The Baron in the Trees

I nostri antenati #2

by Italo Calvino, Archibald Colquhoun (Translator)

A landmark new translation of a Calvino classic, a whimsical, spirited novel that imagines a life lived entirely on its own terms

Cosimo di Rondó, a young Italian nobleman of the eighteenth century, rebels against his parents by climbing into the trees and remaining there for the rest of his life. He adapts efficiently to an existence in the forest canopy—he hunts, sows crops, plays games with earth-bound friends, fights forest fires, solves engineering problems, and even manages to have love affairs. From his perch in the trees, Cosimo sees the Age of Enlightenment pass by, and a new century dawn.

The Baron in the Trees exemplifies Calvino’s peerless ability to weave tales that sparkle with enchantment. This new English rendering by acclaimed translator Ann Goldstein breathes new life into one of Calvino’s most beloved works.

Genres: Fiction, Classics, Italian Literature, Italy, Fantasy, Magical Realism, Literature

217 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1957

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

[Vit Babenco · Rating 5 out of 5]

Why do people rebel? What is the nature of mutiny? Grownups can be rebellious… Children may be mutinous…
Cosimo is just twelve years old…

The wind was blowing in from the sea, I remember, and the leaves were stirring. Cosimo said, “I told you I don’t want it, and I don’t!” and he pushed away the plate of snails. Never had such grave disobedience been seen.

Stuffiness and stagnation… The father is a symbol of the old rotten times…

Our father, the baron, was a dull man certainly, although not a bad one: dull because his life was dominated by thoughts that were out of step, as often happens in eras of transition.

Cosimo revolts… And leaving the world of bipeds walking the earth he, jumping from branch to branch, migrates to the world of trees… He becomes an arboreal dweller…

Cosimo’s first days in the trees had no goals or plans but were dominated only by the desire to know and possess that kingdom of his. He would have liked to explore it immediately to its farthest boundaries, study all the possibilities it offered, discover it tree by tree and branch by branch.

Rebellion for rebellion’s sake is the purest form of revolution.

[Jim Fonseca · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fantasy/farce by the master. Set in Italy around the time of Napoleon, a young man, discouraged by his boring relationship with his two crazy parents, crazy sister, friar/tutor and crazy uncle who lives with them, “takes to the trees” of the surrounding forest at age twelve and never touches the ground again, dying at age 65. Like an overly long joke, I wondered how long Calvino could pull off this story and keep it interesting, but he does it successfully for more than 200 pages.



The Barn’s lifelong story is told mostly by his younger brother who sees him daily and supplies him with essentials, although the brother in the trees gathers wild food and shoots animals. Their father, the older ‘Baron, ‘is obsessed by his social pretentions. Their mother, German by birth, is equally obsessed with military operations, maps and battles and seems not to mind her son’s bizarre behavior, taking it as a kind of military scouting campaign. They call her the ‘Generalessa.’

The forest is extensive and he lowers baskets to buy books from the local bookstore in town at the edge of the forest. When still young, his tutor comes to sit up in the trees with him. He courts young women and falls in love with one. He battles bandits and pirates, meets up with soldiers (including Napoleon), and makes friends with the marginal folks who live in the forest including homeless coal miners, fruit pickers and poachers. He even sets up a press and prints a newspaper for a time. The locals defer to him as the ‘Young Baron.’ He acquires a reputation beyond Italy as the man who lives in the trees and corresponds with folks like Voltaire, receiving back brief, polite letters.



Not my favorite Calvino, but a decent read.

The Baron in the Trees, painting by Italian artist Salvatore Nangione from artrabbit.com
The author from ilglobo.com

[Richard Derus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating: 4* of five

The Publisher Says: Cosimo, a young eighteenth-century Italian nobleman, rebels by climbing into the trees to remain there for the rest of his life. He adapts efficiently to an arboreal existence and even has love affairs.

My Review: This being a famous and well-studied book, I suppose the publisher didn't feel the need to do a sell-job on it. That little squib is barely a log-line!

I read this book first in ~1974, because it had a cool-looking jacket. It also had an Italian author, which was also cool. But the reading of it was a revelation because the titular Baron was the perfect rebel, firm of purpose and adamant of spirit. And all over what seems, at first anyway, such a ridiculous cause: Refusing to eat snails. I'd never had snails offered to me at that point, and I was in full agreement with the Baron. But as the pages flipped on, I could see what was really at stake was the right to set one's own boundaries, to establish a core identity by and for one's own self.

All adolescents resonate to that theme, I think, and that's why I'm surprised that this book isn't required reading until college. It would serve well in junior or senior year of high school. Anything that deals with the process and price of becoming and being an individual seems to me to be a good fit for that age. Plus it's beautifully translated, so it's easy to read.

And for the record, I ate snails the first time they were offered to me. They were delicious.

[Steven Godin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my eleventh Calvino, and while I don't think it's his best writing, it was such a sheer joy to read, brimming with great charm and delight from start to finish, that it's probably my favourite. Calvino has conjured up such a fantastical tale of an eighteenth century Baron living in the trees - without ever stepping foot on the ground again.

The Baron in the Trees is part fairy-tale, part coming-of-age novel, but what sets it apart from a lot of other novels simply tagged 'magic realism' is it's subtle air of parody and seriousness that gives it a deeper level. When it was written, the novel was reflecting on the not-so-distant past of Italian fascism and dictatorship, which Italo Calvino felt robbed him of his youth. Well, this is kind of him getting his own back. The novel is not narrated by the protagonist Cosimo, but by his somewhat obsessed younger brother Biagio, who sees Cosimo, fed up with the pomp of his father's demands, climb into the great oak tree in their garden and refuse to budge. It soon becomes apparent he has no intention of ever coming down. The oak connects into the grand forest of the neighbouring aristocrats, is close to the sea, and with the view from high above, the whole region is opened up before his eyes. Cosimo makes new friends, falls in love, learns handy new skills, and creates a permanent outdoors life for himself in the trees.

Basking itself fully in the nostalgic joys of childhood, Cosimo’s adventures are treated with a sort of sacrosanct level of detail by his brother. How he gets on with the basics like food, water, sleep and clothes are all carefully described in the narration, and Calvino's story is uncluttered by the trappings of a normal life that obscure our vision and can make unimportant things like table manners seem essential. In the trees, Cosimo finds a way to leave all the rotten things in life down below, just keeping with the good. He always, ironically, stays grounded, with plenty of books and studying, as he consumes the new philosophical and science progress coming from the Enlightenment era, while cautiously avoiding the rapid dangers of the dying old way of life below. He keeps his distance and his identity and when nothing seems sure, he stays hidden in the trees.

Calvino's novel is ultimately about navigating individualism, and stabilising the connection with the real world and one's self. Some could say the story becomes less effective or fun when Cosimo is much older, and that the spark that ignites the first half isn't there so much later on, but this just adds another aspect to the brilliant storytelling, it doesn't take anything away.

I loved it, and will certainly be reading it again. After being disappointed by one of his autobiographical works the last time around, it's clear to see his greatest blessing was in writing fiction to enchant. And he again pulls that off with masterful ease.

