Os Amores Difíceis

by Italo Calvino

Estas histórias de amor são, na sua maioria, histórias de como um casal não se encontra. O autor parece fazer desse desencontro não só uma razão de desespero mas sempre um elemento fundamental - ou até a própria essência - da relação amorosa. Não é por acaso que um dos poucos contos matrimoniais fala de um casal de recém-casados que trabalham numa fábrica, ele no turno da noite e ela do dia. Talvez o título que melhor possa definir o que estes contos têm em comum seja «amor e ausência». Com este volume prossegue a publicação da obra de Italo Calvino, figura central da cultura italiana, de quem a Teorema editou já duas dezenas de livros.

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories, Italian Literature, Classics, Italy, Literature, Literary Fiction

175 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1958

About the author

Italo Calvino was born in Cuba and grew up in Italy. He was a journalist and writer of short stories and novels. His best known works include the Our Ancestors trilogy (1952-1959), the Cosmicomics collection of short stories (1965), and the novels Invisible Cities (1972) and If On a Winter's Night a Traveler (1979).

His style is not easy to classify; much of his writing has an air reminiscent to that of fantastical fairy tales (Our Ancestors, Cosmicomics), although sometimes his writing is more "realistic" and in the scenic mode of observation (Difficult Loves, for example). Some of his writing has been called postmodern, reflecting on literature and the act of reading, while some has been labeled magical realist, others fables, others simply "modern". He wrote: "My working method has more often than not involved the subtraction of weight. I have tried to remove weight, sometimes from people, sometimes from heavenly bodies, sometimes from cities; above all I have tried to remove weight from the structure of stories and from language."

Reviews

[Cecily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Difficult Loves is eleven very short stories in which Calvino is like a biologist at a microscope: analysing the sensation of a few minutes or hours in minute detail, revealing the patterns, beauty, and secrets of the mundane. They reminded me a little of Nicholson Baker’s The Mezzanine, published 30 years later (see my review HERE). Realistic moments, rather than fantastical, and despite the titles, most are not really love stories, nor adventures.


Image: Woman looking in microscope (Source.)

Calvino wrote these in his mid 20s-30s, years before his more famous post-modern novels, including Invisible Cities and If on a winter's night a traveler (see my reviews HERE and HERE, respectively).

The Adventures of a Soldier, 1949

There is sexual tension for a young soldier sitting next to a 30-something wealthy widow in a train carriage. He’s unsure how much he can - or should - take the opportunity to enjoy accidental(?) contact as the train jolts them, “like two sharks grazing each other”. He struggles to read her signals: when she moves her jacket, is it “to offer him cover or to block his path?”

In the days of #MeToo, this takes on additional import, along with questions about how reliable the soldier’s thoughts are, or whether he’s wanting something to brag about in the barracks.

The Adventures of a Crook, 1949

A short bedroom farce featuring a married hooker, her husband, a client, and a cop. Weak.

The Adventures of a Bather, 1951

A comic dilemma transfigures into exploration of aging and body image. A woman swimming off a crowded beach realises she’s lost her swimsuit: “She stifled the anxiety rising inside her, and tried to think in a calm, orderly fashion.” There’s delicious detail of the sights and sounds of the beach, the intimacy of the water on her skin, and the type of people around, including a young woman judged “full of smugness and egotism” on her appearance.

As she ponders what to do, Signora Isotta Barbarino confronts the fact that “this body… had indeed been a glory of hers” but was now “a cause for shame” (even when clothed), but that life matters more than pride or shame in one’s body.

The Adventures of a Clerk, 1953

After a night with a woman, a clerk is struck by the air and colors and sounds all around, “as if he were walking to the sound of music”, liberated from his habitual routine, “as if on the crest of a wave”. He relishes reliving his memories, “to retain as far as possible the inheritance of that night”.

The exquisite paradox is the joy of such a secret makes him want to share it with someone, but that would change it.

The Adventures of a Photographer, 1955

“It is only when they have the photos before their eyes that they seem to take tangible possession of the day spent.”

Far and away the best of a good collection: it’s spot on for the Instagram generation, and enjoyably philosophical for thoughtful people of any age, even though it entails the delayed gratification of expensively developing film, rather than limitless free and instant digital pics.


Image: BizzaroComics “If a tree falls in a forest and no one puts it on Facebook, does it make a sound?” (Source.)

Antonino doesn’t see the attraction of photography. Instead of rejoicing in the spontaneity of the moment, people live in anticipation of nostalgia:
“In order to really live you must either live in the most photographic way possible, or else consider photographable every moment in your life. The first course leads to stupidity; the second, to madness.”
But as the only single man in his group of friends, is often asked to take photos of them and their families.

The logical conclusion is to photograph “everything in the world that restsist photography” - photographs themselves. At this point, JL Borges sprang happily to mind: see my review HERE.

“You cannot suffer the past or future because they do not exist. What you are suffering is your memory and your imagination.” - Sadhguru

The Adventures of a Traveler, 1958

“The train devoured its invisible road.”

A man gets the sleeper from northern Italy to Rome, where his girlfriend lives, as he regularly does. He relishes “the pleasure in confronting and overcoming” the various difficulties, aided by his honed tactics for tickets, seats, and privacy, balanced by scruples and etiquette. Commuters of all kinds will relate. The unanswered question is whether he enjoys the journey, including the train’s “amorous, caressing motion”, more than the destination.

The Adventures of a Reader, 1958

“Nothing equalled the savor of life found in books.”

