p. 1

italocalvinoamarriage ofliterarure&imagery david a weiss simonetta ferrini

[close]

p. 2

introduction in devising a story the first thing that comes to my mind is an image that for some reason strikes me as charged with meaning even if i cannot formulate this meaning in discursive or conceptual terms as soon as the image has become sufficiently clear in my mind i set about developing it into a story or better yet it is the images themselves that develop their own implicit potentialities the story they carry within them italo calvino six memos for the next millennium italo calvino s invisible cities is one of the most intriguing and challenging works to be discussed in a literature class it raises deep questions provokes unexpected reactions eludes any preconceived answer or clear-cut interpretation i had been using the book in my contemporary italian literature course in which calvino is just one of the writers covered for a few semesters every semester the class had reacted in a different way to the book everytime though showing positive if not enthusiastic responses i was convinced that the limited time dedicated in class to the analysis and discussion of the book did not do it justice characterized by a highly intricate connection of visual images and by a multi-layered labyrinth of possible meanings invisible cities deserved more than just a literary reading and reflection so in the spring 2010 i asked my colleague david weiss if he wanted to collaborate with one of his photography classes to an interdisciplinary project my students would write a review about the book to be published on final issue of blending palazzi s monthly magazine his students would visually interpret the spirit of the book and traspose it into photographic images in that way the text by calvino would become an excellent means to stimulate both the imaginative reflective and creative side of our students something that the author we are convinced would have highly enjoyed these are the steps that we followed in our project literature class 9 students brainstorming for a first approach to the book 1 one week before the actual presentation and class discussion of the book the students were assigned a written homework about invisible cities in which they were asked to reflect about the following points a the non-traditional mathematical structure of the book b a possible general interpretation of the book what do the cities stand for why are they named after women why are they divided into categories c the characteristics of each category which are the recurrent themes in the stories belonging to the same category how is each category related to the others d the dialogues between marco polo and kublai khan what are the two characters talking about how do they interact how different are their perspectives presentation in class and class discussion 2 the following week two students presented the book in class to which a general discussion followed each student contributing with his/her own reflections doubts and preferences about the stories and categories individual homework ­ choosing quotations and writing short comments

[close]

p. 3

3 in the following weeks the students were asked to work by themselves at home selecting two or three among their favourite quotations from the book and writing a brief comment about each one of them class activity ­ selecting quotations 4 a couple of weeks before the publication the students worked in class in small groups of three discussing and selecting the most significant among their favourite quotations class activity ­ writing the final version of the text 5 one week before the publication all students worked together in class on the final version of the review editing the different paragraphs obtained during the previous stage into a cohesive and meaningful text publication of review with photographs 6 review and photographs were published on the final issue of blending which was entirely dedicated to the theme frametime we chose the title frame of time because invisible cities is an expression of what calvino would have called the universal book a literary frame containing past present and future the story of all the possible stories ever narrated there is another definition in which i recognize myself fully and that is the imagination as a repertory of what is potential what is hypothetical of what does not exist and has never existed and perhaps will never exist but might have existed italo calvino six memos for the next millennium photography class number of students technique used ­ why which stories categories were given to the students cities the dead cities desire hidden cities cities memory

[close]

p. 4

cities&desire4-fedora looking into each globe you see a blue city the model of a different fedora these are the forms the city could have taken if for one reason or another it had not become what we see today in every age someone looking at fedora as it was imagined a way of making it the ideal city but while he constructed his miniature model fedora was already no longer the same as before and what had been until yesterday a possible future became only a toy in a glass globe guardando dentro ogni sfera si vede una città azzurra che è il modello d un altra fedora sono le forme che la città avrebbe potuto prendere se non fosse per una ragione o per l altra diventata come oggi la vediamo in ogni epoca qualcuno guardando fedora qual era aveva immaginato il modo di farne la città ideale ma mentre costruiva il suo modello in miniatura già fedora non era più la stessa di prima e quello che fino a ieri era stato un suo possibile futuro ormai era solo un giocattolo in una sfera di vetro