[د.سيد (نصر برشومي) · Rating 4 out of 5]

البارون ساكن الأشجار لإيتالو كالفينو ترجمة أماني فوزي حبشي
أشكر للزميلة العزيزة د. شيماء الجمل إعارة الرواية لأطالع صفحة من عيون سرديات العصر

الوعي المتجاوز أرض الحكاية
الخروج إلى الكونية
لإدراك غير مقيّد بتقاليد النشأة الأولى
ارتقاء تطوري يطالع اللحظة
ويقرأ التاريخ
ويبحث من مرتكز الآن
عن مسار لا يقيده المكان والزمان
خاص بوجوده الناطق بذاته
وجود لا يبالي بمعايير الطبقة
وميراث العائلة السجينة في حصار الجدران العتيقة
يالرؤية من أعلى
بعض الروايات سيرة مختصرة لإنسانيتنا
هكذا البارون ساكن الأشجار
أو البارون المتسلّق
أو البارون المتمرد
لإيتالو كالفينو (1923 - 1985م) الذي اختار موضوعه
انطلاقا من استراتيجية التطور الدائري
إننا نسير في خط ممتد
لكنه يتشكل من دوائر قابلة للتكرار بدرجة ما
إننا نثمرد ونتعلم ونبدع فنكتب أوراق حضارتنا كما تطرح الأشجار فروعها
شجرتنا الكبيرة كل منا فرع فيها
في الثانية عشرة ندرك أننا نختلف
أننا نستطيع أن نبني أنفسنا من داخلنا
كما فعل السابقون الذي نظروا لأعلى واستلهموا المساحة الممتدة بين الأغصان المتشابكة والسماء الرحبة
كانت الخريطة واضحة أمامهم
إنهم يرون من موقع الراوي الذي يسيطر على مساحة شاسعة
في مرمى البصر عالم حافل بالنماذج والأساليب
في قلب الأشجار أصوات وحركة
الكون مسكون بصخب ودراما حيوية
يدركها من اعتاد التأمل من خارج الأطر
في الثانية عشرة نبحث عن أنفسنا في الكون الفسيح
وفي نفوسنا المتشابكة المسارات والدهاليز
مثل غابة كبيرة ترويها مشاعرنا
ترعاها أفكارنا
مثل حي بن يقظان وروبنسن كروزو
كأن العالم لنا نتفهمه من جديد
نتذوقه بأعصابنا المتوترة
نتسلمه من حواسنا وتجاربنا
يقاطعني مصطفى: لكنها ثنائية ياصديقي
هناك بطل فوق الشجرة يصوغ المفاهيم ويحدد الرؤى ويضع النظريات ويستقبل المنجز العالمي ويدفع إلى التطور
ذاك الخط المحوري في منتصف القرن العشرين
وهناك من يقف في المنتصف مراعيا المسافات والأحوال
مندمجا في التقاليد ومساندا للبطل صاحب القرار الذي يواجه العالم من نظرية فوقية
الاثنان لا ينفصلان
كل دون كيخوته يحتاج إلى سانشو بانثا
وكل أبي الفتح السكندري يتابعه عيسى بن هشام
من غابة أومبروزا بجنوة
تبدأ رواية كوزيمو
الاسم مشتق من الكون ، الكوزمية
التي يرويها أخوه دييجو
ومن نهاية القرن الثامن عشر
نرى روسو وفولتير ونابليون
ونستمع إلى المواطنة
ودخل القرن التاسع عشر
ليتركنا البطل الذي تمرد واخترع وأحب وتفلسف
وساعد المزارعين والعمال واحتوى عتاة الإجرام
واحترمه المتشردون والنبلاء
ويصعد إلى السماء محافظا على عهده
ألا يلتصق بالأرض التي يعشق قصتها
ويلهم مبدعيها
ويضيف حكايته
بصوت الأخ المحافظ الذي يبدو عاقلا ناجحا
بينما هو يتألم لأنه لم يجرب
رحلة إبداع الذات كأخيه
البارون متسلّق شجرة الحضارة الرمزية التي غرسها كالفينو في غابة السرد
اختارت المترجمة عنوانا أقرب إلى الترجمة الإنجليزية
وابتعدت عن كلمة المتسلّق التي تحمل دلالات سلبية في العربية
لكنها عند إيتالو كالفينو تؤكد حالة التحفّز الطموح لتحقيق ذات لها خصوصية
تستحق أن تكون نمطا لأسلاف مهدوا الأرض لرحلة التحضّر
وهم يعانون من الارتحال الروحي في الفضاء العلوي

[Nayra.Hassan · Rating 4 out of 5]

فلنتعالى على كل الصغائر
هل تخيلت ابدا ان تنفذ هذه الجملة حرفيا؟

هل تستميت في تنفيذ ما وعدت به نفسك مهما اثبت لك الزمن عبثيته ؟

في رائعته الثانية عن"اغتراب الانسان عن ذاته"يقدم لنا كالفينو:البارون كوزيمو القابع للابد فوق أشجار جنوة الكثيفة الخصبة

هو رجل المتناقضات. .الطائر الذي قيد نفسه بنفسه
الاجتماعي النفور
الودود المتنائي
القارئ المستغني
كوزيمو يمثل اغلبنا هنا في الجوودريدز
ننتمي و نهرب
نقرب و نطير
لا هو ليس طرزان اخر؛ بل هو الانسان الذي نحلم كلنا ان نكونه..متكامل..مستغني..صانع لادواته..حافظ لمبدأه

*من أراد أن يري الأرض جيدا عليه أن يحتفظ بالمسافة الضرورية بينه و بينها*

لاكثر من ستين عاما لم يطأ الارض بقدمه ..و فوق اشجاره اقام مجتمعا متكامل
من يرتفع دوما يرى الصورة أوضح..و سرعان ما يلتقط ما ينقصه ..صنع كل ما احتاجه  هو و الاخرين بيديه..تعلم و قرأ و كتب كتبا و مجلات .. خالط اللصوص و ساعد البسطاء. . جالس زعماء و راسل ادباء.. فاز بجاذبية المجانين و فتنة العباقرة ..استمتع و امتع..افاد و استفاد .. عاهد و وفي. .احب و اتحب..و أحببت نهايته جدا فقد ضن بجسده على أرض لم تفهمه حقا
فرحل طائرا كما عاش.. مات واقفا كما أراد

و اتمني ان يكون أصدقائي بالقراءة الجماعية احبوا النهاية مثلي


*اذا بنيت احد الأسوار فكر فيمن ستتركه خارجها*

بسبب خلاف في وجهات النظر على حتمية تناول الحلزون؛

انقلبت حياة اسرة روندو..لذلك سنجد شخصيات القصة كلها صارت ثانوية على اختلاف ادوارهم و اجناسهم ..فلقد صعد كوزيمو  و تسامي ليصنع مسافة حددها "هو" بينهم اجمعين

ولكني للأسف لم احب مطلقا ثلث الرواية الاخير و هو يمثل نحو ثلثي حياة كوزيمو ..فجاة احسست فعلا انني في وسط اوروبا في الثلث الاخير من القرن ال18 و ابتعدنا عن الجو الاسطوري الذي خيم على الرواية

..فغرقنا في حروب اوروبية ثم ثورة فرنسية و غزوات نابوليونية ..و تخاريف ماسونية ..كل هذا من فوق نفس الاشجار..لم ابتلعها رغم انني ادرك انه اراد تقديم كوزيمو كانسان ثوري استثنائي كامل فعال ترك اثر علي تاريخ بلده


*اذا وقع الغرام على عنيد فلا بقي العنيد ولا العناد *

اثبت كوزيمو خطأ هذه العبارة من خلال علاقته الاسطورية بفيولا ..حب طفولته
و اثبت ان دوام الحب بين رجل و امراة لن يحدث لا فوق الارض و لا على سطحها و لا فيما بينهما و لا في باطن المحيطات و لا في سديم الفضاءات
فيولا هي باختصار النسخة الانثوية من كوزيمو ..بتمردها الفائق و جراتها المتحدية و تعاليها اللامحدود
احبيتها؛ لكن لم احب استثناءيتها؛ ببساطة لانها لا تمثل الانثي الحقة
هي تمنت ان يهبط كوزيمو من اجلها و لكن كبرياءها منعها من طلبها و لو لمرة فاثرت ان تؤلم حبيبها و تدمي قلبه  مرارا عساه يفهم ..لترحل مؤكده ان حب الرجل و المراة هو
رابع المستحيلات


كوزيمو فهم سر السعادة: الا تتوه روحك عن ذاتك
و سر الراحة مع البشر و هو :العلاقات السطحية من" بعيد لبعيد " هذا اكثر ما احببته في البارون و ساتذكره دوما"بقبعته"كمن نفذ حرفيا حكمة
" زر غبا تزداد حبا "

[Taufiq Yves · Rating 5 out of 5]

2nd read.

In this age of hyper-specialization, I think novels should serve as a kind of lookout tower for observing life as a whole. A good novel doesn’t have to cover everything, but at least dare to dream that dream - that big, boundless dream. This novel is exactly that kind of novel for me.