A gently humorous look at the competing passions for books and sex. A man of wide literary tastes enjoys holiday reading in a quiet cove, interspersed with an occasional swim: one for the mind, the other for sensual, physical stimulation. When he sees a woman on the rocks below, “he evaluated the amount of lazy sensuality and of chronic frustration that was in her” and dismisses the possibility of a quick fling, in favour of reading. Nevertheless, he sits so her legs align with the edge of his book…

The Adventures of a Near-Sighted Man, 1958

This is about focus, in a broader sense than the title implies. As a child, I wanted to wear glasses, but didn’t dare pretend I couldn’t read the chart, as I assumed the optician would know. In my mid teens, I finally needed them, and I’ve never wanted contact lenses, nor do I take my glasses off when I relax. Clear vision, from behind a protective layer, is oddly important to me. Yet I can relate to Amilcare, perhaps because what he initially was is what I’ve strived to avoid. Life was losing savour, and he was bored of it - until he realised he was short-sighted, and got glasses. Suddenly, he sees the world in enriched detail. But it’s also distracting. He has to learn “what was pointless to look at and what was necessary” because “this indiscriminate covetousness of sensations was often punished”.

Another factor is that “he wears glasses” suddenly becomes the main descriptor of him. Is he the man he once was, and does that matter? Should he have ones that are barely visible and merge with his physiognomy, or bold black ones that are almost a mask?

The Adventures of a Wife, 1958

“I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.” - Matthew 5:28 (KJV)

This is about a young woman, married for two years, pondering whether she has committed adultery. In a technical sense, it’s ambiguous, but there’s a buzz as she justifies to herself a night out with a young man, and then discovers the enjoyable frisson of flirty chat with men.

The Adventures of the Married Couple, 1958

Sweet but dull. The husband works a night shift, and his wife works daytime hours, yet they find snippets of intimacy, waiting for and helping each other.

The Adventures of a Poet, 1958

“Islands have a silence you can hear.”
But Calvino dissects that to a “network of minuscule sounds that enfold it”. This is a bit like The Adventure of a Reader: the conflicting pull of words and lust/love.

The poet has never written a poem about love, but paddling a canoe into a cave, with his girlfriend, “His mind used to translating sensations into words, was now helpless”. Then, from too few words, to too many:

“Into Usnelli’s mind came words and words, thick, woven one into the other, with no space between the lines, until little by little they could no longer be distinguished… and only the black remained, the most total black, impenetrable, desperate as a scream.”

What price love?

Other Quotes

• “Waiting, with sweet anxiety, to see the developed pictures (anxiety to which some add the subtle pleasure of alchemic manipulations in the dark-room).”

• “Her recognizing as acts of love these photographic rapes.” Strong words.

• “At this hour… people who are awake fall into two categories: the still and the already.”

• “The sun’s rays, reflected underwater, grazed her, making a kind of garment for her, or stripping her all over again.”

• “The gasping fish glinted in their pungent dress of scales.”

• “The nails of his shoes marking the friable crust of sand.”

Smog, 1958

At 50 pages, it’s longer than the previous stories, and sometimes published separately, so I’ve reviewed it on its own, HERE.


A Plunge into Real Estate, 1957 novella, 1*

“The Riviera was gripped by a fever of cement… All he could see these days was a geometrical arrangement of parallelepipeds and polyhedrons ranked one above the other.”

A twenty-something son persuades his mother and younger brother to sell the bottom of the garden for apartments, because they owe money after the father’s death. They go into partnership with a developer who everyone says is dodgy, and he duly strings them along very effectively. But very boringly.


Image: Unfinished concrete apartments (Source.)

This is nearly 100 pages, compared with fewer than 10 for most of the Difficult Loves stories, reviewed above. The characters and writing style are similar - except this covers many months (though it felt like years). A hugely disappointing end to this volume, but I’ll keep it listed at 4* overall.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

These are stories of awkwardness and intimacy, because intimacy is so often awkward.

I consumed them slowly, one every two days, savoring tiny moments masterfully magnified by Calvino's gentle, percipient gaze.

The first story receives constant backlash, and I understand why. It’s about a soldier who feels chemistry with a woman on a train and proceeds to handle it in the most cowardly, creepy manner possible.

For me, the story works because I myself have been seated next to creepers on trains, and I believe the story’s unfolding, in all its disturbing - and awkward (and eventually exaggerated) - accuracy.

My favorite in the collection is a simple vignette of a blue-collar couple who work opposite shifts, tending to each other in a handful of minutes at the start and the finish of a day. Their love is palpable, and it makes me ache even now to think of it.

I already have my next Calvino in hand, and I'm so excited to get started.

Thanks to John Mauro for this spot-on recommendation.

Book/Song Pairing: Canzone Triste (Margot)

[Kalliope · Rating 5 out of 5]

Calvino as a storyteller comes across as a Modernist follower of one of Boccaccio’s literary personas. Both fabulists collected, edited, and reinterpreted older popular tales; both also wrote their own. For them the core of fiction could be extracted from this genre. And at least for Calvino, an Agronomist, that is where the seeds of his literary abilities germinated.

Unlike the The Decameron, Difficult loves does not have a framing story. There is however a story about the way they have been framed. My Spanish translation follows the arrangement and grouping of the Italian Einaudi edition from 1970. The English edition is different. The Italian presented thirteen very short stories under the subtitle Difficult Loves (Gli amori difficili) and a couple of longer tales under Difficult Lives (La vita difficile). The version in English does not include the last two and instead incorporates many other stories grouped as the Riviera, War and Postwar Tales.

