Masters of the short prose narrative, with a keen sense of storytelling and a wonderfully fluid imagination, both R.L. Stevenson and Italo Calvino had a common interest for traditional popular culture, romance and the tale of adventure. While highlighting some biographical affinities – they were both cosmopolitans and travelled extensively - this essay dwells on the meaning the fantastic had in their work. Far from being a mere flight of fancy or simple amusement, the fantastic for Calvino, as it was a century earlier for Stevenson, was not intended as a genre based on the creation of strictly visionary and supernatural world, it was not simply escapist literature. On the contrary, it was firmly rooted in a highly recognizable world and while retaining a strong moral component, it never ceased to become the instrument for the investigation of profound epistemological issues such as freedom, individual affirmation and self-fulfillment. Finally, the qualities which Calvino valued most in writing - lightness, exactitude and visibility – are the trademark of Stevenson’s own style and poetics. In his posthumous work Why Read the Classics? Stevenson stands along with writers of the stature of Ariosto, Ovid, Defoe, Stendhal, Flaubert, Tolstoj, James and Conrad.

Stevenson, Calvino and All the Devils in Italy

M. Vanon Alliata
2009-01-01

Abstract

Masters of the short prose narrative, with a keen sense of storytelling and a wonderfully fluid imagination, both R.L. Stevenson and Italo Calvino had a common interest for traditional popular culture, romance and the tale of adventure. While highlighting some biographical affinities – they were both cosmopolitans and travelled extensively - this essay dwells on the meaning the fantastic had in their work. Far from being a mere flight of fancy or simple amusement, the fantastic for Calvino, as it was a century earlier for Stevenson, was not intended as a genre based on the creation of strictly visionary and supernatural world, it was not simply escapist literature. On the contrary, it was firmly rooted in a highly recognizable world and while retaining a strong moral component, it never ceased to become the instrument for the investigation of profound epistemological issues such as freedom, individual affirmation and self-fulfillment. Finally, the qualities which Calvino valued most in writing - lightness, exactitude and visibility – are the trademark of Stevenson’s own style and poetics. In his posthumous work Why Read the Classics? Stevenson stands along with writers of the stature of Ariosto, Ovid, Defoe, Stendhal, Flaubert, Tolstoj, James and Conrad.
2009
European Stevenson
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/10278/30621
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