Viscount (1952) and The Baron in the Trees (1957). Beguiling, enchanting, quizzical; if retold in twenty pages as a Brothers Grim-style fairy tale, The Nonexistent Knight could instantly become a classic for all ages. Actually, in somewhat similar spirit, there's a charming Pino Zac animated film...
I get it, and what I get is done well: it's a parody of those Sir Gawain and Perceval medieval knight narratives, and it sticks delightfully and ironically true to form. The point, though, about knights being slave to their codes, is pretty basic and didn't need a full novella to get across. This could've been an equally (actually, significantly more) effective vignette. Meh.
an at once philosophical and silly examination of european chivalry and egoism leading to a delightful and witty twist.
I know Calvino is one of those so called profound writers, whose books people read and say to love because they’re so smart and well read. Well, I didn’t like it. I really couldn't care about any of the characters on this book. To me, it felt like the story was all over the place, there was no clear motives, no structure. And the names, I really hated the names of everything, so nonsensical. Not my kind of literature at all.
Now I have finished the cycle of three novellas that also includes The Cloven Viscount and The Baron In The Trees. They are all great fun and can be enjoyed by casual readers who may find Mr. Calvino's more intellectual novels daunting. In this one Mr. Calvino mocks tales of chivalry much as Cervantes does in Don Quixote, giving us a variety of characters who bumble through life in moronic obedience to concepts of knightly honor. The title character is a suit of armor with no one inside, a class...
What starts out as a straight tale (and yes, there's an in-story storyteller telling us that they're telling us a tale) of a bunch of knights in one of Charlemagne's campaigns against the muslims gets thrown off its track when it turns out that one of the knights, the wisest, fairest, chastest, most analytically-minded of them all, doesn't actually exist; he's just an empty suit of armour held together by the idea of his own existence. So Charlemagne, in his wisdom, gives him a Sancho Panza-styl...
Audiobook: Read by Jefferson Mays app 4.25hrs Translated by Archibald Colquhoun
When combined with The Cloven Viscountand The Baron in the Trees, Calvino is doing the work of the myth maker, resurrecting the art of the fairy tale, and fully exploring the vagaries and inconsistencies of the human condition. On this New Year's Day, I'm reflecting on these books and it is as unsettling as it is life affirming.
Sir Agilulf has a huge problem. Everyone knows he's the most ethically irreproachable knight in Emperor Charlemagne's retinue in his effulgently resplendent, gleaming white armour - but he has a BIG problem.You see, he doesn't even EXIST.He is ONLY his armour - and his ethereally high ideals as well - and just a mere appearance of sheer inner willpower. Other than that, he isn't THERE.Yikes! Yes, you got it - another story with a message. But WHAT a message. How can we even begin to understand i...
I began this novella knowing only that it's about a talking, moving suit of armor and that some describe the work as "allegorical." The most pleasant surprise turned out to be that, as was the case with Calvino's Baron in the Trees, the allegorical aspects are not heavy handed at all. There is room for every reader to wonder, "What is the underlying message here?" and arrive at a widely varying, even contradictory, conclusions.There is also room for the reader to set aside that question and simp...
Nicely written with a storyline fully developed within 141 pages. The allegorical component is clear without becoming overbearing, as is the humor. Bradamante is a particularly captivating character; her dynamic with Raimbaut was an interesting perspective on desire and the value of identity versus appearances.This is a great book to discuss from both an existential and feminist lens.
