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Summary: A General Thickness of Signs
Review:
"In the universe now there was no longer a container and a thing contained, but only a general
thickness of signs superimposed..., occupying the whole volume of space." (Calvino 36 ).
Qfwfq, a palindromic non-entity who is actually all entities at once; a point (43), a thought (63), a dinosaur (97), a fish's nephew (71), a god (31), a beam of light flying through space (115); transcends the role of character, becoming a signifier for sentience itself. By abstracting character interaction against the empty landscape of the universe before time and before humankind, Calvino heightens the readers awareness of themselves as gods, as creators of the worlds of meaning that surround them. Qfwfq becomes representative of all inner contemplation, and therefore of sentient awareness as a whole.
All of Calvino's characters reflect this ever-present sentience. Uncle N'ba N'ga, for instance, is specifically identified as of the family Coelacanthus (71) which is a rare type of lungfish that was thought to have gone extinct 65 million years ago but was then discovered off the coast of Madagascar in 1918. The uncle, like Qfwfq, represents the ever presence of sentient life as an idea that transcends its earthly form, defeating even extinction. Sentience is something that exists perpetually, before, after and during the universe, collecting hydrogen atoms as easily as catching a train to Paris. It creates reality around it by introspection, marking points in itself, identifying meaning in itself, and projecting that meaning outward. The universe is therefore created by life's contemplation of itself and its environment.
Thus we are shown to be gods spinning away through time desperately trying to leave marks to prove we exist (31), to rejoin with the disparate souls from the original point (43), falling forever through time parallel to, but never touching, the object of our desire (115). By marking the universe with our thoughts of it we create it. Because we go on forever as humans and lizards and stars, we can only identify ourselves and our world by the marks we leave, which become so thick over time that we assume them to be reality
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Summary: I've lent it to all my friends
Review: and it's getting so worn I might have to buy a new copy. "Cosmicomics" is a charming book that fascinates English majors and physics majors alike - not many books can do that. The elegance and strength of Calvino's writing never fails to astound me.
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Summary: Marvelous
Review: Calvino amazes me. This is, by far, my favorite book of his (although If On A Winter's Night A Traveller comes in a close second -- highly recommend it as well). There is such joy and sparkle and life in his writing. He does things with language and storytelling that no one else does. God, I admire him. I know you don't know me, but you'll have to trust me: Buy this book. Read it. Love it. Calvino's charm can not be explained, only enjoyed.
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Summary: Want for more
Review: Cosmicomics is just what brought me to Amazon to look for more of Italo Calvino. I was amazed by the unusual styl of his, which gives life and reality to the most fantastic ideas. How human, poetic and touching can be story of unimaginable inhabitants of the Spacetime just before the Big Bang! I had a girlfriend, who was really on the same wavelenght with me, which scarcely happens. I was not really surprised then, when I found out, that she had read Calvino's The Baron in the Trees just like me (the only other person I know), and she loved it, just like me!
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Summary: Voyages without end
Review: I have never read a book quite like this one. It is definitely not a novel, in as much as there is not a set beginning, middle, climax and denouement, nor one or more characters that we follow throughout the book in a series of adventures and incidents. While the book contains a dozen short stories with a common link that may be described as science fiction, I would not call it strictly a book of this genre. "Cosmicomics" may instead be described as a series of beautifully and imaginatively written poetic fables that defy time and space. They take place prior to, during and after the galaxies and the universe were formed, throughout myriad evolutionary cycles, prior to the birth of mankind, and even ante-dating the beginning of what is commonly called life. These tales concern atoms, molecules and other worldly beings interacting, almost interacting, and even repelling one another while travelling between gravitational and anti-gravitational forces. They may be floating around in space, chasing each other or being chased at one and the same time. There is a story of betting on the chance occurrances of historical, pre-historical, and pre-planetary incidents, and of lovers living in a time before colors, when black, white and shades of gray were the natural order of things. There is a wondrous tale of a time during the formation of the universe, when the earth and the moon abutted one another and people utilized a ladder to climb from the earth to the moon to spoon out milk. One of the most beautiful of these parables concerns the last dinosaur to survive on earth and his relationship and near love affair with one of the new ones. This is truly a book to cherish.
