The Dialectic of Metafiction and Neorealism in Calvino's Baron in the Trees.
"I agree to my books being read as existential or as structural works, as Marxist or neo-Kantian, Freudianly or Jungianly: but above all I am glad to see that no one key will open the lock".
The above quotation perhaps shows more than anything else the ambiguity of Calvino's works. The obsession to label all narratives arises from our compulsion to make sense of this world, as literary generic categories form part of our cosmologies. Calvino's work however, eludes us by drawing upon multifarious techniques and images to create a narrative that defies all generic conventions. Attempting to arrive at a sole conclusion with a single key to unlock Calvino's narrative is to underestimate its full potential, for no single label justifies the ambiguity of his work. Indeed, the bulk of the attention focused on Calvino's work is derived mainly from its elusiveness, and its inability to be placed into any particular category. Critics have long been divided over the polemics of his work, one significant aspect of which lies in whether or not Calvino's fiction can be considered as a fairytale or as a realist story. "realismo a carica fiabiasca" and fiaba a carica realistica" (realism infused with fairytale and fairytale infused with realism). (Cavino, Introduction)
What I am interested in is how the notions of metafiction and neorealism work in Calvino's narratives. Undoubtedly, as I have established earlier, it is not possible to label his work as falling into either one or the other generic category. Rather, I would say that both neorealist tendencies and metafictional elements work to make Calvino's short story. Antithetical as these two notions are in ...
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...inburgh UP. 1993.
Calvino, Italo. "Baron In The Trees" Our Ancestors. Trans. Archibald Colquhoun. London: Mandarin Paperbacks, 1992.
---. Introduction to gli amori difficili, 2nd ed vii. Turin: Einuadi, 1970.
Cannon, JoAnn. Postmodern Italian Fiction. London and Toronto: Associated University Presses, 1989.
Carter, Albert Howard. Italo Calvino: Metamorphoses of Fantasy, Studies in Speculative Fiction. Ann Arbor, Michigan: UMI Research Press, 1987.
Gabriele, Tommasina. Italo Calvino: Eros and Language. London and Toronto: Associated University Presses, 1994.
Lodge, David. "Metafiction." The Art Of Fiction. New York: Viking, 1993. 206-210.
Waugh, Patricia. "What is Metafiction and why are they saying Such Horrible Things About It?" Metafiction. Ed. Mark Currie. Harlow: Longman, 1995. 39-54.
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Many times in life things are not as they seem. What may look simple on the surface may be more complicated deeper within. Countless authors of short stories go on a journey to intricately craft the ultimate revelation as well as the subtle clues meant for the readers as they attempt to figure out the complete “truth” of the story. The various authors of these stories often use different literary techniques to help uncover the revelation their main characters undergo. Through the process of carefully developing their unique characters and through point of view, both Edith Wharton and Ernest Hemingway ultimately convey the significant revelation in the short stories, “Roman Fever” and “Hills Like White Elephants” respectively. The use of these two literary techniques is essential because they provide the readers with the necessary clues to realize the ultimate revelations.
That can eventually lead to the abuse of diuretics or laxatives because often one can feel a sense of control through that use. Another cause can be genetics. There has been many studies that show evidence of how genetics have an impact on those who become bulimic. For example, if a mother was bulimic, there is a chance that her daughter could become bulimic as well because her mother’s traits may have passed down to her as well. The influence from family, friends, and society has a big impact and can also lead one to become bulimic. Bulimia can be conceived as such a dreadful disorder because it can lead to a serious of chronic diseases and health problems. Bulimia, in severe cases, can even end in death. Although it can lead to lousy relationships, one should never give up on somebody who has bulimia. It is eminently important that one communicates their concerns in a positive and respectful way. One should never place any shame, blame, or guilt on a person with bulimia. It would be best to understand this disorder, and know not to judge, insult, or comment on looks. Those are the best ways to help somebody with bulimia, with an overall sense of calmness and
Meyer, Michael. The Bedford Introduction to Literature. Ed. 8th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2008. 2189.
