The Argentine Ant

by Italo Calvino

A fantastical story

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Italian Literature, Italy, Literature, Novels

First published January 1, 1952

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

[Adina ( back from Vacay…slowly recovering) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Urghh, I hate ants. I will be scratching my skin all day now. The rating is for the story which did not impress me. The ants get 1*.

I loved Calvino’s If On A Winter Night a traveller so try that one instead.

[Gaurav Sagar · Rating 4 out of 5]

*edited on 27.02.2020

The ants are eating us alive. . . . Ants in the bed, ants in the dishes, ants every day, ants every night. We’ve little enough to eat anyway and have
to feed them too. . . .”

The word “ants” for us then could never have suggested the horror of our present condition. If he had mentioned ants, as perhaps he had—I won’t exclude the possibility—we would have imagined ourselves up against a concrete enemy that could be numbered, weighed, crushed. Actually, now I think about the ants in our own parts, I remember them as reasonable little creatures, which could be touched and moved like cats or rabbits. Here we were face to face with an enemy like fog or sand, against which force was useless.



Italo Calvino- the names sound like a poetry to me but one which is infused with melancholy and irony of life. It was a serene, quite morning wherein the sun was about to embark upon the horizon of planet earth, to spread its reddish bliss and I came upon this little beauty by Calvino- The Argentine Ant. It is like embarking on voyage which I’m familiar with (of course with previous reading experiences of books by him) however, still at heart you know that you would find some surprises on that voyage given the ingenuity of Calvino. His exemplified method of using fantasy to address reality which is at once ironic and at the same time quite serious. Calvino’s universe could be said to marked with an atmosphere of melancholy and increasing pessimism. Images of the end of the world recur with obsessive regularity, and even terror is present in a significant minority of his works. We see that his books underline his passion for beginnings and mistrust of endings, positions that perhaps explain why he habitually moved from one obsession to another, looking for the next impossible thing to write. The force of reality which bursts forth into fantasy. As he once mentioned- “Instead of making myself write the book I ought to write, the novel that was expected of me, I conjured up the book I myself would have liked to read, the sort by an unknown writer, from another age and another country, discovered in an attic."

The Argentine Ant is one of the numerous jewels in the fantastical, absurd but realistic universe of Calvino. It is one of most prodigious achievements from the literary pen of the author. As you put your first step in to this absurd land of Calvino, you find a man, woman and baby who move to a new village filled with hope, being told by the narrator's Uncle Augusto that this area affords a good lifestyle and plenty of opportunity for work – the promise of a new beginning, that core Calvino theme, only to find that their house, indeed the entire locality, is infested with ants. The very moment you enter into the house of the narrator you realize that it’s a universe built upon Kafkaesque elements- the surreal and horrific world wherein your existence is crushed to such might you start questioning the life itself and how meaningless and pulverizing it could be. The nothingness of in-authentic existence stare into your somber eyes and shake your inner (non) being. Calvino portrays the horrid universe with using a language so transparent that it reaches a hallucinatory level. The narrator wonders if perhaps his own circumstances do not permit him to be happy, as he is responsible for a wife and child, while his uncle lived a carefree existence.

I couldn’t get used to the idea of so much art and perseverance being needed to carry out such a simple operation as catching ants; but I realized that the important thing was to carry on continually and methodically. Then I felt discouraged as no one, it seemed to me, could ever equal this neighbor of ours in terrible determination.



The universe of Calvino lies on very coarse and lean thread of cosmos wherein rumors lead the life of people among the absurd paths which demand men to put forward their authentic and best foot since the fire of non-being surrounds that lean thread of cosmos and works with its entire strength to crush them under weight of nothingness. The rumors compels the narrator too to see Captain Brauni, whom the Reginaudos designate as the individual most capable of solving the ant problem. When the narrator visits the captain, he finds an extensive and impressive apparatus used to poison the ants. These rumors take the narrator through the hell of nothingness towards the ‘ant-man’ who happens to visit his house to coat the narrator’s house with poisoned molasses. The narrator slips off the thin thread of cosmos and meets an accident, here you see the Kafkaesque elements manifest themselves into the horrors of real life guided by the rumors, of course. The ant-man may be responsible for the event or perhaps not, essentially it’s the rumors which are omnipotent and omnipresent and escort the narrator through this spiteful universe of Calvino and further lead town’s people towards combined hallucination, as if such thing may be possible, only to realize that perhaps it may be and which delivers a profound testimony to the strength of mentality of the society. The beliefs which are carried by majority become acts of gods and laws out of which culture and religion take birth- our entire history may provide evidence to the claim.

“What will the employees of the corporation do when there are no more ants?

Watching him like that, I realized why he had made such a strange impression on me at first sight; he looked like an ant. It’s difficult to tell exactly why, but he certainly did; perhaps it was because of the opaque black of his clothes and hair, perhaps because of the proportions of that squat body of his, or the trembling at the corners of his mouth corresponding to the continuous quiver of antennae and claws.



The Argentine Ant could be said to be an epitome of neo-realism which is built upon assiduous elements in which simple language is used to convey the meaning precisely and clearly to the reader who may have no apprehensions about the events themselves though their meaning can only be found by uncovering layers of absurd and fantastic fiction. It is what Brauni's exercises connote that is baffling: Are they activities for the good of their own, or do they speak to something general in human instinct or human culture? Along these lines, Signor Baudino, the nearby agent of the Argentine Ant Control Corporation, is portrayed in a short, exact vignette, making him an effectively possible person. And there are those people too who may be at discomfort owing to manifestations of alien objects in to their lives but they show neither any pain nor any sort of irritation as if the discomfort, they may be having, would make them appear weak to the world and perhaps appearance matters more than authenticity of existence.