The story behind the proper thirteen Difficult Loves also has its own suspense. They were written along a period of two decades: some during the late 40s; most of them in the 50s; and one from a much later date, 1967. This last one, the 'Adventure of a Motorist', stands out. It could not have been included in 1958 when they were grouped with many others as I Raconti (The Stories). Their titles were also generated later, when they were translated into French in 1964. They were then unified by their shared part of their individual titles. They all are ‘The Adventure of….X’.

I have expanded on this, possibly dry, account of the editorial history of Difficult Loves because I think it illustrates the difficulties of reading a collection of short stories and of gaining an opinion of the writing of any one author based on a reading experience of a few--and probably closely consecutive—sittings. Particularly when they correspond to a protracted and complex creative period as is the case with these.

To this difficulty (for it is not just the loves that are difficult) the Italian 1970 edition added another one. It included a remarkable Preface--with no signature. Surprisingly, this Preface has not been included in the English edition. Determinant for me, the Spanish edition has it and since it dates from 1989, it reveals that Calvino himself wrote it. After Calvino’s death in 1985 his heirs allowed the disclosure of his signature.

The hidden and revealed authorship transforms the Preface into an uncanny reading. He talks in third person of the influences that shaped his writing and his career. These are personal, political, ideological, philosophical and literary. He also provides a literary analysis, a criticism of his themes, style and imagery. The title and the choice of ‘Loves’ is unveiled in its significance, and the strange mixture between realism and fable as well as the tension between the rational and intellectual are also evaluated.

Providentially I left the Preface for the end reading it as a Postface. But nonetheless, this edition now seems like a mockery. Calvino, hiding his authorship, is guiding our reading of the author Calvino. No, not guiding. Kidnapping. His notorious explorations of the role and power and limitations of the author--and particularly of the reader--have been taken out of their fictional framework. Wearing the mask of conventional roles he is subverting even his Modernist experiments.

And that is why I cannot tell you my opinion of these tales. Behind mine one would be able to read the lines of the supreme Favolatore .

[Luís · Rating 4 out of 5]

Twelve "adventures" stripped down to spectacular adventures, ranging from that of a soldier to that of a skier, passing through a few other entries: a bandit, a bather, a reader, a myope ... So many anonymous figures around which Calvino embroiders, most often on the grounds of no communication, of the small failure, to stage this impassable part, tiny or gaping, which separates us from each other. But above all, we let ourselves be carried away by a sure style, chiseled and yet removed, which makes most of these tough love real nuggets.

[Argos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hepi topu 110 sayfaya sığdırılan 13 ayrı kişinin serüveni, 13 kısa öykü. Ortak noktaları hepsinin yolculuk yapıyor olmaları. Kitabın ismi ile öyküler arasında hiç bir ilişki göremedim.
Öykülerin hepsi de sonu açık bitiyor, yorumlama okuyucunun düş gücüne bırakılmış, bu nedenle öyküden çok kısa yazım provaları diyorum bunlara. Calvino’nun kalemi bir cambaz (ya da canbaz).

Onüç farklı kişi, kişiliklerinde aradıkları varlıklarını yalnızlık, sorgulama, kuşku, beklentinin gerçekleşmemesi, beklenmedik dönüşümler vb bir çok çoğu olumsuz öğeler ile dile getiriyorlar. Hepsi çok güzel, hepsi etkileyici.
Belki iddialı olacak ama yazmayı sevenler için, bir çeşit “iyi yazma dersleri” niteliğinde başvuru kitabı bence. Sadece öykü severler değil, deneme, roman vb düzyazı seven her kitap dostuna hararetle öneririm.

[Ian "Marvin" Graye · Rating 4 out of 5]

My Real Life

This is a collection of short stories that Italo Calvino wrote over about ten years, following World War II.

The four discrete sections were originally published in separate volumes. However, what stands out about the collection is the organic growth that occurs over the duration of the stories.

In effect, we see boys growing into men, and girls growing into women. And Calvino growing into an artist.

Even though Calvino had just experienced the war, it seemed to be important that he document childhood first, almost as if the war hadn't occurred. Childhood seemed to go on regardless of what was happening around it.

The consequences of war really only became apparent when the boys were old enough to play a role, even one as responsible as shooting the real enemy with guns that once would have been used to kill that evening's meal.

My Real Life Fabulised

The first part of this collection (the "Riviera Stories") was written shortly after WWII, but documents a period in the lives of teenaged boys when they are just starting to encounter girls and women outside their own families. There's a sense of innocence meeting experience.

The second part ("Wartime Stories"), also written after the war, but later than the "Riviera Stories" (as if Calvino had to impose order on his memories in the right order), updates the stories to the time of wartime resistance to the Fascists and Nazis. Boys and men grow up, and encounter life and death challenges, including the evil that men (more so than women) do to each other. These stories are equally subtle, but more moralistic. They come close to fables or fairy tales.

The "Postwar Stories" loosely embrace desire, except they do so via concrete detail about beds, mattresses, blankets, two-piece swim suits, bra straps, buttons and unbuttonings. Calvino's sense of humour emerges in these adolescent and post-adolescent fumblings.

The "Stories of Love and Loneliness" capture the atomisation of the individual within family and society. The characters yearn for love, but can't readily find it. When they find it, they don't recognise it immediately. It's almost as if they have idealised it so much, it's not obvious to them when it appears before them in a concrete form. These characters are almost inept in their romantic attachment to the love of [being in] love and almost neurotic in their detachment from the reality of reality. We seem to make love difficult for our selves and others.