The story kicks off with a simple moment: 12-year-old Cosimo climbs up a tree in protest after refusing to eat a snail dish his sister made. Everyone thinks it’s just a kid throwing a tantrum, but Cosimo is dead serious - he decides he’s never coming down. And he really sticks to it. For the rest of his life, until the day he dies, he never sets foot on the ground again.

Living in the trees - what a wild idea. Only a writer could make that feel real. Through Cosimo, we get to explore a whole other world, a different way of being. There’s even a group of Spanish exiles in the novel who also live in the trees, but for very different reasons. They weren’t allowed to set foot on the land due to a treaty, so they took to the trees as a loophole. When the ban was lifted, they came down and invited Cosimo to join them. He refused. “I got up here before you, gentlemen,” he said, “and I’ll be the last to leave.” Cosimo wasn’t up there because he had to be - he stayed because he wanted to. When the exiles asked if he was retreating, he said, “No. I’m resisting.”

Cosimo didn’t want to be trapped by family expectations or noble titles. He wanted freedom. He wanted to be whole. So he chose resistance. Reality is rarely ideal, but the idea of perfection is always tempting. We live caught between the 2. So many people start out as idealists, dreaming of a better future, but reality is harsh and ordinary. Being different often leads to loneliness and misunderstanding. Is that kind of solitude worth it? Most of us eventually give in - we climb down from our trees and settle. But Cosimo stayed. And that choice gave him freedom.

But freedom isn’t just about escape. What do you actually do with it? Cosimo didn’t become a hermit or a cynic. Quite the opposite in fact - he threw himself into life. He read, studied, wrote. He helped build a fire prevention system, fought off pirates, dealt with wolves. He exchanged letters with Rousseau and Voltaire, organized a local revolution, and even became a city council member. He acted like a true nobleman - not because of his title, but because he believed in being fully human. Ironically, by staying in the trees, he became more connected to people. If he’d stayed on the ground, he’d have been stuck in his family’s villa, obsessed with lineage and inheritance like his father.

The novel is about isolation, distance, and the messiness of human relationships. It asks: to truly be with others, do we first need to step away from them? As Cosimo’s brother Biagio puts it, “To see the world clearly, you have to keep a certain distance.”

What comforts me is that Cosimo eventually finds peace with his family - or at least, they try to understand him. His father warns him early on: “Rebellion isn’t something you can measure. You think you’ve taken just a few steps, but sometimes there’s no turning back.” But when he sees Cosimo’s commitment and how much he’s helping the village, he gives him the family sword. The part with Cosimo’s mother is, to me, the most touching in the whole book. When she’s sick with asthma, Cosimo climbs a tall mulberry tree outside her window to care for her. She loves bossing him around, but only asks for things he can do from the tree. like handing her oranges or a shawl with a fishing spear. In the mornings, when her asthma is worst, he distracts her with flute tunes, bird calls, butterflies, and flowers. One day, he blows soap bubbles - something she never let them play with as kids - and it makes her laugh. A bubble lands on her lips and stays there. That’s when she quietly passes away.

Of course, Cosimo also meets Viola - the great love of his life. They’re drawn to each other because they’re both fiercely independent, but that’s also what tears them apart. For Viola, love has to be proven through pain and drama. For Cosimo, love and happiness are things that should obey reason. They’re both stubborn, and their differences eventually destroy the relationship. Viola says, “Then be your lonely self… goodbye… you’ll never see me again.” She marries someone in India. Cosimo returns to solitude. The heartbreak ages him quickly, but still, he refuses to come down.

There’s no doubt Cosimo’s life is actually quite a lonely one. He distances himself from family, from society - even Viola leaves him. But he shows us that solitude isn’t unbearable. Emotional and spiritual strength are deeply personal. A strong, whole soul doesn’t need others to complete it. He says, “For many years, I lived for ideals I couldn’t even explain to myself. But I did one good thing - I lived in the trees.” When Napoleon visits and asks him to block the sun, it’s like a scene straight out of Diogenes and Alexander. The emperor says, “If I weren’t Napoleon, I’d want to be Cosimo of Rondo.”

Calvino clearly loves Cosimo. At the end, when Cosimo is dying, everyone wants him to come down and receive last rites. He refuses. Instead, he grabs a rope hanging from a hot air balloon and floats away, disappearing over the sea. Even in death, he doesn’t return to the ground. His tombstone reads: “Cosimo Piovasco di Rondo - Lived in the trees - Loved the earth - Ascended to the sky.” This is deeply moving.

This is a novel worth rereading. If I had to say what impacted me most, it’s that it showed me how to live: like Cosimo, in a way that’s true to yourself. To choose your own path, to strive to be free and whole - even if it means being alone, even if it never ends. That kind of life is still worth living.

5 / 5 stars

[فؤاد · Rating 4 out of 5]

١.
نوشتن مى تونه براى خود نويسنده لذتبخش باشه: نوشتن مى تونه خيال بازى باشه، شبيه خيال بازى هاى كودكى، اما كمى پيچيده تر، كمى واقع گرايانه تر، كمى پخته تر. خيال بازى هاى كودكى و نوجوانى هر چند پر شورترن، اما زيادى خام و نسفته ن. آدم بعد از ديدن و مطالعه كردن متوجه ميشه چقدر امكانات متفاوتى توى جهان هست كه مى تونه تخيل رو پيچيده و ظريف كنه، اما توى خيال پردازى هاى كودكى ش از اون ها بى اطلاع بوده.
نويسنده مى تونه يك ايده رو بگيره و حولش تخيل كنه و بهش شاخ و برگ بده. مثلاً پسرى تصميم مى گيره بالاى درخت زندگى كنه. خب، اين پسر فقيره يا از اشرافه؟ هنگام عملى كردن تصميمش با چه مخالفت هايى مواجه مى شه؟ براى زندگى روى درخت به چه مشكلاتى براى تأمين گرما و غذا و حتى قضاى حاجت بر مى خوره؟ مردم چه نگاهى به اين كارش دارن؟ آيا آدم هاى ديگه اى هم هستن كه بالاى درخت زندگى مى كنن؟ و... فكر كنم به اين شيوه ميگن "باران فکری" يا "طوفان فكرى"، هر چند زياد در اين مورد نخوندم و اطلاع دقيقى ندارم.
آيا كالوينو با اين شيوه مى نويسه؟ نمى دونم. اما موقع خوندن خودمو جاش مى ذاشتم و فكر مى كردم اين طور بازيگوشانه نوشتن چقدر مى تونه براى خود نويسنده لذتبخش باشه.

البته مى دونم كه "نگارش خودكار" هيچ وقت نتيجۀ مطلوبى نداره و منظور من هم نگارش خودكار نيست. فكر نكنم اصلاً اين تكنيك واقعاً به قوۀ خيال پر و بال بده. قوۀ خيال نياز به زمان و آرامش و در خود فرورفتن داره. حتى گاهى تخيل توى ساعات به خصوصى از شبانه روز فعال ميشه و بايد منتظر اون ساعات موند. همين طور گاهى به محرك هاى خارجى نيازه، آدم عكسى ببينه، فيلمى ببينه، در مراسمى حضور پيدا كنه و تخيلش فعال بشه. با نگارش خودكار هيچ كدوم از اين شرايط مهيا نيست.

٢.
داستان پر از ارجاعات به دنياى بيرونه:
حضور ولتر، چند بار با نامه نگارى و يك بار حضورى،
حضور بى نظير ناپلئون،
حتى حضور شاهزاده آندره از جنگ و صلح.
و حضور مختصر روسو و ديدرو، از طريق نامه نگارى.
اين بازيگوشى ها مخصوصاً براى كسى كه از قبل با اين شخص��ت ها مختصر آشنایی داشته باشه، باعث مفرّح تر شدن رمان مى شه. من مخصوصاً سر گفتگوى ناپلئون و بارون درخت نشين، حسابى خنديدم.

[Kenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

... anyone who wants to see the earth properly must keep himself at a necessary distance from it ...
The Baron in the Trees ~~~ Italo Calvino



Italo Calvino has been on my bucket list of authors for quite some time. For some reason I just never got around to reading him; there were better known or flashier authors positioned higher on the list. Then, my friend, Matthew, reviewed a work of Calvino’s, The Castle of Crossed Destinies and in his review he mentioned The Baron in the Trees. I knew at that moment I needed to move Calvino to the top of my list.

Matthew said to me of The Baron in the Trees it is Charming, well-written, whimsical, oddly poignant... Calvino at his best . He is correct on all points.

The Baron in the Trees is an extraordinary, eccentric, intelligent, and sparkling fantasy concerning Cosimo, the eldest son of a noble family, who, in a moment of defiance, vows to live out his life up in the trees ~~ and does so. I absolutely loved inhabiting this strange world Calvino created.



Fed up with the grandiosity his father demands, Cosimo’s rebellion is to climb into the great oak tree in their garden and refuse to come down. Almost immediately, Cosimo realizes he’s never going to set foot on the ground again; soon he learns the great oak connects to the grand forest of the adjoining estates. Immediately, an entirely new world is opened to him. Cosimo makes new friends, learns new skills, and creates a life for himself in the trees.

Every time you’re ready to get used to Cosimo’s new life in the trees, he meets and befriends a silly, whimsical robber or engages a daschund to help with hunting. The Baron in the Trees is a fairy-tale, coming-of-age novel and romance all rolled into one, but what sets it apart is the understated use of satire.



Cosimo isn’t content to just live in the trees; our young hero wants to learn all there is to learn; he initially convinces his tutor to climb the trees as well for lessons, but soon Cosimo turns to books for his learning. The young Barron ends up becoming the teacher and will share his new found knowledge with anyone who has a love of learning. Eventually, Cosimo begins correspondences with the greatest minds of his time; he becomes not only a man living in trees, but an esteemed scholar, known the world over.

It is flourishes like this that make Cosimo such an enchanting character. Life in the trees is not the most interesting thing about Cosimo; he’d be a fascinating character on the ground as well ~~ though it is difficult to envision him on the ground. Cosimo has more adventures than most land lovers dream of, and he meets so many interesting characters along the way ~~ life in the trees has not limited him in anyway. Thru all of these adventures, remains Cosimo the most compelling person of all those he encounters.

The Baron in the Trees reads like a collection of parables centered around Cosimo. Like many parables, there’s definitely a sense of wonderment and playfulness, and they are very funny.

I could end this review by making some philosophical pronouncement or waxing poetical, but honestly, I recommend reading The Baron in the Trees because it will make you smile.

[Dolors · Rating 5 out of 5]

"(..) surrounding buds of phrases with frameworks of leaves and clouds, then interweaving again, and so running on and on and on until it splutters and bursts into a last senseless clusters of words, ideas, dreams, and so..."

Once upon a time, somewhere between the innocence of childhood and the pluck of the bold rebel, a young Italian nobleman called Cosimo exercised his right to dissent after twelve long years of abiding by the inherent societal norms of his aristocratic title and refused to eat beheaded snails defying parental authority. In order to avoid the wrath of his authoritarian father, Cosimo climbed to the top of an enormous holm oak situated in the garden of the family state and promised to never touch the ground again, becoming the irreverent Baron in the Trees thenceforth.

This is how this tale, related from the first-person narrative by Cosimo’s little brother who adopts the role of impartial chronicler, unfolds with the recognizable paced rhythm and whimsical tone of legends and fables. Only that instead of following the moral exploration of a Little Prince and a sagacious fox, the reader is engulfed on this occasion by the incredible story of an eccentric Baron who creates a unique life among the treetops where he is free from the mundane routine and sometimes absurd obligations of earthbound existence. Cosimo’s proximity to the open skies allows him to ponder the deeper issues of his period and after devoting years to studying and reading the classics, and without ever climbing down from the trees, he achieves all sort of extraordinary feats like corresponding with Diderot and Rousseau, founding secret freemasonry societies or becoming an invaluable military strategist during the French Revolution when he meets Napoleon face to face.

Nevertheless, what makes this parable unforgettable is Calvino’s dexterity in mixing the magic connotation of Cosimo’s arboreal existence with shattering realism, for Cosimo falls sick, has a very vigorous sexual life and plays an essential part in his community, in which he amazingly manages to integrate himself in spite of the physical isolation of his whereabouts.
The dualistic nature of the story engenders a new archetypal figure, that of the active nonconformist, the revolutionary dissenter who rejects the establishment struggles for the improvement of his fellowmen in apparent seclusion. A man straddling two worlds, the utopian and the terrestrial, a man who discovers himself in every leaf, who finds reason in the boughs that cradle him to sleep, whose ideological militancy is a hotchpotch of his natural watchtower made of pines, elms and oaks, a man who symbolizes the limitless imagination that should move the world forward.
In the same way there is ascending poetry to be heard in the rustle of dancing foliage, there is metaphysical revelation without a hint of religiosity to be found in the image of a man who lived literally above his peers with both head and soul looking up at the endless possibilities tattooed in cerulean skies.

[Peiman · Rating 4 out of 5]

حالا چرا «بارُن» درخت نشین نه؟ اون «و» آدم رو یاد بارون(آبی که از آسمان فرو می‌ریزد!) میندازه. حالا به هر حال داستان در مورد بارن 😏 کازیمو‌ست که در ۱۲ سالگی سر میز غذا عصیان می‌کنه و به بالای درختان میره و عهد می‌بنده که دیگه پاش رو روی زمین نگذاره و در طول کتاب ما زندگی و ماجراجویی‌های این شخص رو از زبان برادرش می‌خونیم. از گرما و سرما و کمک به دیگران و عشق و جنگ و ... خلاصه همه چیز. داستان ایده‌ی بامزه‌ای داره با اون حرف جالبی که برای بهتر دیدن زمین باید ازش فاصله گرفت اما خب نمی‌دونم اونقدری که باید برای من شاهکار نبود. ۴ ستاره دادم چون نظرم اینه که ۳ ستاره کمه براش اما ۴ هم زیاده اما خب.ه

[پیمان عَلُو · Rating 5 out of 5]

برمیگردم به روزی که محسن نامجو آمد روی‌ سن
و خبر مرگ مادرش را شنید.
محسن نامجو خواند “دنیا وفا ندارد ای نور هردو دیده” و گریه کرد...
همه‌ی مان در زندگی گاها به آن سطح می‌رسیم که دیگر تمام کنیم قصه را.
اما تمام نمی‌شود،اگر قرار باشد تمام نشود نمی‌شود...
خیلی سعی کردم حالم از این کتاب بهم بخورد نمیدانم چرا! انگار با ایتالو کالوینو پدر کشتگی داشتم.
راستش به یکی از دوستانم گفته بودم کالوینو نویسنده‌ی چرتی است بخاطر همین تمام سعی خودم را کردم که از کتاب بدم بیاید اما نشد!
و نمی‌شود ...
چه کسی می‌تواند این کتاب را بخواند و عاشق کالوینو نشود؟!
یه شاهکار به معنای واقعی کلمه.
کوزیمو جوانی‌ست که از سر صفره قهر می‌کند و به بالای یک درخت میرود و میگوید دیگر پایین نمیآیم...
کسی در خانه حتی فکر نمیکند که ممکن است دیگر کوزیمو به خانه نیاید.
راستش همه‌ی ما در زندگی کوزیمو بودن را تجربه کرده ایم.گاها میبری و میروی...
اما برمیگردی ...
یک شب زمستانی دم در بمانی میفهمی خانه چقدر شیرین است حتی با هم نشینی با هیتلر.
اما کوزیمو تصمیم خودش را گرفته،چهارچوب خودش را تعیین کرده...
اصول و قواعد خودش را دارد...
کوزیمو نماد جوکری است که از جامعه که خانه کوچ ترین عضو آن است بیرون می‌زند...
بنظرم هدف کالوینو این بود که آیا یک نفر می‌تواند از جامعه بیرون بیاید یا نه؟!
که بنظر من کوزیمو نتوانست و کسی نمی‌تواند...

[Dagio_maya · Rating 5 out of 5]

La prima volta è stato amore perché sognavo una casa sull’albero e Cosimo realizzava un mio sogno ad occhi aperti.

