It was the name of Italo Calvino on this volume which caught my eye, so I was disappointed, initially, to discover that what I had picked up was ‘just’ an anthology of fantastical short stories. However, a glance through the contents page immediately revealed the presence of two stories which have appeared on my metal radar in the last six months or so: The Sandman by ETA Hoffmann, and The Nose by Gogol. Balzac and Sir Walter Scott are also represented here, and the opportunity to sample their writing in the form of an appetizer (I have never wanted to commit to a big Sir Walter Scott tome) proved irresistible.
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Chickamauga – Ambrose Bierce
In his eagerness to justify the inclusion of Chickamauga in his Fantastic Tales Calvino reveals the means by which the author achieves certain otherworldly effects. Calvino is careful to protect the concluding twist from premature eyes, but his comments otherwise constitute a shocking spoiler. (And if it was a novel would I have read the introduction first? Of course not! Making exceptions for Italo Calvino? Well. The lesson is learned.)
In my eagerness to avoid divulging too much here, enigmatic hints must serve. Hopefully, whetting the appetite. Realistically: prepare to be mildly annoyed.
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Young Goodman Brown – Nathaniel Hawthorne
Much shorter, and somewhat less complex, than The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne’s short story of a witches’ sabbath in Salem is in some ways more difficult to analyse. Where The Scarlet Letter is concerned with hypocrisy and exhibits some remarkable forward-thinking on sexual equality, Young Goodman Brown is more ambiguous.
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If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler – Italo Calvino
‘The novels I prefer are those which wrong-foot you at every turn…’
Not an exact quote, nor an entirely accurate representation of my sentiments with respect to reading, but If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler did keep me on my toes, and it had its moments. Admittedly, for the first hundred or so pages those moments largely involved scowling, but past the halfway point there was actual laughter.
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Invisible Cities – Italo Calvino
I may as well confess straight off, ‘Pffft.’ The sound of a narrative soaring way above one’s head. That dread question “What’s it about?” (offered with unmistakable malice) was not well received on this occasion.
I heard of this title from Stu of Winstonsdad’s Blog. Unfortunately, I think it was in his pre-blogging days, so there is probably no elucidation to be had there, either.
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