My Fabulous Real Life

Taken together, the stories in this collection show us that words and fables can forge a bond with reality that is both entertaining and therapeutic.

They also capture the first steps of Calvino's journey towards the fabulous.


SOUNDTRACK:

Talking Heads - "Life During Wartime"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzORu...

"The sound of gunfire, off in the distance
I'm getting used to it now
Lived in a brownstone, I lived in the ghetto
I've lived all over this town

This ain't no party, this ain't no disco
This ain't no fooling around
No time for dancing, or lovey dovey
I ain't got time for that now."

Talking Heads - "The Great Curve"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UW1Iq...

"The world moves on a woman's hips
The world moves and it swivels and bops
The world moves on a woman's hips
The world moves and it bounces and hops."

[☆LaurA☆ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Certo il costo da pagare è alto ma dobbiamo accettarlo: non poterci distinguere dai tanti segnali che passano per questa via, ognuno con un suo significato che resta nascosto e indecifrabile perché fuori di qui non c'è più nessuno capace di riceverci e d'intenderci.

[Hanneke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Impressive range of short stories. Calvino is such a special author.

[Mevsim Yenice · Rating 5 out of 5]

Benim sadık yarim Italo Calvino'dur.

[Tony · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perhaps you are like me and always have a book. It is physical, the ledge we look over to the other, the real, world. And it is metaphysical, intertwining with our own existence, characters and plotlines merging from the page to the street, the office, the bedroom. Oh, it gets muddled. A tortured, drunken sleep, where one wonders if the conversation, the gaze, the regret was real; or did I dream it, did I read it.

Amedeo Oliva always has a book. He took it to the beach. The book became every book, a constantly changing kaleidoscope, a picture carousel. He’d look up over that ledge, see the rocks, the greenish-blue water, the oblique dash of a crab. But they were only peeks. He looks down, always looks down, as the carousel turns, and Raskolnikov counts the steps that separate him from the old woman’s door; turns again, and Lucien de Rubempré gazes at the towers and roofs of the Conciergerie before sticking his head into the noose; turns again, and a cannonball falls at the feet of Prince Andrei; turns again, to a shop filled with engravings and statues where Frédéric Moreau, his heart in his mouth, was to meet the Arnoux family.

Amedeo peeks again. A woman languishes on an air mattress, rolling down the twin pieces of her swimsuit to catch the sun. She waves, asks for a light for her cigarette. She does not move away when he touches her. Amedeo enters the water, troubled. And it turns again. How will this end? He obsesses. What will be the outcome with Albertine? Would Marcel find her again or not?

Such is a day at the beach in The Adventure of a Reader. There are other Adventures here: of a Soldier; of a Bather; of a Clerk; of a Photographer; of a Traveler; of a Nearsighted Man; of a Poet. Twenty-eight stories in all, very simply told, like fables. There are stories of War and what happens after War. We walk through mine fields, and are taken as a partisan back to headquarters. A German soldier tries to take one animal after another from the Animal Woods. I have him in the sights of a rifle, and I am a very bad shot. It is relatively easy to break in to commit A Theft in a Pastry Shop; harder to leave.

Looking up and looking down. What parts were real? I would like to think I would have put the book down when the other bathers left, unlike Amedeo, who made love to the woman in the cove while holding a finger in his ever-turning book, so he wouldn’t lose his place. But perhaps you are like me, and never really put the book down.

[Foteini Fp · Rating 5 out of 5]

Πρόκειται περί διηγημάτων και όπως συνηθίζεται θα έπρεπε να τα βαθμολογήσω ένα-ένα ξεχωριστά και έπειτα να διαιρέσω για να βγάλω τον μέσο όρο του βιβλίου όπως κάθε goodread-ας που σέβεται τον εαυτό του. Ε όχι λοιπόν! Δεν πρόκειται να βάλω κάτω από πέντε όσο κι αν με ζόρισαν μερικές από τις ιστορίες που έμοιαζε να έχουν τον ατελείωτο πχ ο στρατιώτης που πάλευε επί δύο χρόνια (τόσο φάνηκε να κρατάει μέσα στο μυαλό μου) να αγγίξει το γοφό μίας συνταξιδιώτισσας του στο τρένο ενώ σε κάθε αράδα ούρλιαζε μέσα στ' αφτιά μου η φωνή του Παπαγιαννόπουλου ΧΟΥΦΤΩΣΤΗΝ,ΧΟΥΦΤΩΣΤΗΝ.
Και που στηρίζεται η βαθμολογία σου, θα ρωτήσεις λογικά κι εγώ θα σου απαντήσω στην ιστορία του Αρτούρο και της Έλιντε που ήταν αρκετή κατ' εμένα να σηκώσει όλο το βάρος του βιβλίου στους ώμους της, όπως σήκωναν το βάρος της σχέσης τους τον ελάχιστο χρόνο που είχαν για να περάσουν μαζί ως ζευγάρι και όσο το σώμα του ενός έψαχνε την ζεστασιά του κορμιού του άλλου μέσα στα σεντόνια όταν ο ένας απ' τους δύο είχε φύγει για τη βάρδια του. Εδώ πέφτει Λίνα Νικολακοπούλου:
Μην πας μια μέρα στη δουλειά σου μη πας
Δεν ζούμε, να δούμε αν αγαπιόμαστε μην πας
Το σπίτι αυτό αν το πρωί θα τ' ανεχτούμε
να συγυρίζω, να γελάω, να μου μιλάς
Μην πας να δούμε αν αγαπιόμαστε να δούμε
Μην πας μια μέρα στη δουλειά μην πας