La seconda rifletteva le mie passioni di adolescente: quel prendere le distanze dalla società borghese, la ribellione che corre parallela all’amore per la comunità.

La terza è oggi: è la scoperta, in questa mia età matura, che un libro, una storia e suoi personaggi, non ti abbandonano.
Anche dopo anni li ritrovi lì dentro di te.

Una spolveratina ed ecco ricomparire la Generalessa con quello sguardo severo che nasconde un morbido cuore di mamma.
Giri la pagina e ritrovi tale quale quell’insopportabile sadica di Battista...
E Cosimo per me non ha mai smesso di andare di albero in albero ...

E’ stupendo questo ritrovare senza che ci sia il sapore scialbo della minestra riscaldata.
E' un rinnovarsi della meraviglia, invece.
Una scarica di emozioni e sensazioni che ti fa vivere questa fantastica avventura come fosse la prima volta.

Un godimento inesprimibile.



” Si conobbero. Lui conobbe lei e se stesso, perché in verità non s’era mai saputo. E lei conobbe lui e se stessa, perché pur essendosi saputa sempre, mai s’era potuta riconoscere così.”

[Maede · Rating 4 out of 5]

سال اولی که رفتیم خونه‌ی خودمون، دائم حس می‌کردم که جای چیزی خالیه. همه چیز خوب بود. نه، بی‌نظیر بود. اما من گاهی مثل روح سرگردان توی خونه دنبال چیزی می‌گشتم که نمی‌دونستم چیه. یک شب خواب اتاق خودم توی خونه‌ی مامان اینا رو دیدم. اتاقی کوچیک ته یک راهروی بلند. تختم کنار دیوار بود و من ساعت‌ها به کنج دیوار می‌چسبیدم و با نور کم کتاب می‌خوندم و فیلم می‌دیدم. از خواب که بیدار شدم، فهمیدم چی توی این خونه کمه. هیچ جاش «مال من» نبود و جای مخفی شدن نداشت

وقتی بهش گفتم، کنار شوفاژ و کنج اتاق برام با پتو و متکا یک جا درست کرد. گفت بیا این لونه‌ی توئه. من اینجا نمیام مگر اینکه تو اجازه بدی. توی این هفت سال مهارت لونه سازیش برای من فقط بهتر شده. حالا تا غمگینم، مریضم، خستم یا حتی خیلی خوشحالم، برام لونه درست می‌کنه و توش من سنگر می‌گیرم. اونجا جاییه که حس می‌کنم دست دنیا بهم نمی‌رسه

این رو‌ نوشتم که بگم من خوب می‌فهمم «کازیمو» چرا یک روز از درخت بالا رفت و دیگه پایین نیومد. اونجا جاش بود. نقطه‌ی امنش. جایی که دست دنیا بهش نمی‌رسید. اما می‌دونید مشکل کجاست؟ من زیاد که اونجا می‌مونم، زندگی رو از دست میدم. انگار اونجا زمان متوقف میشه و دنیا کنارم حرکت می‌کنه و من در حباب خودم بین کتاب‌ها و خواب می‌مونم. برای همین یکی از نشونه‌هایی که حالم بهتره،‌ جمع کردن لونه‌ست. کازیمو اما هیچوقت لونه‌ش رو جمع نکرد و از جای امنش خارج نشد. برای همین با اینکه به روش خودش زندگی شگفت‌انگیزی داشت، بخش زیادی از زندگی هم از کنارش رد شد

داستان عالی‌ایه. تقریباً هرچیزی که یک داستان خوب لازم داره رو داره. شگفتی، عمق، طنز، ماجراجویی، عشق. فقط چند فصل اون وسط حوصله‌م رو کمی سر برد که سر همین کتاب پنج‌ ستاره نشد

۱۴۰۲/۱۲/۲۸

[William2 · Rating 4 out of 5]

On 15 June 1767, Cosimo, 12-year-old son of an Italian aristocrat living in stately semi-reclusion in Ombrosa, near Genoa, takes to the trees of the vast family park as a protest against paternal discipline. He lives there, without touching ground, for the rest of his days. This being that sylvan age when Europe was so covered with trees that "a monkey could have left Rome and skipped from tree to tree till it reach Spain, without ever touching earth." The story teeters on the edge of farce.

Early on Cosimo falls in with an urchin army of fruit bandits who raid the plentiful orchards under the capricious charge of a little girl Cosimo's age, Viola, of a local noble family, the Ondaviras. Viola sounds a bugle from her pony whenever the irate farmers get wind of the poaching. Soon Viola is whisked off to boarding school.

Cosimo then befriends a notorious brigand whom he turns into an avid reader, which become his downfall. The brigand's old cronies, dismayed by his new passion, are able to get him to steal again only by threatening to tear out pages of his copy of Clarissa or the History of a Young Lady. Needless to say, his mind is no longer on his work.

Then Cosimo discovers treachery in this own home in the form of a favorite uncle, the Cavalier, who turns out to be a snitch for Moorish Mediterranean pirates. This resolves itself in a set piece that combines rich description of the landscape, a swashbuckling interlude at sea, discovery and plundering of the pirates' booty by the local poor, and the Cavalier's summary decapitation.

Cosimo courts a young Spanish noble woman in nearby Olivabassa, after whose departure he becomes something of an infatution among the nubile women in the area, with whom he carries on innumerable affairs. Once his younger brother, Biagio, the narrator, reports seeing Cosimo moving from tree to tree with a mattress slung over his shoulder. His father dies and he becomes the Baron di Rondò himself and as such must now oversee the administration of his vast estate. Concurrently he becomes the local raconteur, mesmerizing the populace with stories in the town square, where he speaks from a sturdy oak.

He goes hunting with his dog Otimo Massimo, who happens to be the dachshund discarded by Viola's callous servants when she left to school. The years pass. Then one day Otimo Massimo, old and gray now, is roused from his repose by a certain scent and bolts on his feeble pins for parts unknown. It turns out that Viola, now the Marchesa, widow of a wealthy landowner with considerable landholdings throughout Europe, has returned. Calvino captures the mad sexual passion and murderous jealousy between her and Cosimo perfectly.

For the Marchesa is an atrocious flirt who demands absurd proofs of Cosimo's love. Thus she kills anything she might have had with him. This section reminded me of Knut Hamsun's Pan, whose protagonist experiences a similar exquisite love and torturous jealousy.

Calvino's future postmodern work is suggested in this early novel by certain mentions of the inauthenticity of narrative. The idea that the multiple versions told by Cosimo may each possess certain true elements, so the narrator Biagio's only fidelity can be to the versions told by his brother. There are moreover passages of a swashbuckling nature, classic adventure, brokenhearted love, military encounter, etc., that both pay homage to and parody their antecedents.

[Sawsan · Rating 4 out of 5]

الجزء الثاني من ثلاثية أسلافنا للكاتب الإيطالي إيتالو كالفينو
مغامرات الحياة والحب والحرية في عالم الأشجار
مع البارون الصغير كوزيمو الذي يقرر في لحظة تمرد أن يعيش على الأشجار
يعيش حياته المبتكرة وعلاقاته مع الناس بدون أن تمس قدميه الأرض
يتنقل من شجرة إلى شجرة ويكتسب مهارات فكرية ومعرفية وجسدية مختلفة
بمرور السنين ينظر إلى الأرض وما عليها نظرة واسعة ويشارك الآخرين أحوالهم وتغيراتهم
تمرد كوزيمو على التزمت والتعالي وعادات وتقاليد وأحكام المجتمع الزائفة
فكرة غريبة ومميزة, وسرد سلس وناقد يهتم فيه كالفينو بالاختلاف والجمال في عالم البشر والطبيعة
ويعرض ملامح من الحياة السياسية والاجتماعية والثقافية في أوروبا أواخر القرن الثامن عشر

[Luís · Rating 4 out of 5]

That's when love makes you climb trees and come down only to put you (very momentarily) at your beloved's feet.
Between a philosophical tale and Munchausen-style adventures, this admirably written book is devoured from cover to cover. A sort of Italian Voltaire, Calvino highlights the spirit of enlightenment here through the somewhat hysterical story of a man from the end of the 18th century who, after his childhood, will only live in the trees.
This book is also a lovely tribute to trees! We fly from branch to branch, leaf to leaf, tree to tree, season to season, and finally, we see our baron disappear in the air, as mysteriously as in his appearances. Man-bird, man-mystery, an almost legendary hero in his country, as much respected as feared, Cosimo will end as he lived: above mediocrity and terrestrial heaviness.
There was a perfect reading moment, as hilarious as it provokes reflections on our way of living and our relationship with the world.