It occurred to me that the darkness, the ornaments, the size of the room and her proud
spirit were this woman’s defenses against the ants, the reason why she was stronger
than we were in face of them, but that everything we saw round us, beginning with her
sitting there, was covered with ants even more pitiless than ours: some kind of African
termite, perhaps, which destroyed everything and left only the husks, so that all that
remained of this house were tapestries and curtains almost in powder, all on the point of
crumbling into smithereens before her eyes.


Calvino’s universe is open to multiple interpretations as any universe may be or perhaps universes embedded in a universe which itself may be implanted in the other one as he aims to raise the target with which literature sets itself: he challenges literature to describe the indescribable, from macrocosm to microcosm, from the Big Bang to the division of cells. The language he uses to achieve this is striking, delivering concrete descriptions and an apprehension that obliteration lies at the heart of each individual consciousness.



The influence of Kafka is obvious in the universe of Calvino as he himself mentioned -"My author is Kafka", when asked about his influences, and his presence is discernible throughout Calvino's works. The story really is, as Gore Vidal stated, "as minatory and strange as anything by Kafka", and the way it builds its air of threat and mystery with plain, undemonstrative language recalls Calvino's own. Small, seemingly docile, naïve objects (here we are reducing ants to objects, as we human usually do since we perceive nature from our point of view) like ants may creep up existential horror into core of your being but what can you in front of army of those small beings crawling up to catch you off breath in number of crores; perhaps we can’t stop ants, however at least we can write fiction about them. And someone may write as good as Calvino could, then it’s definitely worth an attempt. The story may be termed as an allegory about how small irritants come to dominate our lives (which may appear as epitome of heaven however only at careful investigation we may realize the existential malaise lying underneath them) and preoccupy our waking consciousness wherein ants may be transformed into minute iridescent, mundane issues of day to day life- the combination of our anxieties.

And standing up there we could forget that all those places were black with ants; now we could see how they might have been without that menace which none of us could get away from even for an instant. At this distance it looked almost a paradise, but the more we gazed down the more we pitied our life there, as if living in that wretched narrow valley we could never get away from our wretched narrow problems.



Our hands were now covered with them, and we held them out open in front of our eyes, trying to see exactly what they were like, these ants, moving our wrists all the time to prevent them crawling up our arms. They were tiny wisps of ants, in ceaseless movement as if urged along by the same little itch they gave us. It was only then that a name came to my mind : “Argentine ants,” or rather, “the Argentine ant,” that’s what they called them, and now that I came to think of it I must have heard someone saying this was the sense of “the Argentine ant.” It was only now that I connected the name with a sensation, this irritating tickle spreading in every direction, which one couldn’t get rid of by clenching one’s fists or rubbing one’s hands together as there always seemed to be some stray ant running up one’s arm, or on one’s clothes. When the ants were crushed, they became little black dots which fell like sand, leaving a strong, acid smell on one’s fingers.

4.5/5

[Glenn Russell]

The Argentine Ant - an overlooked classic of absurdist, fabulistic fiction by the master of the absurd and fabulous, Italo Calvio.

At forty pages, The Argentine Ant could be classified as either a brief novel or a long short story, but no matter how you look at it, this tale packs a serious punch, a tale aptly described by Goodreads friend Paul as both funny and menacing at the same time.

The first line features foreshadowing with a vengeance: "When we came to settle here we did not know about the ants." The unnamed first-person narrator moves into a tiny rustic house with his wife and baby boy, a house built on a rough seedbed where they have been given permission to grow vegetables by the seller of the house, Signora Mauro, who lives up the hill.

In the evening, after putting their baby to sleep, Alessandro and Benedetta (my names for the narrator and his wife) venture out to visit their nearby neighbors. They hail Signor Reginaudo who is busy spraying around his house with bellows. The Signor lets off spraying and calls to his wife Claudia to come out to meet the new couple. Following an exchange of pleasantries, Alessandro asks Signor Reginaudo what he is doing with the bellows. "Oh . . . the ants . . . these ants . . . " the Signor replies with a laugh as if not wishing to make it sound important. "Ants?" Benedetta asks in a rather detached voice but the group's brief conversation quickly moves on to another topic.

Once back home, exhausted from their day's journey, our young couple decides to go straight to bed. But before lights out, Benedetta walks to the kitchen for a glass of water. Hearing Benedetta scream, Alessandro rushes to the kitchen and turns on the light.

Ants. Ants crawling all over the faucet, a thick stream of ants coming up the wall, ants now covering both their hands, so many ants Benedetta and Alessandro must vigorously shakes their wrists to prevent the ants from crawling up their arms. Finally, ridding their hands of the ants, they return to bed and, completely exhausted, doze off. But they are awoken in the middle of the night by their baby's cries. Benedetta rushes to his basket to find their baby boy covered in ants. The next morning Alessandro resolves he must initiate "an immediate battle against the persistent imperceptible enemy which had taken over our house."

"Our house," you say. Oh, Alessandro, like so many other humans who view the world in anthropocentric terms, it might be more accurate to recognize that you have moved into a territory belonging to Argentine ants.

In his alarm, Alessandro consults Signor Reginaudo and his wife about a remedy for the ants. Their reply is vintage Italo Calvino: "A remedy, ha, ha, ha!" The Reginaudos laughed louder than ever. "Have we a remedy? We've twenty remedies! A hundred . . . each, ha, ha, ha, each better than the other!"