Αστεράκια πέντε λοιπόν σε ένα κατά τα άλλα μέτριο βιβλίο γιατί 4 σελίδες μέσα από αυτό μίλησαν στην καρδιά μου. Γιατί να μην δώσουμε κάτι παραπάνω; Μαζί μας θα τα πάρουμε;

[Evi * · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lascerei perdere la parola amore, non sono propriamente racconti d’amore o lo sono marginalmente ma Calvino può scegliere tranquillamente qualsiasi altro soggetto e il risultato è sempre identico, un gran risultato.
I suoi racconti sono pezzi di vita all’interno di una cornice ben definita e la sua capacità è di non fare desiderare né il prima né il dopo, sono racconti assolutamente autosufficienti chiusi al’interno di uno spazio e di un tempo finito, appaganti, lasciano sazi, non creando attese non soddisfatte.

Piccoli capolavori che appena terminati viene voglia già di ricominciare a leggerli, uno per uno.
Calvino è un profondo psicologo, un analista preciso che disseziona gli atti, i movimenti del corpo i comportamenti dell’animo, attimi sfuggenti, le sensazioni, le scompone riducendole nei loro elementi minimi ed essenziali.
Spolverizza le pagine con una sottile ironia, come non identificarsi nel protagonista del racconto Avventura di un lettore quando, nel suo eccessivo parossismo di lettore, sulla spiaggia finalmente bacia la giovane donna che lo ha concupito quasi suo malgrado e, nel frattempo, furtivamente allunga il braccio e si premura di sistemare il segnalibro tra le pagine per non perdere il segno?? Sta forse descrivendo gli anobiani quando baciano?

Unica nota a margine: Calvino a tratti mi sembra un po’ misogino, questi amori sono quasi tutti vissuti da parte maschile e più volte si riferisce alle donne, protagoniste dei suoi racconti, come a coloro che parlano e interloquiscono a sproposito.

P.S. letti nel 2011 da allora ho letto molti altri racconti e degli autori più diversi, quindi il 5 stelle di Annobi è diventato un cinque stelle relativo ed è sceso a 4.

[Trevor · Rating 5 out of 5]

There was a time when I thought my purpose in life was to encourage as many people as possible to read Calvino. I bought this book for someone once and they said that the problem with it was that it had all these men and all they had to do was look at women and the women would have sex with them. To which the only answer is that it is a work of fiction and it is written by a man.

If this was all the book was about it would not be worth reading, but these short stories are a real delight. My favourite is the story of the short sighted man - a man goes back to the village he left as a young man. The tradition is to walk in two lines so as to essentially pass everyone in the village as you walk. But he has recently got a pair of glasses - if he does not wear the glasses everyone recognises him and wave to him - but they are little more than blurs, when he puts the glasses on no one recognises him at all.

And like any work by Calvino there is always the knife twist waiting when you least expect it. These are light stories, but by Calvino so a delight all the same.

[Zaphirenia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Από όλα τα ανούσια βιβλία που έχω διαβάσει τελευταία, σίγουρα αυτό είναι ένα από τα κορυφαία σε ανουσιότητα. Κι επειδή ο χρόνος είναι λίγος και ο Καλβίνο δεν έκανε τα μαγικά του μέχρι τα μισά (δεν ξέρω καν αν θα μπορούσε να έχει κάνει κάποιο μαγικό, δεν έχω διαβάσει άλλο δικό του βιβλίο), το σταματώ εδώ, λίγο πριν τη μέση και δηλώνω ότι δεν κάνει για εμένα. Βαρετό, οι ιστορίες των διηγημάτων απλοϊκές και ανέμπνευστες, μερικές μου θύμισαν κάτι διηγήματα που έγραφα στο λύκειο. Και αυτό είναι πολύ κακό! Μου ήταν τόσο αδιάφορο που ακόμα και ο χρόνος που αφιερώνω για να γράψω αυτή την κριτική μου φαίνεται χαμένος. Δε βαριέσαι, πάμε γι' άλλα.

[Anastasia · Rating 4 out of 5]

(4,5*)

Για ακόμη μια φορά μοναδικός Italo Calvino. Η μελωδική, αρμονική ροή της γραφής του με παρέσυρε να το διαβάσω σε λίγες μόλις μέρες. Λίγο παραπλανητικός ο τίτλος αλλά σίγουρα κατά μία άποψη αντιπροσωπευτικός μίας πλευράς των αφηγήσεων. Χωρίς ιδιαίτερα "έντονες" ιστορίες, με απρόσμενες εξελίξεις και τραγικά γεγονότα, αλλά αντίθετα μέσα από καθημερινές σκηνές, απλούς ανθρώπους και λιτές αφηγηματικές μεθόδους μας παρουσιάζει παραστατικά ζητήματα της σύγχρονης ζωής, θίγοντας συγκεκριμένα την έλλειψη επικοινωνίας (εσωτερικής και διαπροσωπικής), την αναζήτηση του "ιδανικού" και του "όμορφου" και φυσικά της ευτυχίας.