[Agir(آگِر) · Rating 4 out of 5]

از این بالا همه بنظر کوچک می رسند

اسم كتاب به حد كافي كنجكاوي انسان را تحريك مي كند. داستان يك پسر نوجوان با نام کوزیمو از خانواده ي اشرافي كه يك روز از خانه قهر مي كند و بر روي درختي مي رود و تا ابد پائين نمي آيد و زندگي با ناز و نعمت كه نوعي روزمرگي دارد را با يك زندگي پر هیجان ميمون وار عوض مي كند
روي درخت از سرما ميلرزد، از گرما عذاب مي بيند ،عاشق مي شود و ... مهمتر از همه با كتاب آشنا مي شود

یکی قسمت های دوست داشتنی کتاب دوستی بارون درخت نشین با سردسته راهزنان "جووانی خلنگ" هستش که کوزیمو دارد کتاب ژیل بلاس را میخواند
و این اولین کتابی است که به جووانی میدهد و باعث می شود این راهزن تغییر کند

:بخشی از مقدمه کتاب

چگونه می‌توان هم از مردم گریخت و هم از نزدیک با ایشان، و برایشان، زندگی کرد؟ چگونه می توان هم به زندگی آدمیان و قراردادهای دیرین آن پشت پا زد و هم برای آنان، وبه کمک خودشان، زندگی نو و نظم نوینی را جستجو کرد؟

[Cristian Fassi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Una lettura speciale. Non dovrei parlare della semplicità del romanzo, potrei essere frainteso e pensare che lo considero un libro superficiale o per bambini. Se mi concentro sulla linea sottile che divide l’inverosimile dal plausibile nella storia, sono a un passo dal catalogare il romanzo come surreale.

La sua agilità narrativa, così come le sue descrizione di situazioni e personaggi in maniera molto chiara e pulita, mettono il lettore in grado di percepire nitidamente le proprie contraddizioni. Molte volte la storia di Cosimo (protagonista del romanzo) diventa prevedibile. Il lettore può anticipare il ritmo della scrittura non perché sia un susseguirsi di argomenti, ma perché capisce e comprende molto bene il personaggio. [rileggendomi in questo passaggio mi sono capito poco, allora aggiungo una nota sotto per spiegarmi meglio]*1

Italo Calvino utilizza una cornice pseudo-fantasy del passato per raccontare i problemi del presente, coerenza logica nella struttura che lega questo romanzo agli altri due della serie "I nostri antenati": Il visconte dimezzato e Il cavaliere inesistente
Così, con questo Barone rampante lo scrittore ci porta in una Liguria tardo settecentesca in cui un giovane nobile decide di smettere di poggiare i piedi per terra e vivere per sempre tra gli alberi. Questo ragazzino (poi uomo) è Cosimo (personaggio indimenticabile) e conosciamo la sua storia grazie a Biaggio, suo fratello e narratore.

La magia di questo libro sta nel fatto che questa idea di base passa dall'essere un'eccentricità alla cosa più logica del mondo. Calvino è così bravo che fa capire ai sani di mente la logica del matto. Ci fa guardarci allo specchio e chiederci: perché non vivo anch’io sugli alberi? La risposta è semplice: non c'è nessuno più coraggioso e libero di Cosimo Piovasco di Rondò.

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Nota *1) Complementare al secondo paragrafo.
Per farmi capire meglio vi propongo un esempio pratico così diamo il Nobel postumo a Calvino e la chiudiamo qui.
Mettiamo che siamo sul torrente Merdanzo (già con questo nome al torrente, visto l'uso evacuatore da parte di Cosimo, sarebbe da Nobel automatico).
Allora, torniamo sul torrente Merdanzo, mettiamo che sia un fiume fresco e cristallino, di colpo vediamo apparire in fondo al fiume un pezzo di qualcosa buttato lì, spazzatura o magari il risultato dei bisogni fisiologici di Cosimo, vediamo nitidamente nell'acqua pulita questo pezzo di merda e pensiamo: Ma cacchio! che fiume sporco!
Ma pensate un po' meglio: È più sporco questo fiume che ci permette di vedere la spazzatura nel suo fondale o quello che ci impedisce di farlo a causa delle sue acque torbide?

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Nota *2) Grazie alla magia di internet ho scoperto che il fiume Merdanzo esiste davvero in Liguria, niente Nobel per Calvino.

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Link Babelezon
Link Amazon

[Piyangie · Rating 3 out of 5]

What I've come to realize about Italo Calvino is that he never disappoints the reader no matter what he writes. This is my third work by him, and although I enjoyed the previous two reads more than The Baron In The Trees, it was nevertheless interesting and entertaining in its own right.

The Baron In The Trees is a well-written fantasy. It tells the tale of an adolescent who rebels with his orthodox family and leaves them to live in trees. From that moment onwards for the rest of his life, he lives in trees. Even in death, he lives up to his pledge of never setting foot on earth. Italo Calvino is a wonderful storyteller, so I had no hesitation in picking this book of which the premise had a greater attraction. I'm happy to say I wasn't disappointed. The book held a certain charm on me.

Italo Calvino didn't write in the genre of magical realism for pleasure. I now know enough of him to understand that underneath the fairy tale, there is some deeper message that he is trying to convey to the readers. Therefore, I did some research before I read it. I'm glad to have done that for it shed a significant light on the story, helping me connect with it. According to my background reading, Calvino wrote this book primarily as a literary protest against deforestation that destroyed his beloved home city of San Remo, in the Italian Riviera. This led to another dominant theme of the role of an intellectual in post-war contemporary society.

Urban development came with heavy consequences for San Remo. Mass-scale deforestation was carried out to make way for new developments. New buildings rose and new vegetation grew, all with a commercial aim. Calvino wasn't against development. Rather, he saw its necessity. What he was against was the excessiveness of the destruction, for it robbed the city's beauty and injured nature. This is where the role of the intellectual comes to play. Calvino was of the view that intellectuals must write to enlighten the people about the importance of maintaining a respectful relationship with nature and its flora and fauna. Most of the scholars of his time viewed enlightenment as humans' mastery over nature. Calvino completely rejected the view and aligned himself with 18th-century scholars Rousseau and Diderot in advocating for the protection of forests. While contemporary scholars completely objectified nature and its flora and fauna, treating them dismissively as materials for human usage, Italo Calvino stressed the need for nature's right to protection and be respected as equals. In addition, The Baron In The Trees explores the need to break away from outdated orthodox conventions and reshape human relationships with social and natural worlds.

Italo Calvino's works are complex. Readers according to their intellect and preference will interpret his stories in different ways. Even this novel may have more possible interpretations that I missed. But as Calvino himself said it didn't matter how his works are interpreted so long as readers enjoyed his books.

More of my reviews can be found at http://piyangiejay.com/

[Diane S ☔ · Rating 3 out of 5]

A witty and whimsical work by Calvino, at least the first part, the second not to much. Cosimo is twelve, the son of a nobleman is twelve when he takes to the trees after a quarrel with his father. He never comes down again. Our narrator is his you get brother and it is through him that we keep abreast of the doings of Cosimo.

Cosimo invents his own world in the treetop, a Utopia, life as he wants to live. He sees much, learns the books and so progresses in his knowledge. From the treetops he will make friends with thieves, all in love, fight with pirates and witness the French Revolution. Fantastical I know, but maybe that's the point. Not everyone fits into the society that they are expected too, and I think that is what this novel partly represents. Finding ones own ways, and yes the importance of literature, regardless of where one is living.