Poor Alessandro! The Reginaudos are little help. He's sent off to see a Captain Brauni, the man who really knows how to deal with those ants. Upon arrival to the good Captain's abode, Alessandro scans all varieties of odd contraptions with streams of ants moving back and forth until, in one case, dropping into a sort of meat can at the bottom of a wire.

HIs question anticipated, here's the explanation Alessandro is given: "An average of forty ants are killed per minute," said Captain Brauni, "twenty-four hundred per hour. Naturally, the gasoline must be kept clean, otherwise the dead ants cover it and the ones that fall in afterward can save themselves."

Next stop has Alessandro dealing with the ant man who pays a visit to his own house and surrounding properties. Perfect. Now that the Argentine Ant Control Corporation is on the case, the ant problem will surely be solved. Sorry, Alessandro. Perhaps predictably, the ant man does more to exacerbate the problem than solve it.

Ah, those ants! How should we most effectively deal with the problem? Answers are various: laugh it off, have a drink and forget about it. blame it all on the ant man, Italo Calvino proves himself a master by taking one issue and constructing a rich, forty-page tapestry of humans confronting a hostile non-human world. Again, a tale that's both humorous and menacing at the same time.

The Argentine Ant is included in The Watcher and Other Stories and can also be read online: https://classic.esquire.com/article/1...


Italian author Italo Calvino, 1923-1985

"As for the actual killing of the ants, that, if they had ever attempted it, they seemed to have given up, seeing that their efforts were useless; all they tried to do was bar them from certain passages and turn them aide, frighten them or keep them at bay. They always had a new labyrinth traced out with different substances which they prepared from day to day, and for this game ants were a necessary element." - Italo Calvino, The Argentine Ant.

[Cecily · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have loved Calvino, but I didn’t love this - and not only because ants indoors, or in large numbers anywhere, make me squirm. It’s an adequately written story, with touches of humour and the absurd, plus possible political analogies, but ultimately, it’s fairly realistic and dull.

The unnamed narrator, his unnamed wife, and their unnamed baby son move to a home (one room, partitioned into two), in a small town recommended by Uncle Augusto. The baby has been ill, the husband needs to find a job, and there are tensions between man and wife. Hope is balanced by a vague unease from the start:
“This feeling we had of entering troubled waters.”

As the title suggests, the home, indeed the whole village, is infested with Argentine Ants - on a staggering scale.

There are several permutations of people antagonistic to each other, plus people fighting the ants or, allegedly, feeding them , and even some who claim not to notice them. There’s scope for quackery, ingenuity, and resilience.

The final paragraph is total contrast: calm, beautiful - and probably tragic.

Photo of Argentine Ants on someone’s finger.
If you daren't click the spoiler or have to scroll past fast, this story is definitely not for you.


Image: Argentine Ants on someone’s finger (Source)

Here's a much nicer image:

Image: “Infinite grains of soft sand… where the currents leave white shells washed clean by the waves.” (Source)

Bonus facts

• Argentine Ants are a problematic and invasive species in many parts of the world, including “supercolonies” in southern Europe. See National Library of Medicine article, HERE.

• This is a fairly early work from 1952, and later published in Esquire. Ten years later, Calvino met Esther "Chichita" Singer, an Argentinian translator. They married two years later.

• I can relate to the horror of finding bugs in the kitchen. I was 18 when I learnt cockroaches could fly - when seemingly huge numbers flew at us as we cleaned a kitchen at the end of a four-night stay. We then found holes and trails in the bottom of various packs of food. Ugh.

See also - better Calvinos

My introduction to Calvino was vis his post-modern metafiction:
• If on a winter’s night a traveller, which I reviewed HERE.
Quickly followed by:
• Invisible Cities, which I reviewed HERE.
Later, I read a collection of early, shorter piece, which were mostly less fantastical:
• Difficult Loves, including Smog, which I reviewed HERE.

Short story club

I read this in Black Water: The Anthology of Fantastic Literature, by Alberto Manguel, from which I’m reading one story a week with The Short Story Club, starting 4 September 2023.

You can read this story here.

You can join the group here.

[Nazin · Rating 3 out of 5]

کتاب مورچه آرژانتینی متشکل از سه داستان است که از نظر سبک و فضا شباهت بسیاری با یکدیگر دارند. داستان‌ها ساختاری ساده و روایی دارند که با توصیف‌های جزئی و ریزبینانه همراه می‌شوند. کالوینو در این مجموعه ادعایی بر لایه‌های تأویلی پیچیده و گنجاندن مفاهیم فلسفی و روانشناختی ندارد، او به‌دنبال خلق معنا نیست، بلکه به مشاهده‌ی نظام‌های بی‌معنا می‌پردازد.
ایرادی بر سبک روایی و عینی کالوینو وارد نیست، اما مشکل آن‌جایی است که در بسیاری از نقدهای فارسی و غیرفارسی تلاش‌میشود؛ این اثر را به تاملات فلسفی گره بزنند و نام کالوینو را در کنار نیچه، سارتر یا کافکا قرار دهند. در ادامه، اختلاف‌های بنیادین میان جهان داستانی کالوینو و فلسفه‌های منتسب به او را به تفصیل بررسی خواهم کرد.