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Summary: Breathtaking Human Stories in Fable form
Review: I recently obtained a new copy of COSMICOMICS after having lost my old, tattered paperback which someone borrowed and forgot to return back in the 1980s. On this rereading, I was amazed at how many of the wondrous stories I remembered, along with the gorgeous writing (in William Weaver's colloquial translation), the irony, the frequent hilarity, the many adroit and startling insights. The two tales I'd taken to heart back in the 80s, THE DINOSAURS and THE SPIRAL, turned out to be my favorites still.
The first, with its wrenching surreal last line, you might call an "animal fable," but it's not so much about the last dinosaur living among mammalian critters as it is about the eternal outsider, the stranger in a strange land. Most of Calvino's stories have as their protagonist a shy, fumbling, fussy, nerdy sort of being, the eternal academic male whom the author names "Qfwfq," an unpronounceable palindrome that is a witty lampoon of alien names in 1930s pulp magazine space opera. Whether in the form of protean energy, protoplasm or dinosaurian scales, Qfwfq is different from everyone else--sometimes selfish, irascible, petty, revenge-plotting and jealous--but always different. And recognizable. And despite all his faults, worth forgiving and loving.
In THE SPIRAL our eternal being is a conch under a shallow sea, who under a compulsion both joyous and anxious builds around himself the universe's first shell, demonstrating that art combines showing-off with longing and desire, and that love expressed as desire is the source of great art. Love is Calvino's other great theme. His lover (Qfwfq) is often fatuous, frequently engaged in futile pursuits, sometimes (I say regretfully, being a woman) sexist, but more than anything steadfast. I am reasonably sure, having read other books of his, that during his lifetime he believed that the universe was born from love and longing. Though shapes and intelligences, comprehensions and artifacts have evolved, love somehow manifests itself up through time in much the same as-yet unfulfilled and puzzling way. No orthodox theology can explain this--but only a theology called "panentheism" or process philosophy, that I believe Calvino and I share. The only God I (and, I presume, Calvino) could believe in is one that gave life to a universe in continual evolution--otherwise, how to explain art, science, free will--and love?
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Summary: Essential Reading For All SciFi, Fantasy, & Literature Fans
Review: I resisted this book at first. Calvino wrote a series of 12 related short stories that work as a novel (but each story stands on its own), each playing with visual images. In his book, The Uses Of Literature, Calvino writes about Cosmicomics, saying, "My aim was to show that writing using images typical of myth can grow from any soil, even from language farthest away from any visual image." He does this with incredible agility, quickness, exactitude, visibility, and multiplicity. The first tale, for me, was the most mind- boggling. "The Distance Of The Moon" is surreal, absurd, fantastical, and utterly engaging. It is worth the price of the book itself. Four characters cavort on the earth and the moon--this was back in primordial days when the two planetary bodies were fighting to be separate--where they collect moon milk and throw it back to the earth with spoons. It is at once a tale of unrequited love, of absurd fantasy, of visual imagery, and humor that is from one of the best writers of this century. Read it as a study of narrative; Calvino crafts his tales using symbolism, multiple meanings, all with precise, gifted language, it is worth the price of admission. I think that any and all Sci Fi Lit classes should include "The Distance Of The Moon," or the entire book itself. I've dog-eared and scratched my copy already, and you're going to have to pry it from me. Now, I swear by it.
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Summary: Imaginative & Original
Review: I think this is a great departure from the typical sci-fi genre. Not a typical style of writing. These are clever and imaginative. I have too many favorite. Its a great book as a gift for others or for yourself.
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Summary: Utterly Agog; Worshipful
Review: I'm thrilled that an English translation of this book is now widely available; for the longest time I've been recommending it to friends who did not read Italian. You have never read such stories before. Furthermore, there is no way that a quickie review can do them justice. BUY THIS BOOK.
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Summary: Life As We Know It
Review: If you are looking to find out the true meaning of life this is it.
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