Italo Calvino: the Dark Side

ITAL ITAL 21820/ITAL 31820 Italo Calvino: the Dark Side

Crosslistings
FNDL 21820

An intense reading of Italo Calvino’s later works: we will contemplate the orbital debris of Cosmicomics and t zero, and we will follow the labyrinthine threads of The Castle of Crossed Destinies and The Invisible Cities. After stumbling upon the suspended multiple beginnings of If On a Winter’s Night a Traveler, we will probe the possibilities of literature with the essays collected in Una pietra sopra. Finally, we will encounter Mr Palomar, who will provide us with a set of instructions on how to neutralize the self and "learn how to be dead.” The approach will be both philosophical and historical, focusing on Calvino’s ambiguous fascination with science, his critique of the aporias of reason and the “dementia” of the intellectual, and his engagement with the nuclear threat of total annihilation.
 

Prerequisites

Taught in Italian.

2020-2021 Winter
Category
Literature/Culture