● ارتباط با تفکر نیچه‌ای:
«اراده معطوف به قدرت» و نیروی درونی انسان برای خلق معنا، یکی از بنیادی‌ترین مولفه‌های تفکر نیچه‌ای است؛ چیزی که در داستان‌های این مجموعه به وضوح غایب است. نیچه با فرو رفتن در بحران معنا می‌کوشد معنا را بسازد، اما شخصیت‌های کالوینو تنها خو می‌گیرند و سازگار می‌شوند.
در نگاه نیچه، طبیعت منشأ معنا و قدرت است اما در این کتاب، طبیعت به نوعی دشمن انسان معرفی می‌شود. نیچه بر اراده تأکید دارد، اما شخصیت‌های کالوینو در بند جبر گرفتارند. در فلسفهٔ نیچه، رنج سرآغازی برای خلق معناست، اما در نگاه کالوینو، رنج تکرار‌شونده و بی‌حاصل است.
بنابراین، نگاه تراژیکی که صرفاً پوچی را بازتاب دهد اما به خلق معنا یا تحقق ارادهٔ فعال منتهی نشود، را نمی‌توان تفکر نیچه‌ای نامید!


● ارتباط با تفکر مطلقاً اگزیستانسیالیستی:
در فلسفهٔ اگزیستانسیالیسم، انسان آزاد است و مسئولیت انتخاب‌هایش بر شانه خویش است، او رنج را بستری برای تحول می‌سازد و از دل آن معنا و ارزش‌های اخلاقی را می‌آفریند.
اما در جهان کالوینو، انسان گرفتار جبر است؛ اراده‌ او تاثیری بر محیط اطرافش ندارد و سرانجام خود را در پذیرش رنجی می‌بیند که هیچ تغییر و تحولی به دنبال نخواهد داشت. در این روایت، پوچی نه به خلق ارزش می‌انجامد و نه به انتخاب‌های آگاهانه؛ صرفاً تداوم بی‌معنایی است. بنابراین، چنین نگرشی با اگزیستانسیالیسم و با جهان‌بینی نویسندگانی از جمله سارتر قابل قیاس نیست.


● ارتباط با نگاه کافکایی:
هرچند هر دو نویسنده بر محدودیت ها و جبر انسان تأکید دارند، اما تفاوت آن‌ها در بینش و ساختار ادبی بنیادین است.
کافکا از زمان و مکان می‌گریزد تا حس تعلیق را عمق ببخشد. توصیفات او اضطراب را تشدید کرده و مخاطب را در گرداب پوچی رها می‌کند. در مقابل، کالوینو با جزئی‌نگری در مکان و زمان، واقعیتی را ملموس‌تر می‌کند که در آن، رنج نه تهدیدآمیز، بلکه بی‌معنا و خنثی است.
در آثار کافکا، رنج از تقابل انسان با نظمی ابسورد برمی‌خیزد؛ انسانی که در جدال با جبر محیطی، به بحران هستی‌شناختی می‌رسد.
اما بخش عمده‌ی داستان های این کتاب را شناخت بحران پیش آماده تشکیل میدهد و پس از آن، تلاشی رخ نمی‌دهد و به تسلیم می‌انجامد! در چنین موقعیتی، ناامیدی نه پیامد شکست های پی در پی، بلکه خودِ وضعیت است.


● آیا این کتاب درون‌مایه‌ای روان‌شناختی دارد؟
اطلاعات کافی در این زمینه ندارم و ابراز نظر نمی‌کنم، اما از نظر فلسفی هیچ‌یک از مواردی که منتقدان در تمجیدهای خود از آن نام بردند، در کتاب دیده نمی‌شد؛ نه نگاه نیچه، نه تفکر اگزیستانسیالیسم و نه قلم کافکایی!
البته، این به معنای بی‌ارزش بودن کتاب نیست؛ اتفاقاً کتاب خوبی برای سرگرمی و لذت بردن از مطالعه است.
اما پرسش اصلی این است که چرا عده‌ای تا این اندازه تمایل دارند که متون ساده و روایی را با لایه‌هایی از تفکر فلسفی پیوند بزنند؟
و این میل به «فلسفی‌سازی» از هر امر غیر فلسفی، بیش از آنکه از تعمق‌ورزی باشد، نشانه‌ای از نوعی «پز فلسفی» نیست؟؟


پ.ن: تفکرات نیچه و نگاه فلسفی او در طول زندگی بارها دستخوش تغییر شد و آنچه در اینجا معرفی کردم، واپسین تفکرات او پیش از مرگ است؛ تفکری که دیگر شباهت چندانی به نیهیلیسم نداشته بلکه شباهت‌هایی با اگزیستانسیالیسم پیدا کرده. به هر حال، چارچوب‌‌گذاری بر افکار نیچه دشوار و بحث‌برانگیز است.

پ.ن2: ویرایش علائم نگارشی توسط هوش مصنوعی انجام شده.

[Parvaneh · Rating 2 out of 5]

دو تا داستان اولش برام معنی داشت از توصیف جزییاتش لذت میبردم و مشکلاتی که آدم های قصه داشتن برای من ملموس‌بود اما داستان سوم خسته کننده بود جزییاتش حوصله م رو سر میبرد تمام سعیم‌رو کردم ادامه بدم نشد!در نتیجه اواسط داستان سوم کتاب رو بستم و تصمیم گرفتم ادامه ندم متاسفانه !

[Connie G · Rating 4 out of 5]

"When we came to settle here we did not know about the ants."

A man, his wife, and their baby son had moved into a small rental house on the Italian coast, hoping to make a new beginning. Not only is their tiny house full of Argentine ants, but their whole neighborhood seems to have the same problem. The husband consults the neighbors who have multiple poisons and elaborate contraptions they are using against the menace, but none of them are effective. Their landlady is in denial about the whole situation.