Deep-seated in these practices is added universal investigative and enquiring of acquainted conflicts between philosophy and the art of speaking and/or effective writing. Most often we see the figurative and rhetorical elements of a text as purely complementary and marginal to the basic reasoning of its debate, closer exploration often exposes that metaphor and rhetoric play an important role in the readers understanding of a piece of literary art. Usually the figural and metaphorical foundations strongly back or it can destabilize the reasoning of the texts. Deconstruction however does not indicate that all works are meaningless, but rather that they are spilling over with numerous and sometimes contradictory meanings. Derrida, having his roots in philosophy brings up the question, “what is the meaning of the meaning?”
Harmon, William, and C. Hugh Holman. A Handbook to Literature. 8th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1999.
Bulimia is an eating disorder which affects many people in America. It's a tragic disorder that can have serious health issues and even lead, eventually, to death. It's easy to make assumptions about what it's like to live with such a problem, but a lot of what you believe could be myth. Here are some of the most common wrongful assumptions about bulimia.
The motivation that has the bulimia population striving for is none other than for the reason of staying thin. Since the 1980s, this has been an increasing dilemma for both the U.S and Europe. There is no direct cause for this mental disorder but rather a combination of factors that increase...
In the eighteenth century, the slave narrative started to emerge. During this literary period, major emphasis was placed on the values of the Enlightenment; one of these values in particular being the power of the individual. Equiano used the first person pronouns to give himself more power and more authority that way his chronicle was taken seriously. Also during this literary period, another valued Enlightenment principle is that of first person experience. By using the first person pronouns, Equiano demonstrates the events in his narrative directly through first person experience. The events that Equiano discusses relates as well back to the literary period of the book. The anecdote talks about exploration and the discovery of the new areas that Equiano sails to, which displays the idea of the exploration novel of the time
Renascence: Essays on values in Literature 59.2 (2007) : 93. Literature Resources from Gale Web. 24 Feb. 2010. Hatcher, Melissa. A. McCrory. The “Mythlore.”
Calvino turned decisively to fantasy and allegory in the 1950s, producing the three fantastic tales that brought him international acclaim. The first of these fantasies, Il Visconte Dimezzato (1952; "The Cloven Viscount," in The Nonexistent Knight & the Cloven Viscount), is an allegorical story of a man split in two--a good half and an evil half--by a cannon shot; he becomes whole through his love for a peasant girl. The second and most highly praised fantasy, Il Barone Rampante (1957; The Baron in the Trees), is a whimsical tale of a 19th-century nobleman who one day decides to climb into the trees and who never sets foot on the ground again. From the trees he does, however, participate fully in the affairs of his fellow men below. The tale wittily explores the interaction and tension between reality and imagination. The third fantasy, Il Cavaliere Inesistente (1959; "The Nonexistent Knight,"in The Nonexistent Knight & the Cloven Viscount), is a mock epic chivalric tale.
Harmon, William, William Flint Thrall, Addison Hibbard, and C. Hugh Holman. A Handbook to Literature. 11th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2009. Print.
"Any critical reading of a text will be strengthened by a knowledge of how a text is valued by readers in differing contexts."
...ar Story': Metafiction in The Things They Carried." Critique 36, No. 4 Summer 1996: 249-57. Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism. Vol. 211. Detroit: Gale, 2006. 187-91. Literature Criticism Online. Web. 14 Apr. 2014.
The first proposed idea for the collapse of the Roman Empire is when Germanic migrations started, along with the aggressive westward movement of the Huns'. The Germanic people migrated into the outskirts of northern and eastern Rome where they adapted to the Roman society. The people known as Visigoths along with the Germanic people complied with the Roman rule and even joined within the ranks of the Roman Army. The compliance of Visigoth and Germanic people was in hopes of social order but the Romans were uninterested in allowing the Germanic and Visigoth people settlement within the empire. Overtime the relationship between Romans and Visigoth grew weakened and unstable. During this time a group known as the Huns' started to make their military presence known in the fifth century un...
Boehm, Beth A. "Fact, Fiction, and Metafiction: Blurred Gen(d)res in Orlando and A Room of One's Own." Journal of Narrative Technique 22:3 (1992): 191-204.