Ιστορίες που με μία πρόχειρη ματιά φαίνεται να μην σχετίζονται αλλά τη στιγμή που διαβάσεις και την τελευταία πρόταση νιώθεις ότι αποτελούν μέρος ενός συνόλου, μιας εκτεταμένης αναζήτησης, κριτικής ή ίσως ανησυχίας.

ΥΓ: Ιδανικό για τελευταίο ανάγνωσμα για το 2016! Προτείνεται σε όλους.

[Tomasz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pięknie napisane opowiadania, niekoniecznie bezpośrednio o miłości, bardziej o emocjach, pragnieniach i komunikacji. Nie porwały mnie tak jak tego oczekiwałem, ale czytało się to naprawdę dobrze. Porządny i lekko przewrotny zbiór.

[Fabio Luís Pérez Candelier · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Los amores difíciles" de Ítalo Calvino, conjunto de trece relatos narrados, en su mayoría, en tercera persona, que abordan, con una marcada ironía, las fisuras comunicativas que se dan en las relaciones humanas entre personas que, por alguna inesperada circunstancia, podrían iniciar una relación amorosa, pero no alcanzan nunca a establecer ese mínimo vínculo afectivo inicial, y la vaga esperanza de prolongar las emociones en el tiempo.

[Gabril · Rating 4 out of 5]

La contemplazione visionaria di Calvino.
La leggerezza di Calvino.
L’ironia di Calvino.
La prosa elegante e perfetta di Calvino.
La sua razionalità, il suo humor intelligente e sottile.
La crepa che percorre orizzontalmente la realtà segmentandola e porgendola all’occhio ogni volta secondo nuove inattese prospettive.

Ed è così che Calvino non finisce mai di sorprendere.
Come quando descrive gli impercettibili movimenti/sentimenti del soldato in treno verso la silenziosa e seducente vedova, sua compagna di viaggio (“Sul dorso della sua mano ora premeva l’anca della signora in nero; egli la sentiva gravare sopra ogni dito, ogni falange, ormai qualsiasi movimento della sua mano sarebbe stato un inaudito gesto di intimità verso la vedova”).

O quando la povera bagnante finalmente abbandonata al piacere di un’immersione in mare si scopre improvvisamente nuda, ché un movimento più audace le aveva fatto perdere tra le onde lo slip del suo bel costume nuovo (“Invano lei, avvitandolo a gambe serrate, tentava di nasconderlo allo stesso suo sguardo: la pelle del nitido ventre biancheggiava rivelatrice, tra il bruno del petto e delle cosce, e né il muovere di un’onda né il navigare a mezz’acqua d’alghe semisommerse confondevano lo scuro e il chiaro del suo grembo”.).

E l’ossessione del fotografo che vuole fermare sulla pellicola ogni attimo, così simile alla pulsione contemporanea, quella che ci spinge a incorniciare in migliaia di scatti lo scorrere dei nostri giorni, complici gli smartphone onnipervadenti e multifunzione, mentre la vita vissuta per fermarla “è già in partenza commemorazione di sé stessa” (Roland Barthes insegna).

Ma anche quella del lettore compulsivo -in cui non stentiamo a riconoscerci- tanto che le possibili avventure della vita vera non possono eguagliare la perfetta avventura della pagina scritta (“Non c’era altra storia, altra attesa possibile oltre a quella che aveva lasciato in sospeso tra le pagine dov’era il segnalibro, e tutto il resto era un intervallo vuoto.”).

O quella del poeta che, pur nell’idillio con l’amata incorniciato da un mare di cristallina bellezza, non è in grado di trovare le parole ispirate che possano raccontare quello splendore, mentre nella sua mente si affollano tutte quelle adatte a descrivere le brutture del mondo umano e il suo eterno dolore (“ma questa angoscia del mondo umano era il contrario di quella che gli comunicava poco prima la bellezza della natura: come là ogni parola veniva meno, così qua era una ressa di parole che gli si affollavano alla mente: parole da descrivere ogni verruca, ogni pelo della magra faccia mal rasata del pescatore vecchio, ogni scaglia argentata del muggine”).

E infine l’irresistibile effetto cosmicomico dell’avventura di un automobilista che dopo un litigio telefonico con l’amata, pentito, si precipita da lei in macchina, temendo però che anche il suo rivale faccia lo stesso, o che addirittura lei abbia avuto la sua medesima idea e si stia contemporaneamente precipitando da lui…(“guai se io corro da Y geloso di Z e se Y corre da me pentita per sfuggire a Z mentre intanto Z non si è sognato di muoversi da casa…”). E mentre assaporiamo stupefatti tutta questa esilarante elucubrazione silenziosamente ringraziamo che i cellulari controllori del nostro universo siano di là da venire…

Gli amori difficili: tredici “avventure” che ancora ci deliziano grazie all’intramontabile genio narrativo di Italo Calvino .

(Rilettura)

[Paradoxe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ο Καλβίνο άλλοτε ακινητοποιεί την εικόνα τις σχέσεις και τα ατομικά συναισθήματα κι άλλοτε χωρίς να τα ονομάζει τα αναλύει. Σε κάθε περίπτωση παραμένει ορθολογιστής αισθήματίας κι αντιμετωπίζει τους χαρακτήρες του - χαρακτήρες μας με απόλυτη συναίσθηση της ισότητας και όχι του κριτή.

