-
1 out of 5
by
Paul
from
Nottingham, England, The United Kingdom | Sep 27, 2007
I guess if there was nothing on tv and you were bored your mind might start wandering and you might possibly conceive that a civilisation of very tiny unicorns called Gzz and Tjsdfh might live up my arse but you wouldn't want to write a damn book about it, would you. However thin the book might be.
8 people found this review helpful
-
5 out of 5
by
Ellen
from
The United States | Nov 9, 2009
Italo Calvino, in Cosmicomics, writes a philosophical, pseudo-scientific fantasy that attempts, somewhat whimsically, to answer the kind of questions a child might pose: How did the earth begin? Where do we come from? How did language begin? The book charts the path of a character named Qfwfq who roams through emerging galaxies, romps with hydrogen atoms, and, in general, makes observations about an evolving universe.
Calvino’s book, a landmark of postmodern fiction, depicts a common postmodernist theme: i.e., the “literature of exhaustion,” the sense that we are surrounded by words, drowning in words, and—as a consequence—words are all used up and devoid of meaning. However, Calvino, writing back in the 1960s could hardly have known how prophetic his words would be when related to cyber-space.
In a chapter entitled “A Sign in Space,” Qfwfq, who is in the midst of whisking through the Milky Way, stops and innocently draws a sign, the first sign, in fact, at a point in space, so that he can find his way when he comes around again in about two hundred million years. Qfwfq points out that just the process of making the first sign itself involved considerable leaps of thought. He states that we think of a sign as “something that can be distinguished from something else” when, at that point in existence “nothing could be distinguished from anything …” and there were no previous examples to suggest what a sign might even be.
Qfwfq’s sign, though, creates difference. Where there had been empty space there was now a something, a sign, a symbol that had to be reckoned with. For a long time, his sign remains untarnished. Then, some 600 million years later, as Qfwfq makes his third circuit, he sees that his sign has been crossed out and another sign put next to it, a sign that was obviously a copy of Qfwfq’s original sign. With the sign, its erasure, and the counterfeit sign, the universe’s first dialogue begins. One-upmanship takes over and soon—at least in terms of galactic years—the signs and countersigns begin proliferating at a rapidly escalating pace. Finally, Qfwfq remarks nostalgically:
“In the universe now there was no longer a container and a thing contained, but only a general thickness of signs superimposed and coagulated, occupying the whole volume of space; it was constantly being dotted, minutely, a network of lines and scratches and reliefs and engravings; the universe was scrawled over on all sides, along all its dimensions. There was no longer any way to establish a point of reference.”
In 1965, Calvino could not have known that the mass of signs he describes clogging the universe was an uncanny prediction of the Internet itself where signs and sights/sites grow in increasing numbers in cyber-space. Calvino's tale parallels the type of world in which we now live. The Internet, without exaggeration, really is like a system of signs “superimposed and coagulated, occupying the whole volume of space.” While terms such as the "information highway" imply that the Internet is a gateway to knowledge, I wonder about the ability to concentrate, and achieve any type of knowledge - much less wisdom - in our tech-laden, data-riddled world.
From a prior publication
13 people found this review helpful
-
5 out of 5
by
Tom
from
Boulder, CO | Oct 3, 2007
The concept is simple: take an abstract scientific concept and bring it to life through the art of the short story. Yet what Calvino achieves in Cosmicomics is unparalleled.
The collection contains twelve short stories, each beginning with a short statement describing a scientific theory, a dry, explanatory piece of writing that feels like it could've been pulled out of an introductory astronomy (or biology) textbook. For example, the first story, "The Distance of the Moon," begins with the following passage:
At one time, according to Sir George H. Darwin, the Moon was very close to the Earth. The the tides gradually pushed her far away: the tides that the Moon herself causes in the Earth's waters, where the Earth slowly loses energy.
Then comes the bulk of each of 10-15 page story, all but two of which are narrated by Qfwfq, a wizened old storyteller who has seen everything from the beginning of the universe and who tells it all in a down-home style that feels as if the audience has gathered around a campfire to hear tales of long-ago. For example, "The Distance of the Moon" continues thus:
How well I know! - old Qfwfq cried, - the rest of you can't remember, but I can. We had her on top of us at that time, that enormous Moon: when she was full - nights as bright as day, but with a butter-colored light - it looked as if she were going to crush us; when she was new, she rolled about the sky like a black umbrella blown by the wind...
Qfwfq then goes on to tell a story of a group of people that would take a ladder up to the moon to harvest its cheese, and of his mute cousin who felt at home only on the moon, and of the captain's wife who was in love with the cousin, and of the narrator's love for the captain's wife, and all the tragic results of the love triangle, with the moon at it center.
Each story is given a striking humanity, achieving that goal of every fiction writer: illuminating what it means to be human; yet Calvino's methods often don't involve humans, as main characters are particles of dust, evolving animals, or even mathematical formulas. The stories, I believe, can best be described as "scientific myths," i.e. not the myths of great scientific figures, but mythology based upon modern science, reinvented the past's legends with today's understanding of the universe.
Cosmicomics, like his best-known work If on a winter's night a traveler, proves that Calvino is one of the most creative, innovative writers of the 20th century, able to use complex theory effortlessly to bring forth a deceptively simple tale of the basic human emotions.
5 people found this review helpful
-
2 out of 5
by
Rob
from
Asheville, NC | Aug 9, 2007
this was a huge disappointment after If on a Winter's Night a Traveler. a few of the stories might be perfect for a bed-time story for a very precocious 9-year-old, if the parent had the background to explain the science. but not enough good science for a science nerd(me), and i think too much science for a normal person. too much fairy-tale language for an adult(me), but too much technical language for a kid. some of the ideas were great, and i would enjoy the first page or two, but quickly got very old and then i would peek ahead and would groan on seeing that i had 8 more pages left in the story.
2 people found this review helpful
-
2 out of 5
by
MJ
from
Edinburgh, V2, The United Kingdom | Mar 31, 2010
Penguin Classics rounded up the entire output from Italo Calvino’s Cosmicomics series in 2009 and collected them into this impressive and expensive hardback book, The Complete Cosmicomics.
The edition I read contains all the stories from the original Cosmicomics, Time & the Hunter, World Memory & Other Cosmicomic Stories, and Cosmicomics Old & New collections, plus one rewritten marvel, The Other Eurydice.
I made the mistake of devouring these stories in one quick glut and probably didn’t read them in the manner the author intended – slowly over a period of months, letting each mysterious and complex tale seep into my subconscious.
Frankly, I found these astrophysical fables rather repetitive and tedious, and I lost interest as it shifted into the more pessimistic fare. I’m not entirely well-versed in Calvino’s oeuvre, so for now I’m going to assume I’m wrong and that these stories are genius for reasons I am incapable of understanding.
More open-minded readers will find the scientific detail fascinating and will appreciate the wit, charm and humour in some of these incredibly clever stories. For some reason, most of these had no effect on me. It was rather like going to visit the Louvre and falling asleep among the Picassos. Who can explain the science of art?
Still – this is a gorgeously packaged edition and a must-have for Calvino supporters.
1 people found this review helpful