There is an "ant man" who has a government job treating the houses with poisoned molasses, but it seems to make the problem worse. His wife screamed at him:

"The ants are eating us alive . . . Ants in the bed, ants in the dishes, ants every day, ants every night. We've little enough to eat anyway and have to feed them too . . . "

"The Argentine Ant" is a fantastical and absurd short story. It's the weird stories with some sense of reality that can make us uncomfortable and put our imaginations into overdrive. It's terribly creepy when we think of all those ants and insecticide around a baby. It's also humorous when we consider how the neighbors are dealing with the situation.

Italo Calvino did not have to go too far to find a subject for his fantastical tale. There actually is an ant supercolony stretching 6,000 km ( 3,728 miles) from northern coastal Italy through the south of France to the Atlantic coast of Spain and Portugal. It's thought that the Argentine species came into Europe on imported plants about 100 years ago.

I'm reading this story with the Short Story Club. It's from the anthology "Black Water: The book of fantastic literature."

[مجید اسطیری · Rating 5 out of 5]

سه داستان بسیار عالی
مخصوصا داستان سوم یک کار فوق العاده محشر در نقد دموکراسی غربی
کالوینو یکی از بهترین نویسندگان پست مدرن است. در داستان مورچه آرژانتینی ناتوانی عقل مدرن در توجیه و علاج یک مشکل کوچک مثل حضور مورچه ها را نقد میکند. طنزی که در اثرش هست دقیقا همان نیشخندی است که فلسفه پست مدرن به عقلانیت مدرن میزند. طنزی که در کارهای وونه گات و براتیگان واضح تر مشاهده میکنیم.
در داستان دوم اسارت رسانه ها و اصحاب مطبوعات در چنگال قدرتمندان را نقد میکند که این هم یکی دیگر از ویژگی های آثار نویسندگان پست مدرن است: نقد کردن ابرقدرتهایی که میتوانند بمب اتم بسازند. به یاد بیاورید داستان «گزارش» از بارتلمی را در کتاب مستطاب یک درخت، یک صخره، یک ابر
در داستان سوم که توصیفی جز محشر نمیشود برایش به کار برد دموکراسی غربی را از زبان یک جوان متفکر ایتالیایی نقد میکند: امه ریگو اورمه مامور شده تا در موسسه خیریه نگهداری از معلولان ذهنی ناظر انتخاباتی باشد! الله اکبر! تا حالا نقیضه ای به این قدرت بر دموکراسی نوشته نشده و شاید هر گز نوشته نشود. من بیش از این که دشمن دموکراسی باشم طرفدار آن هستم اما در برابر قدرت قلم کالوینو تسلیمم
البته اگر کالوینو را قبلا با "بارون درخت نشین" و "شوالیه ناموجود" شناخته اید ممکن است خواندن این مجموعه داستان کمی برایتان ملال آور باشد چون اینجا اصلا آن قصه پردازی سرخوشانه وجود ندارد. اما اگر میخواهید افشره پست مدرنیسم در ادبیات داستانی را بچشید این کتاب عالی است

[Ray Nessly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Scientist disagree--wildly--as to how many ants there are in the word. One quadrillion? No, TEN quadrillion! No, ten QUINTILLION! But I suppose they agree: there are really, really, a lot. Fucktons upon fucktons? You bet.

With this in mind, sort of, I read the 1952 short story, The Argentine Ant, by Italo Calvino, and reread T.C. Boyle’s 2017 homage (same title). Links to the collections they appear in are at the end of this dual review. Both get 4.5 stars. Some impressions, areas of similarity, differences …

In both versions, a couple and their ill baby move elsewhere in Italy and discover that the area is infested, to put it mildly, with aggressive Argentine ants. They seek help from neighbors, from “pros”; no one has a solution. (Trying my best here to sidestep obliquely a spoiler), it turns out the Argentine Ant Control Corporation is not only inept, but has little incentive to be otherwise.
Both stories end with the man observing the sea. The last sentence:

Calvino: “I thought of the expanses of water like this, of the infinite grains of soft sand down there at the bottom of the sea where the currents leave white shells washed clean by the waves.”

Boyle: “Here was a gathering force that predated everything that moved on this earth, the waves beating at the shore until even the solidest stone was reduced to grains, each a fraction of the size of an ant and each lying there inert on the seabed, stretching on, clean and austere, to infinity.”

Calvino’s story is 40 pages, Boyle’s about 25 and his characteristic prose is denser, which you get a taste of in that last sentence. Calvino, with more pages and (comparative) minimalism, has loads more room for details, eg., about the elaborate ant traps, and to show the neighbors laughing about the absurdity of their situation. In short, with their helplessness against nature, against a government body as immovable as any mass of ants, Calvino displays his avowed debt to Kafka.

Boyle’s story has the same “bones,” and almost identical character names, but the tone is different, and he changes some details—the locale is less rural; he subtly moves the story forward in time; the man is a mathematician and his wife gets a name (updating Calvino’s “the wife”, over and over, “the wife”); the neighbors sunbathe nearly nude; the Captain (the guy with all the elaborate ant traps) is interestingly now a retired employee of the Mexican cartel, an “invader” like the ants.

Whereas the original story is more Kafka-ish and absurdist, Boyle’s focuses a bit more on the horror (he is great at any genre), and on man against nature, on folks seeking greener pastures, both being common Boyle themes. In C’s story, the baby has an unspecified illness. Boyle, sadistically and brilliantly, gives the child a rare, hyper-sensitivity to … wait for it … touch! Oh my. Poor kid.

But Calvino gets my favorite lines, describing Sr. Baudolino: “I realized why he had made such a strange impression on me at first sight: he looked like an ant … perhaps it was because of the dull black of his clothes and hair, perhaps because of the proportions of that squat body of his, or the trembling at the corners of his mouth corresponding to the continuous quiver of antennae and claws.”