Οι περισσότερες ιστορίες της συλλογής αφορούν τις δύο βασικές μορφές που οδηγούν δύο ανθρώπους σε χάσμα, την έλλειψη επικοινωνίας ανάμεσα σ' εκείνους που δε μιλούν την ίδια γλώσσα και την ασυνεννοησία αυτών που οι ερωτήσεις δεν. απαντώνται και οι καταφάσεις δε βρίσκουν σύμπνοια ή αντίλογο παρά μόνο απόψεις σ" ένα ολότελα διαφορετικό θέμα, αυτό που κουβεντιαζεις και λες πεινάω κι ο άλλος απαντάει ότι θα δει μπάλα. Δε λείπει η ομιλία, δε λείπει η ακοή, λείπει η προθυμία για ουσιαστική ταυτόχρονη εγγύτητα και μία φοβία αναγνώρισης του εαυτού και των θέλω.

Όλες αυτές οι ιστορίες έχουν κάποιο ιδιαίτερο στοιχείο. Η διαχρονικότητα των πλοκών, ο γραπτός λόγος που θυμίζει λέξεις που ακούγονται κι άλλοτε ζωντανεύει ολόκληρα τα σκηνικά όχι σε τεχνικολορ αλλά στη μουντή πραγματικότητα τους προκαλούν μία ανατριχίλα γιατί είναι διολεμενα κοντά μας.

Ωστόσο υπάρχουν και τρεις πολύ ιδιαίτερες ιστορίες.
Η περιπέτεια του φωτογράφου που προβλεπει 60 χρόνια πριν τη ζωή μας στο σήμερα την υπερκοινωνικοτητα και τη μαζική υποκουλτούρα ενός κόσμου τίγκα στους άπιστους θωμαδες που για να ευχαριστήσουμε πραγματικά, να γαληνεψουμε πρέπει να φωτογραφίζουμε φωτογραφίες, ή... να χανόμαστε στους ψεύτικους κόσμους ενός κινητού.

Το Αργεντινό Μυρμήγκι δεν είναι παρά η κοινή συνιστώσα στη ζωή όλων μας με την οποία ζούμε και κανένας δεν μπορεί να την αποφύγει και έ��σι ανάλογα του ποιοι είμαστε και πόσο καλά βλέπουμε κοντά και πόσο καθαρά μακριά επιλέγουμε να παλέψουμε, να παραδοθούμε, να συνασπιστουμε στη μεμψιμοιρία η στην κοινή πορεία, να κρύψουμε το πρόβλημα ή να ψάξουμε για ένα άλλο θέμα εκείνη την ανάμνηση που θα λέει πως υπάρχει κάπου και λίγη ξαστεριά, ένα κομμάτι γης ζωντανό.

Το Νέφος έχει δύο σκέλη. Αφ' ενός κάνει διακριτή τη διαφορά ανάμεσα στον άνθρωπο που φοβάται τη δέσμευση με τους τόπους κι αναζητά στην προσωρινότητα και το απρόσωπο τη διαρκή αλλαγή και την εύκολη μετάβαση και στον άνθρωπο που δε θέλει τη δέσμευση με τους ανθρώπους και θέλει να είναι μόνο θεατής της οικειότητας. Αφ' ετέρου υπάρχει μία πολύ καλή φωτογραφία ενός κόσμου που αλλάζει και θυσιάζει στην εξέλιξη το να μπορεί να ανασαίνει σ' ένα καθαρό περιβάλλον. Μα κυριότερο σημείο κλειδί που με κέρδισε η Σκόνη. Ένα μυστήριο πράγμα, γνώριμο σ' εμάς που ζούμε για πολύ καιρό σαν περιπλανώμενοι: στα σπίτια που μένουμε για λίγο πάντα παρά τη φροντίδα διαρκώς μαζεύεται σκόνη και μπαμπακούρα που δε μπορούμε ν' αποφύγουμε, σαν η ύλη να λέει "μείνε".

4 αστέρια στο ρεαλιστή Καλβίνο με τη φωτογραφική μηχανή και το καπέλο του μάγου

[arcobaleno · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tredici "amori difficili" o forse solo immaginati, sognati. In realtà sono tredici caricature dei comportamenti umani.
Scritti quasi tutti negli anni cinquanta, risultano ancora freschi e attuali, con solo qualche... capello bianco che, come si dice (ma solo per gli uomini!), li rende più interessanti;-)
Simpaticissima l'"Avventura del lettore" che cerca di conciliare il piacere della lettura con quello del nuoto (mi ci sono perfettamente ritrovata!) e di cui, in omaggio ad ogni lettore, riporto questo brano:
Oltre la superficie della pagina s'entrava in un mondo in cui la vita era più vita che di qua, da questa parte: come la superficie del mare che ci divide da quel mondo azzurro e verde, crepacci a perdita d'occhio, distese di fine sabbia ondulata, esseri mezzo animale e mezzo pianta.

Per ultimi, due racconti più lunghi di "vita difficile", o modi di affrontare la vita. In Nuvola di smog mi è sembrato di cogliere un'anticipazione a Le città invisibili:
In trasparenza tra le linee e i colori di questa parte del mondo andavo distinguendo l'aspetto del suo rovescio del quale soltanto mi sentivo abitatore. Ma forse il vero rovescio era questo, illuminato e pieno di occhi aperti, mentre invece l'unico lato che contasse in ogni cosa era quello in ombra [...] e le facciate delle case antiche, piene di sporgenze, di incavi, dove s'addensava un deposito nero, e le facciate delle case moderne, lisce, monocrome, squadrate, sulle quali a poco a poco s'estendevano delle sfumate ombre oscure. [...] Ancora c'era chi viveva fuori della nuvola di smog, e forse ci sarebbe sempre stato [...] ma quel che importava era tutto ciò che era dentro allo smog.