I enjoyed reading this in spurts, reading other things in between. I believe had.i read this straight through I think it might for me, have grown tiresome. I enjoyed this very different novel and the messages within.

[Sana · Rating 4 out of 5]

داستان کتاب درباره‌ی پسر دوازده ساله ای به نام کوزیمو لاورس دو روندو که دریک خانواده‌ی اشرافی زندگی می‌کند.این خانواده قوانین مسخره‌ و سخت خونه داره یکی از همین روزها که درحال غذا خوردن بودند.کوزیمو بشدت از این قوانین خسته میشه و برای همیشه میره بالای درخت ها زندگی میکنه.
اوایل خانواده‌ی کوزیمو فکر می‌کردنداین یک شوخی و بازی کودکانه بیشتر نیست و کوزیمو خسته که شد خودش پایین می‌آید بنابراین پدر و مادرش هم بر آن شدند که اعتنایی نکنند و منتظر باشند تا گذر زمان و رو آوردن خستگی، بد جایی، سرما و تاریکی کار خودش را بکند.
کوزیمو اما معتقد بود برای بهتر دیدن زمین باید کمی از آن فاصله گرفت و بالای درختان مکان مناسبی برای این کار بود.و البته کوزیمو هیچوقت پا رو زمین نمیذاره.
روای داستان برادر کوچکترش یعنی بیاجو تمام ماجراهای کوزیمو رو برامون نقل میکنه.
معمولا هروقت کتابی رو که میخوام بخونم حداقل یک خلاصه ازش میخونم و بعد کتاب رو شروع می‌کنم.اما این کتاب رو همینطور شروع کردم.واقعا ماجراهای جالب و عجیبی داشت زندگی بالای درخت‌ها پشت کردن به تمام قوانین مسخره و هیچوقت پایین نیای.
ای کاش منم میتونستم انجامش بدم.
این کتاب سه گانه هست و توصیه میکنم اگه دوست داشتین هرسه رو بخونین ترجمه ی پرویز شهدی رو بخونین‌.
ودراخر یکی از دوست داشتنی ترین کتابی که تابحال خوندم و شخصیت کوزیمو ماندگاری شد برام و سر فرصت هم میرم سراغ جلدهای بعدیش.

[Krell75 · Rating 3 out of 5]

La scelta.

Un ragazzino decide di arrampicarsi sugli alberi per mantenere la parola data e vi rimane per tutta la vita. Il "Barone Rampante" di Calvino, una storia grottesca e un po' triste sulla forza delle proprie scelte.

Viene narrata tutta la sua vita e le rocambolesche avventure che dall'alto degli alberi il protagonista affronterà superando avversità e pregiudizi infischiandosene e tirando dritto.
Un racconto dalla morale granitica che a volte può essere scambiato, erroneamente per un racconto per bambini.

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The choice.

A boy decides to climb trees to keep his word and stays there for his entire life. Calvino's "The Baron in the Trees", a grotesque and slightly sad story about the strength of one's choices.

His entire life is narrated, as well as the daring adventures that the protagonist will face from the top of the trees, overcoming adversity and prejudice, not caring and continuing straight on.
A story with a solid moral that can sometimes be mistaken for a children's story.

[باقر هاشمی · Rating 2 out of 5]

فلسفه تا آنجا که من اکنون دریافته ام، زیستنِ داوطلبانه در یخ و کوهستان‌های بلند است.|نیچه

کالوینو در این اثر تمثیلی بارون‌ای را به بالای درخت می‌فرستد و این بارون تا آخر عمرش بر بالای درخت زندگی می‌کند و با خودش پیمان می‌بندد که در هیچ صورتی پایش به زمین نرسد و در راه این هدف، چیزهای گران‌بهایی را فدا می‌کند و هزینه‌های بسیاری می‌دهد اما در عوض از آرامشی درونی برخوردار می‌گردد."پنجمین و آخرین عنوان مهم دربار بریتانیا، لقب «بارون» (به انگلیسی: Baron) برای مرد و «بارونِس» (به انگلیسی: Baroness) برای زن است." کالوینو از این انتخاب، یعنی انتخاب یک بارون به عنوان قهرمان داستانش هدفی دارد و می‌خواهد بزرگیِ انتخابِ بارونِ هفده هجده ساله را نشان بدهد. انتخاب بین آینده‌ای اشرافی و در رفاه و جاه، و زندگی‌ای قلندرانه اما مؤمنانه بر بالای شاخ و و برگ درختان. این داستان یک تمثیل از انسان‌هایی است که عصیان می‌کنند. به رفاه‌شان پشت‌پا می‌زنند و آن را فدای ایمان‌شان می‌کنند. هدف کالوینو از بالای درخت بردنِ بارون، نشان دادن زاویه‌ی دیدِ عصیانگران(که عموماً روشنفکران هستند) به زمین و وقایع جاری در آن است. «برای بهتر دیدنِ زمین باید کمی از آن فاصله گرفت.» در نگاه اول شاید عمری زندگی کردن در بالای شاخ و برگ درختان باورپذیر به نظر بیاید اما در نگاه دوم، بعد از اینکه نگاهی به چند درخت می‌اندازی، می‌بینی که به راحتی باور پذیر نیست کسی یک عمر را بتواند بالای درختان زندگی کند. برای همین وقتی داستان دارد پیش می‌رود، می‌گویی: باشه، فرض کردم همه‌ش بالای درخته، داستانت رو تعریف کن...
نمی‌دانم چرا وقتی دن کیشوت به آن قشنگی را داریم، باید بارونِ درخت نشین نوشته شود. داستان دن‌کیشوت هم باور پذیرتر است هم خوش‌ساخت‌تر و هم جذاب‌تر. بر عکس این کتاب که دست‌کم برای من باور پذیر نبود، خوش‌ساخت نبود و جذاب هم نبود. همچنین به نظرم تمثیلِ نیچه درباره‌ی زندگیِ قلندرانه بسیار زیباتر از تمثیل کالوینوست. به همین دلایل، این کتاب را نپسندیدم.

[KamRun · Rating 5 out of 5]

بارون درخت نشین دومین کتاب از سه گانه "نیاکان ما" و مانند دو اثر دیگر این سه گانه به سبک رئالیسم جادویی نوشته شده است.طنز خاص کالوینو در این کتاب نسبت به ویکنت دو نیم شده پررنگ تر به نظر می رسد که دلیل این امر،ترتیب نگارش کتاب ها و بالغ شدن قلم کالوینو است. بارون درخت نشین،داستان طغیان و سرکشی ست. طغیان علیه خانواه،علیه ساختار جامعه و حتی علیه زمین زیر پایمان.در میان داستان این جمله از زبان پدر شنیده می شود که:"شورش را با متر و ذرع اندازه نمی گیرند،حتی یک راه چند وجبی هم می تواند شورش در نظر گرفته شود".کوزیمو ی 12 ساله بعد از کشمکش های متوالی سرانجام چاره رهایی از بند ها را در این می بیند که زمین را ترک کرده،و چند متری بالاتر روی درختان به زندگی ادامه دهد.با خود عهد می کند که هرگز پایش را حتی برای لحظه ای روی زمین نگذارد.به جامعه ای آرمانی می اندیشد،به جمهوری درختستان.در جایی از داستان می گوید دنیا را وارانه خواهد کرد،و آن هنگام که همه انسان ها به خوبی روی درخت ها جای گرفتند و انسانی روی زمین باقی نماند،خود به روی زمین باز خواهد گشت و به تنهایی خواهد زیست.برادر کوچکتر که کوزیمو را هنگام شورش تنها گذاشته است،داستان 53 سال آینده زندگی کوزیمو را روایت می کند.
خواننده هر چه که بیشتر می خواند،بیشتر در می یابد که هدف و انگیزه کوزیمو را از این طغیان درک کرده است،شروع به تفسیر و تحلیل می کند.اما در انتهای کتاب،روبرو شدن با آرمانی که حتی خود کوزیمو هم نمی تواند توجیح اش کند،همچون آب سرد بر او فرو می ریزد و خیالاتش را می شکند.شاید بی اختیار به یاد خود بی افتد،بغض کند،چند قطره اشک بریزد،چون خود را از کوزیمو هم سرگردان تر می بیند.سرگردانی که بر خلاف کوزیمو، چند متر پایین تر،میان گل و لجن به دور خود می چرخد و بر خود می پیچد.آرزو کند که چون کوزیمو،اندک زمانی را در دنیایی دیگر سیر کند،آرمانی داشته باشد هرچند غیر قابل توجیه و پایانی مانند او ...افسوس

