Easily my least favourite book from Calvino’s Ancestors trilogy – probably because it’s, well, a bit too Calvinoesque. I have never been a fan of epic chivalric tales, even less of epic chivalric tales written in the 20th century and with constant allegoric and fantastic elements.
The trilogy overall (which also includes Il Visconte Dimezzato and Il Barone Rampante) perfectly sums up my
relation with Calvino: if he goes all medieval on the reader he loses me (the Visconte, possibly, being the exception),
if the allegoric passages occupy essentially one entire book (like in this
case) I’m not interested, if his fantastic tales are just too much to be even
very faintly and remotely possible, I’m out. At the same time, if he softly
touches upon immature love, or silly but understandable moral principles, I may
get hooked.
And since Il
Cavaliere Inesistente does the three things I dislike about Calvino, its
love story is too forcefully epic and poetic, and Agilulfo’s moral stand is
silly yes, but a bit dated (surprising in a medieval book, eh?) – well, I’m
afraid this book is just not for me.
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