The Watcher and Other Stories, Italo Calvino https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9...

The Relive Box and Other Stories, T.C. Boyle
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...

[KamRun · Rating 4 out of 5]

کتاب مورچه آرژانتینی بیشتر و بهتر از هر اثر دیگر کالوینو،دیدگاه کالوینو به جهان،انسان ها و روابط بینشان را نشان می دهد.مترجم نیز در مقدمه می گوید که این سه داستان به نوعی بازتابنده نگاه نیچه ای کالوینو به مناسبات انسانی و نفرت او از میان مایگی ست. "مورچه آرژانتینی" و "ناظر" نسبت به "مه دود" از جذابیت و همینطور عمق بیشتری برخوردارند.شاید علت این امر،مربوط به ساختار داستان ها باشد.مورچه آرژانتینی ساختاری داستانی دارد و ناظر نیز به نوعی "نیمه داستانی" محسوب می شود،اما مه دود به طور کل ساختاری ژورنالیستی دارد.هر سه داستان برای مخاطب فضایی تهدید کننده و ناآرام دارند.هر سه داستان با موضوعی خاص شروع می شوند،اما آن موضوع در طول داستان در بطن آن حل شده و دیگر چیزی که اهمیت پیدا می کند،روابط انسان ها با یکدیگر در مقابل حوادث خارجی ست،در داستان اول معضل مورچه ها کمرنگ شده و نحوه مبارزه انسان ها با وضعیت و واکنش آن ها پررنگ می شود،در داستان دوم نیز معضل مه دود پس از چندی جای خود را به بیان رابطه راوی و کلودیا و افکار راوی می دهد.کالوینو در این امر تبحر خاصی به خرج داده است که در داستان ناظر به اوج خود می رسد.مورچه های آرژانتینی،اولین داستان این مجموعه،صحنه رویارویی انسان ها با اصلی ترین رقیبشان در طبیعت،مورچه هاست. داستان با سکنی گزیدن خانواده 3 نفره (که راوی جوان، پدر این خانواده است) آغاز می شود.خانواده ای که به پیشنهاد عمو آگوستو به دنبال کار و زندگی بهتر به منطقه ای مهاجرت کرده اند که در اصل متعلق به مورچه هاست.سرزمینی ملقب به زادگاه مورچه ی آرژانتینی.کالوینو از این حقیقت که مورچه های آرژانیتی به واقع رقیبی برای انسان ها جهت تسلط بر زمین هستند در داستان خود بهره می جوید،اما این حقیقت از میانه داستان(همانطور که پیش تر گفته شد و این روند در دو داستان دیگر نیز تکرار می شود)کمرنگ شده و چگونگی برخورد انسان ها با آن اهمیت می یابد...ا

[Bahar · Rating 3 out of 5]

این اواخر سعی کرده بود ادبیات محض را کنار بگذارد، مثل اینکه از پوچی دوران نوجوانی اش شرمنده بود، از اینکه آرزو داشت نویسنده شود. آنقدر باهوش بود که خطای پنهان در این آرزو را درک کند: تمنای بقای فردیت چیزی بیشتر از محافظت از تصویری از خویشتن،خواه حقیقی یا کاذب، نیست.
***
این نیاز همگی ما به زیبایی چیست؟ آیا عرفی زبانی و مشخصه ای اکتسابی است؟ و آیا زیبایی فیزیکی، فی نفسه، وجود دارد؟ شاید زیبایی فقط یک نشانه باشد، نوعی ترجیح یا حسن تصادف غیر عقلانی نظیر زشتی، معلولیت و از کار افتادگی؟ یا شاید هم زیبایی یک مدل به آرامی تغییر یابنده است که ما برای خودمان اختراع کرده ایم و بیشتر تاریخی است تا طبیعی و برای حفاظت از ارزش های فرهنگی مان به کار می آید؟

[Indran · Rating 4 out of 5]

Succinct yet still rich. Above all, full of surprises and twists and turns of emotion. There were numerous odd details that really made me laugh, and made me want to set the story aside and try to write one. It didn't feel like a "perfect" story--several of the stories in Calvino's Cosmicomics truly do, in part because they're very beautiful and "Ants" isn't--but it had enough of the hallmarks of what I love about Calvino that 4.4999 seems about right. Recommended if you've already read Cosmicomics, otherwise read that instead.

[Zahra Golmohammadi · Rating 3 out of 5]

توصيفات دقيق از اشياء، شخصيت ها و فضاها شايد اولين ويژگي بارز داستان نويسي به قلم كالوينو باشه، اما گاهي فضا سازي ها چنان دقيق ميشن كه خسته كننده به نظر ميان. تقابل و كشمكش بين انسان و محيط اطرافش، تلاش براي تنازع بقاء و سر آخر عادت به شرايطي كه درش قرار ميگيريم رو ميشه در داستان ها به ويژه داستان اول ديد. اينكه چطور روند زندگي كم كم افراد رو قانع ميكنه كه با داشته ها سر كنن و جهان بينيشون رو منطقي تر ميكنه كه هميشه نميتونن به همه مشكلات چيره بشن و گاهي فقط بايد كنار بيان. حتي شايد اين حقيقت رو بشه در رابطه زناشويي زوج داستان اول ديد، كه با تمام پيش بيني هاي درست در مورد رفتار همسرش باز سعي كرده به اون ها عادت كنه و گريزي براي مواجه شدن با اون پيدا كنه.

[Airácula · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entre más leo a Calvino, más quimérico e indomable me parece.