" این دفتر را از آن رو می نگارم که جای دیگری را برای بیان اندیشه های خود نمی شناسم.در گذشته وضع این گونه نبود.تا برادرم بود پیش خودم می گفتم : او به جای همه ما فکر می کند و من کاری ندارم جز اینکه زندگیم را بکنم.برای من،رویدادی که نشانه عوض شدن زمانه بود،فرا رسیدن نیروهای روسی یا ضمیمه شدن سرزمین ما به پیه مونته یا برقراری مالیات های تازه و چیزهایی از این گونه نبود.روزی به دگرگونی زمانه پی بردم که پنجره را باز کردم و برادرم را بالای درختان ندیدم.اکنون که او نیست حس می کنم باید به بسیار چیزها بیندیشم.به فلسفه و تاریخ و سیاست.چند نشریه را مشترک شده ام،کتاب می خوانم،به مغزم فشار می آورم.ولی آنچه را که او می خواست بگوید در این نشریه ها و کتاب ها نمی یابم.حقیقتی که او جستجو می کرد از تیره دیگری بود.حقیقتی بود یکپارچه که نمی شد آن را با واژه ها بیان کرد،بلکه باید با آن و درون آن زندگی می کردی.همانگونه که او زیست.تا دم مرگش سرسختانه به خویشتن وفادار ماند و تنها به این وسیله بود که توانست به ما درسی بیاموزد.

کوزیمو لاورس دوروندو
میان درختان زیست
همواره زمین را دوست داشت
به آسمان رفت "

[Kalliope · Rating 4 out of 5]

PARALLEL WORLDS

Most peculiar this Fable. Or at least its beginnings.

It baffled me that after the initial proposition, the notion of a young nobleman exiling himself to live in the trees of his family’s estate--a proposition that has a great deal of charm and immediately captivates the reader--, a fair amount of the early part of the novel is devoted at making the unlikely believable, and the unbelievable likely.

For the ordered and systematic transposition of the life on the ground onto its parallel life in the trees made me wonder whether the initial idea was becoming less and less lofty.

Unquestionably, the novel never stopped being a great pleasure to read. Calvino’s prose (in translation, but I like to remind myself that Spanish and Italian are sister languages) is sheer delight. Clear and balanced sentences rich in imaginative detail. But the undoing of the doing – the bringing down to the ground what had been raised above it, or rather, the raising of the ground until the higher branches seemed just another ground, perplexed me.

That is until suddenly the magic of the allegory crystalized in my mind: Cosimo, the young nobleman, as the writer, as the creator of his own world, keeping a separate existence but never forgetting the world from which he originates and which he never stops observing. Life in parallel worlds.

With this interpretation, the setting of the story during the Enlightenment received a new glow for me too. I had been noting the various references: Paul Et Virginie; La nouvelle Héloïse. Tome I; Montesquieu; Clarissa, or, the History of a Young Lady; Henry Fielding. All mentioned with enthusiasm. Cosimo lived in the century of Utopias.

But this novel reminds us that absolutism followed the epoch of ideas, and that Cosimo’s parallel world, like most utopias, can dissolve.

What was Calvino trying to tell us about his world?

[Violet wells · Rating 4 out of 5]

I originally read this in Italian and enjoyed it more. It lost some of its enchantment in English - or perhaps I've grown more cynical in the interim.

A moment of adolescent rebellion provides the novel's template. Cosimo has an argument with his parents and instead of hiding in his room as most of us would do climbs a tree and refuses to come down. As adolescents we like the idea that a rebellious decision might be irreversible. Integrity seems to reside down that path. So Cosimo decides never to come back down to earth.
On the back cover blurb someone says, "A tour de force which consists in making us believe that life in the trees is as natural as life on earth." Well, this is baloney. It does no such thing. But there's a clue here of a huge trick Calvino missed. If Calvino had made any kind of effort to depict how unnatural the life on earth lived by his other characters was, as Fellini did so brilliantly in La Dolce Vita, this might have been a much more profound novel instead of a somewhat repetitive and whimsical tale. It's like half the book is missing.
Calvino spends an awful lot of time explaining in detail how Cosimo manages to survive up in the trees. He's having fun here because he's arguing a thesis that is patently preposterous. Therefore, he's pushing constantly at our powers of suspending disbelief - the mainspring at the heart of all storytelling. However, this mischief began to overstay its welcome for me and it became evident we were not going to be given any kind of compelling counterpoint to Cosimo's life in the trees.
It's an enjoyable read but Calvino wrote much better books. 3.5 stars for me.

[Saba Mirzahosseini Barough · Rating 5 out of 5]

«برای بهتر دیدن زمین، باید اندکی از آن فاصله گرفت.»

کوزیمو برای من، نماد پایبندی به آرمان‌های شخصی است؛ اگرچه دیگران این آرمان‌ها را درک نکنند.

[Ehsan'Shokraie' · Rating 4 out of 5]

بارون درخت نشین
ایتالو کالوینه نابغه ای در پردازش ایده های فوق العاده در داستان هایش است,ایده های ایتالو کالوینو..در یک کلام کم نظیر اند..
بارون درخت نشین داستان تلاش برای رهایی است..رهایی از تعصبات,بلند پروازی ها و نقشه های از پیش تعیین شده ی جامعه و دیگران برای زندگی ما..
بارون درخت نشین داستان یک مبارزه ی همراه با عقب نشینی ست..مفهوم اشنایی است از درخت که نماد ازادی ست,ازادی و سرکشی در برابر نظام سلطه جو ومتعصب انسانی حاکم بر خانواده ی بارون,و در یک کلام جامعه..

پدر دوک نیست,مادر واقعا ژنرال تیست,کشیش واقعا کشیش نیست,وکیل واقعا وکیل نیست..خواهر واقعا راهبه نیشست..گویی که این ادمها هیچیک با انچه هستند راضی نیستتد,حال می خواهند دیگران را هم مثل خود کنند..دعوت به تلاشی وسواس گرایانه برای همیشه ناراضی بودن از خود,تبدیل شدن به انچه واقعا نیستند,یا انچه واقعا نمی خواهند..
متفاوت دیده شدن همه چیز از بالای درخت که یعنی همان در ازادی فکری و رهایی از قید بند حرص و امال...
به درخت رفتن به عنوان یک مبارزه, ایده ای است در این کتاب..من اما رویکرد چخوف به مسئله را بیشتر می پسندم,"زیبایی واقعی آنگاه زیباست که همه چیز را ببیند,....'
شباهتی به بودا نیز هست..گسستن از زندگی نسبتا اشرافی و مرفهی که به بهای طبق ارزش ها از پیش تعیین شده و خواسته های منفعت طلبانه دیگران مشخص شده,و زندگی بر رویه ای سالک گرایانه..
در نهایت بارون درخت نشین بر خلاف ساخت انتزاعی حود اثری کاملا واقع گراست..اثری که مانند سایر کار های کالوینو,نمایان کننده نبرد افکار و رویه هاست..نبرد آزادی و اسارت..نبردی برای رستگاری...

[Carlo Mascellani · Rating 4 out of 5]

Indomito, Cosimo, il protagonista di quest'opera, che, in spregio a un'imposizione paterna, sceglie di viver sugli alberi senza mai più posar piede a terra. È il simbolo di un animo libero, pago di sé, che sceglie di allontanarsi dal mondo e sacrifica ogni cosa (anche l'amore, in un certo senso) per mantenere intatto il solo valore che realmente conti nella sua vita, il solo che lo spinga a crearsi un proprio mondo nel mondo e a evitare indebite mescolanze con chi non potrebbe comprenderlo: la libertà di poter condurre la "propria" vita seguendo la propria indole e i propri principi. Sempre