[Introverticheart · Rating 4 out of 5]

Muszę jednak przyznać, że lektura Calvino to wspaniała przygoda <3

[Giordana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tre e mezzo.
Non tutte le storie mi hanno conquistata se devo essere onesta. Forse sono partita con delle aspettative, e quando si parte con delle aspettative su di un libro, si rischia di rimanere delusi.
Ci sono però delle storie che mi hanno lasciato il segno, mentre leggevo me le immaginavo nei minimi particolari:
-l’avventura di una bagnante.
-l’avventura del lettore. (❤️)
-l’avventura di una moglie.

Credo che Calvino in questo libro ha dato il meglio di sé a livelli di particolari. Geniale.

[Pictures at an Exhibition · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although not as brilliant or imaginative as other collections of the author, Difficult Loves certainly deserves a reading by those who enjoy Calvino's prose. Here Calvino is not interested in imaginary cities or parallel universes but speaks about contemporary daily life with its usual dose of humor and bitterness as well as some surrealistic bits. The quality of the stories knows highs and lows, but Calvino's ability to expand deep thoughts from a bathing suit lost at sea or from a one-night stand helps you remember what a great storyteller he was.

[Cansu Kargı · Rating 4 out of 5]

13 lezzetli öykü 🖤
İyi öykü okuyunca okuduğum daha iyileriyle bir kıyasa giriyorum kimi zaman. Güzel kıyas ☄️
Yolu bir şekilde yazmakla kesişecekler için de yine Calvino okuyun diyorum.
Bu öykülerde iç ses, duygular oldukça fazla konuşuyor.
Leziz metinler, fakat biraz yorucu bir okuma oldu; kitabın hacmi okumayı hafife aldırmasın. Metinler ağır değil, fakat Calvino bazı ruhsal betimlemelerde zihinde kaos yaratmayı seviyor.
Sevdik bu kaosları..

[Martina☽ · Rating 4 out of 5]

«E poi non sapevo più cosa guardare e guardai il cielo»

[Özgür Atmaca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Öykülerde kısa durum anları, geniş ve müthiş bir dille anlatılmış.
Calvino'yu uzun aralar verip tekrar okumak gerçekten çok lezzetli.

[Guido · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un Italo Calvino forse un po' meno a suo agio in questi racconti d'impronta così tradizionale e realista, ma bisogna ammettere che il tema è difficilissimo: gli amori accennati, quelli che potevano essere e non furono; un'intera vita insieme sfiorata, ma mai avvenuta; le occasioni perdute, quelle dimenticate o trascurate, e quelle lasciate ad aspettare per sempre. Notevolissimi i due racconti della seconda parte, intitolata "La vita difficile": "La formica argentina" e "La nuvola di smog", certamente più ispirati di quelli che danno il titolo alla raccolta, e più rappresentativi dell'immenso talento di Calvino, che resta uno dei miei preferiti di sempre.

[Pitichi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Riletto almeno 10 anni dopo la prima volta, mi convinco sempre più che certi autori si possono apprezzare nelle loro sfaccettature solo dopo aver acquisito una certa esperienza di vita (e di lettura). Calvino è così: solo adesso ho colto certe sue riflessioni a proposito della bellezza, dell'amore e della ricerca del proprio scopo. Proverò a rileggerlo tra altri 10 anni, per capire se qualcos'altro mi è sfuggito.

[Sergio Ruiz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Me ha gustado mucho. Tanto las historias cortas como las dos más extensas al final.

[Vasko Genev · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 звезди за поредицата от "The Adventure of ..."! Жалко, че тези разкази почти винаги са разпарчетосани в различни сборници. Мисля, че в пълен комплект са в Difficult Loves (Gli amori difficili) от 1970г.

Настоящото издание от 1985г., всички разкази са разделени в четири категории:

RIVIERA STORIES
WARTIME STORIES
POSTWAR STORIES
STORIES OF LOVE AND LONELINESS

Именно в последната част "Истории на любов и самота" са тези от цикъла "Приключението на ...":

The Adventure of a Soldier
The Adventure of a Bather
The Adventure of a Clerk
The Adventure of a Photographer
The Adventure of a Traveler
The Adventure of a Reader
The Adventure of a Nearsighted Man
The Adventure of a Poet

Във всеки един от тях става дума за онзи особен момент на самота, когато си щастлив да останеш сам със себе си. Момент на "кратка самота", която обаче никой не би искал да се превърне в постоянно усещане. Чист миг на съзерцание. Тези моменти на "безвремие" най-често са провокирани от определени обстоятелства. В този смисъл, разказите представят отрязък "безвремие".

Всеки от нас е имал подобни "приключения". Мигове на съзерцание в промеждутъка на шума и хаоса на ежедневието, когато същността на светът за кратко се разкрива.

Искаше ми се "Приключението на един късоглед" да продължи малко повече, толкова ме разсмя - уникален момент с разминаването на улицата и поздравяването ..., и изведнъж ...

Сетих се тези разкази колко добре си пасват с тези от "Паломар", в абсолютен синхрон са!
Потърсете "Паломар", разказите са включени в сборникът "Невидимите градове" от 1983г.


ПП. Намерих The Adventure of a Skier, публикуван в The New Yorker: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/20...

ППП. Italo Calvino in China
http://www.ruanyifeng.com/calvino/en/...