Es la cuarta pieza que leo del italiano y me sorprende el completo desencuadre de la lucidez, la enajenación, psicosis, insensatez, frenesí, imprudencia y, sobre todo, un sentido del humor tan ligero como agudo. Ya sea con "El Caballero inexistente" donde la burla y la metafísica son cómplices tan pomposos como burdos o "Si una noche de invierno, un viajero" donde la locura y la metaficción se apodera de absolutamente todo, Italo Calvino se expresa de una manera tan única, a veces lúdica y a veces cercana a lo solemne.

La hormiga Argentina es un cuento largo sobre una familia incipiente que se muda a Argentina para encontrar una mejor oportunidad de vida y terminan viviendo en una casa campestre infestada por "la hormiga argentina", la cosa va a llegar a alcances absurdos y grotescos: los alimentos tan negros como la noche no son abandonados por las hormigas, el bebé es atacado sin descanso, las paredes parecen el interior de algún esófago quemado cuya textura aún viva no deja de correr insanamente, nisiquiera los vecinos más lejanos están a salvo.
El final es bastante amargo porque deja entrever la esperanza discreta que vive en la ensoñación. En fin, que somos necios; necios en un sentido trágico pues ¿Qué más hacer, cuando es la necedad la que nos permite vivir?

"La hormiga argentina" es una pieza breve que realmente divierte y preocupa.

[Roodabe]

کتاب سه تا قصه داره از سه آدم متفاوت در سه فضای متفاوت. مورچه آرژانتینی ، مه دود ، ناظر.
این دفعه این سه تا هیچ جای داستان این سه تا داستان از هم رد نمی شن و کاری با هم ندارن.شخصیت اصلی هر سه داستان مرد هستند. هر کدام اما زنی رو در زندگی خودشون یا که در حاشیه ی زندگیه خودشون - حاشیه اما مرکز ثقل خودشون شاید -
دارن. روایتی معمولی از روزهای عادی زندگی این سه مرد که درگیر همون دغدغه های همیشگی غیر روزمرن. ترجمه روان ، داستان ها راحت و قابل فهم... اما باید که حوصله شنیدن دغدغه ها رو داشته باشی. خصوصا تو قصه آخر که گاهی حوصلت از شعارا ممکنه سر بره. اما خب چه انتظاری از ذهن یک رفیق چپ ناظر انتخاباتی می شه داشت که نگران سیاست گوش بریه!
فضای داستانا بی نهایت خودمونیه. ولی توصیفی که از ردیف مورچه ها تو داستان اول می شه تمام تنم رو به خارش انداخت، روایتی که از خانه به دوش سکنی گزیده تو مه دود خوندم منو به شدت یاد خودم انداخت و البته که قصه ی ناظر یادآور درگیری همیشگی بین ایده پردازی و عملگرایی بود.
خوندنش تجربه جالبی بود.

[Ehsan Mohammadzadeh · Rating 3 out of 5]

تم تکرارشونده داستان‌ها مقابله انسان‌هاست با دشمنانی که گرچه بسیار کوچکند، مثل مورچه‌ها و یا غبار، ولی به خاطر تعددشان و هجوم بی‌امانشان روزگار انسان‌ها را سیاه کرده‌اند.
ایده داستان اولی برام جذاب بود و به نظرم اگر به شیوه رئالیسم جادویی روایت می‌شد می‌تونست داستان جذاب‌تری باشه.

[Afshar · Rating 3 out of 5]

یه جمله ی خوبی در مورد وودی آلن شنیده بودم که به نظرم در مورد کالوینو هم صدق می کنه : خدا یک وودی آلن بزرگ است

[Antonis · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 / 5

The Argentine Ant is a short novella about a young couple that moves into a village house with their baby and then discover that their house has been infested by little harmless ants. Apparently, the ant infestation is a general problem in the wider area and the relationships among the inhabitants of that place are deeply affected by it.
Once again Italo Calvino manages to present a seemingly weak and shallow story with such amazing depth that one can only be left gasping. His eloquent and lengthy descriptions are always so beautiful that the reader gets transported magically there. Calvino's exploration into the human psyche is incredible as he presents and takes apart the personality of each of his characters in such a discreet and interesting way.
There's not really much more to say about The Argentine Ant. I'm sure this short work deserves a much longer review but to be honest, Calvino can only be experienced by reading his works in person and I'm afraid I will not do it justice. If you liked Calvino's other works, you will like this one too. Highly recommended!

4.5 / 5

[Nam · Rating 4 out of 5]

The main reason why I enjoy Calvino's works is that they are open to different interpretations. This story is no exception. As I interpreted it, the ants can symbolize any problem we have in life. Different people face the problems with different attitudes and solutions. Some people deal with it superficially and try to ignore the problem. Some put their mind and soul into the solution. Some try to hide it and pass on the problem to others. And for any of our problem, there is a corporation that tries to make profit out of it. Sometimes, changing your environment or going on vacation is a good way to forget it. The one I like the most is that you may not notice and empathize with other people's problems until you put yourself in their situation.

[ریچارد]

کتاب بد بود، انگار دارید دفترچه خاطرات یک آقایی را ورق میزنید که در یکی از داستان ها رفته آرژانتین، در داستان بعدی روزنامه نگار است و در داستان آخر ناظر صندوق رای. خاطرات کسالت آوری که شاید مترجم نتوانسته نثر یکی از مهمترین نویسنده های قرن بیستم ایتالیا را درشان نشان دهد. اما اگر «اگر شبی از شب های زمستان مسافری» داستان خوبی بوده که از سد ترجمه گذشته دیگرکتاب های آقای کالوینو باید بتوانند لااقل خودشان را به لبه ی پرچین ترجمه بمالند. اگر نخواهیم خود آقای کالوینو را قضاوت کنیم می توانیم در مورد ترجمه بگویم که حتما نخوانیدش، اگر ایتالیاییتان خوب است بروید همان اصلش را بخوانید بیاید بگویید چه طور بود.