[close]

p. 5

[close]

p. 6

[close]

p. 7

cities&eyes5-moriana in devising a story the first thing that comes to my mind is an image that for some reason strikes me as charged with meaning even if i cannot formulate this meaning in discursive or conceptual terms as soon as the image has become sufficiently clear in my mind i set about developing it into a story or better yet it is the images themselves that develop their own implicit potentialities the story they carry within them italo calvino six memos for the next millennium italo calvino s invisible cities is one of the most intriguing and challenging works to be discussed in a literature class it raises deep questions provokes unexpected reactions eludes any preconceived answer or clear-cut interpretation i had been using the book in my contemporary italian literature course in which calvino is just one of the writers covered for a few semesters every semester the class had reacted in a different way to the book everytime though showing positive if not enthusiastic responses i was convinced that the limited time dedicated in class to the analysis and discussion of the book did not do it justice characterized by a highly intricate connection of visual images and by a multi-layered labyrinth of possible meanings invisible cities deserved more than just a literary reading and reflection so in the spring 2010 i asked my colleague david weiss if he wanted to collaborate with one of his photography classes to an interdisciplinary project my students would write a review about the book to be published on final issue of blending palazzi s monthly magazine his students would visually interpret the spirit of the book and traspose it into photographic imich was entirely dedicated to the theme frametime we chose the title frame of time because invisible cities is an expression of what calvino would have called the universal book a literary frame containing past present and future the story of all the possible stories ever narrated there is another definition in which i recognize myself fully and that is the imagination as a repertory of what is potential what is hypothetical of what does not exist and has never existed and perhaps will never exist but might have existed italo calvino six memos for the next millennium photography class number of students technique used ­ why which stories categories were given to the students cities the dead cities desire hidden cities cities memory

[close]

p. 8

cities&thedead2-adelma i thought `you reach a moment in life when among the people you have known the dead outnumber the living and the mind refuses to accept more faces more expressions on every new face you encounter it prints the old forms for each one it finds the most suitable mask pensai `si arriva a un momento nella vita in cui tra la gente che si è conosciuta i morti sono più dei vivi e la mente si rifiuta d accettare altre fisionomie altre espressioni su tutte le facce nuove che incontra imprime i vecchi calchi per ognuna trova la maschera che s adatta di più

[close]

p. 9

[close]

p. 10

[close]

p. 11

cities&memory5-maurilia in maurilia the traveler is invited to visit the city and at the same time to examine some old postcards that show it as it used to be it is pointless to ask whether the new [gods that inhabit the city are better or worse than the old since there is no connection between them just as the old postcards do not depict maurilia as it was but a different city which by chance was called maurilia like this one a maurilia il viaggiatore è invitato a visitare la città e nello stesso tempo a osservare certe vecchie cartoline illustrate che la rappresentano com era prima e vano chiedersi se [i nuovi dei che abitano nella città sono migliori o peggiori degli antichi dato che non esiste tra loro alcun rapporto così come le vecchie cartoline non rappresentano maurilia com era ma un altra città che per caso si chiamava maurilia come questa

[close]

p. 12

cities&thedead5-laudomia like laudomia every city has at its side another city whose inhabitants are called by the same names it is the laudomia of the dead the cemetery but laudomia s special faculty is that of being not only double but triple it comprehends in short a third laudomia the city of the unborn ogni città come laudomia ha al suo fianco un altra città i cui abitanti si chiamano con gli stessi nomi è la laudomia dei morti il cimitero ma la speciale dote di laudomia è d essere oltre che doppia tripla cioè di comprendere una terza laudomia che è quella dei non nati

[close]

p. 13

[close]

p. 14

[close]

p. 15

thincities3-armilla abandoned before or after it was inhabited armilla cannot be called deserted at any hour raising your eyes among the pipes you are likely to glimpse a young woman or many young women slender not tall of stature luxuriating in the bathtubs or arching their backs under the showers suspended in the void washing or drying or perfuming themselves or combing their long hair at a mirror abbandonata prima o dopo esser stata abitata armilla non può dirsi deserta a qualsiasi ora alzando gli occhi tra le tubature non è raro scorgere una o molte giovani donne snelle non alte di statura che si crogiolano nelle vasche da bagno che si inarcano sotto le docce sospese sul vuoto che fanno abluzioni o che s asciugano o che si profumano o che si pettinano i lunghi capelli allo specchio

[close]