[Sepideh Tafazzoli · Rating 3 out of 5]

خدا می داند روزی چند بار به آنجا سر میزدم. اما میخواستم احساس کنم گذری هستم، امروز اینجا و فردا جای دیگر. وگرنه این جای خاص اعصابم را داغان می کرد. - مه دود

چیز خاصی نبود اما برای من که فقط در جستجوی تصاویری برای حفظ کردنشان در چشمهایم بودم شاید همین کافی بود. - مه دود

[Noone · Rating 3 out of 5]

بن اضافی توی نمایشگاه کتاب و نام آشنای کالوینو والبته کتابی که هیچ وقت به پای بارون درخت نشین و اگر در شبی از شب های زمستان مسافری نرسید.

[Gastón V. A. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Como reseña casi total, rescato una cita muy representativa del relato (o nouvelle):

"En realidad, si ahora trataba de recordar las hormigas de los lugares de donde veníamos, las veía como bichos respetables, criaturas de esas que se pueden tocar, apartar, como los gatos, los conejos. Aquí nos enfrentábamos con un enemigo como la niebla o la arena, contra el cual no hay fuerza que valga."

No queda mucho por decir después del fragmento anterior. Quizás agregaría que me pareció muy bien escrito; y que me sumergí por completo en está historia que se origina como un intento de nuevo comienzo de una joven pareja y su pequeña hija, pero que la metáfora visible en forma de hormigas, recuerda que esto no es, en definitiva, posible. También, que la realidad es una percepción personal (a lo sumo - aunque nunca del todo - de pequeños grupos sociales), y que esta subjetividad intransferible determina nuestro modo de pasar, actuar y ver el mundo.

Es un texto muy realista: demasiado realista, aunque con algunos momentos casi fantásticos. Tanto realismo, que por esto podría derivar en una lectura pesimista, si no fuera, paradójicamente, por el estoicismo del final, casi optimista.

[Luis Rolando Durán Vargas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Una narración llena de matices, de profundidades que asoman. Una historia de resistencia y desencanto, llena de esa fantasía que se teje despacio, a largo de lo usual y cotidiano. Una narración que se queda en el aire, en la punta de la lengua, esperando que llegue el sabor intenso, para darse cuenta luego que Calvino, magistralmente, lo había escondido a lo largo del transitar alucinante de las hormigas.

[Nikoo · Rating 3 out of 5]

ایده ش: ۳/۵*
شیوه نگارش؛سبک(راستش عناصر داستان رو به اون صورت دقیق نمی‌شناسم ،ولی فکر کنم همین باشه،مدل قصه گفتنش منظورمه...انگارچیزی رو که می خواست نتونسته بود جذاب و پرکشش نقل کنه ):۲/۵*
+نمی دونم،شایدم قصدش همین تأکید رو ملالت آور بودن زندگی بوده با این شیوه نگارش،اگه این بوده که باید بگم اتفاقا خیلی ام حرفه‌ای عمل کرده،ولی خب من داشتم عذاب می‌کشیدم واسه خوندنش،خیلی سخت جلو میرفتم

[Mojtaba · Rating 3 out of 5]

فک میکنم علائم نگارشی توی این کتاب خوب رعایت نشده بود.
جد از داستان های پراکنده ای که کالوینو خونده بودم این اولین کتابی بود که ازش خوندم و دوست داشتم.تصمیم گرفتم باز هم از کالوینو بخونم.

[Taylor · Rating 2 out of 5]

made me feel itchy

[Cwpper David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Una prueba más de que no se necesita historias profundas y completas para escribir buenas novelas. A partir de una casa plagada de hormigas, muy discretamente, Calvino nos trasporta a su propio universo. El merito es absoluto. El universo de símbolos resulta abrumador y la belleza de las descripciones intrigante. Definitivamente, el que es buen narrador le saca jugo a las piedras.

Link de descarga: https://losmenosprecie.blogspot.com.c...

[Abos · Rating 2 out of 5]

قبل از این کتاب از کالوینو کتابای اگر شبی از شبهای.... و کمدی کیهانی و شهرهای نامرئی وتی صفر رو خونده بودم .این اولین باریه که از کالوینو نا امید میشم. یه داستان این مجموعه سه موضوع به شدت معاصر -محیط زیست و آلودگی هوا و دموکراسی- رو انتخاب کرده ولی لحن کالوینو توی این داستان‌ها در بعضی قسمت‌ها من رو یاد اگزیستانسیالیست‌هایی مثل سارتر یا کامو می‌انداخت و لااقل من این فضا رو از کالوینو نپسندیدم. توصیه میکنم به جای این کتاب برگردید یک بار دیگه اگرشبی از شبها...رو بخونید

[Erfan Abedi · Rating 2 out of 5]

یه معیاری هست برای تعیین‌کردن میزان کس‌شعر بودن یک کتاب از نظر من.
اونم اینه که وقتی از یه کتابی واقعا بدم می‌آد، می‌دمش به سامان و بهش اختیار می‌دم هر غلطی خواست باهاش بکنه.
قضیه این کتاب دقیقا همین بود، داستان مسخره، بی‌هدف و به‌شدت حوصله سربر. تنها نکته مثبتش چندتا توصیف‌ قشنگ بود و به قدری حال نکردم باهاش که نصفه ولش کردم.