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Marcovaldo

by Italo Calvino, William Weaver (Translator)

3.88 of 5 stars 3.88 · rating details · 2,328 ratings · 148 reviews

Marcovaldo is an unskilled worker in a drab industrial city in northern Italy. He is an irrepressible dreamer and an inveterate schemer. Much to the puzzlement of his wife, his children, his boss, and his neighbors, he chases his dreams-but the results are never the expected ones. Translated by William Weaver. A Helen and Kurt Wolff Book

Paperback, 'First American', 128 pages

Published November 16th 1983 by Mariner Books (first published 1963)

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Feb 11, 2008 John rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: short-story

Here's a book I knew I would like the minute I held it in my hot little hands. For one thing, it's short - 120 pages, fairly large print. For another, it's symmetrical - 20 stories, 5 for each season of the year. And finally, having read one story from it in a seasonal collection already, I knew it was both magical and sarcastic, a combination as golden as snide and abstract are shit. (Ok, it could be argued magical and sarcastic and snide and abstract are po-tay-to and po-tah-to, but let's not...more Here's a book I knew I would like the minute I held it in my hot little hands. For one thing, it's short - 120 pages, fairly large print. For another, it's symmetrical - 20 stories, 5 for each season of the year. And finally, having read one story from it in a seasonal collection already, I knew it was both magical and sarcastic, a combination as golden as snide and abstract are shit. (Ok, it could be argued magical and sarcastic and snide and abstract are po-tay-to and po-tah-to, but let's not split hairs here.)

It took me three weeks to read Marcovaldo, because almost every story made me want to go back and read it again, not because it was hard to understand but because I wanted to experience the reading of it again. This is truly a book to savor. Some of the short stories (none are over 10 pages, most clocking in under 5) are merely funny in a subtle way, like "The Wasp Treatment" and "The Lunch-Box." Some, like "The Forest on the Superhighway" and "Smoke, Wind, and Soap-Bubbles," are caustic commentaries on industrialized society. Others - "The Good Air" and "The Wrong Stop" come to mind - are visceral, haunting journeys of Marcovaldo, a man who wants to see through the churning gears into a natural world that he's never seen except in fancy, and his family into a consumer culture they don't understand but charge dutifully into. Some reach almost terrifying levels of dementia, when the line between romantic idealism and harsh reality blur with Marcovaldo and his already-jaded family stuck at the borderland - see "A Saturday of Sun, Sand and Sleep" and "Marcovaldo at the Supermarket."

And then there are "The Moon and GNAC," "The Rain and the Leaves," and "Santas Children," the centerpieces of the book which do all of these things. All three come toward the end of the book, after the tone, setting, and characters have been subtly put into place. They have a few things in common - all have a conflict between the family unit and corporate culture, with the same winner each time; they each reflect an urbanization of myth, with neon lights and potted plants replacing cosmos and beanstalks; and each presents a subtle, heartbreaking moral judgment on the society they are set in and the losses man has swallowed in achieving it.

(less)

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Nov 16, 2010 Patty rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: italiana, circolo-nazariantz

Ci sono libri che van bene a 10 anni così come a 40. Marcovaldo è uno di questi.

Leggerlo è stato come scorrere le immagini di tavolette di fumetti, quelle di tanti anni fa. Anche i nomi dei personaggi delle 20 novelle sembrano appartenere ai fumetti di un tempo lontano: la moglie Domitilla, il vigile Tornaquinci, il capo-magazziniere Viligelmo, il dottor Godifredo... una galleria di personaggi buffi e reali, a metà strada tra il mondo reale e quello fantastico. Fiaba e realtà si intrecciano sap...more Ci sono libri che van bene a 10 anni così come a 40. Marcovaldo è uno di questi.

Leggerlo è stato come scorrere le immagini di tavolette di fumetti, quelle di tanti anni fa. Anche i nomi dei personaggi delle 20 novelle sembrano appartenere ai fumetti di un tempo lontano: la moglie Domitilla, il vigile Tornaquinci, il capo-magazziniere Viligelmo, il dottor Godifredo... una galleria di personaggi buffi e reali, a metà strada tra il mondo reale e quello fantastico. Fiaba e realtà si intrecciano sapientemente nella scrittura leggera e veloce di un grande maestro qual è Calvino. Ogni novella inizia con buffo disincanto, come una favola per bambini, per finire poi con un melanconico umorismo che fa riflettere.
C'è tutta la vita in Marcovaldo: la povertà di un manovale che non riesce a sfamare la sua numerosa famiglia, il delirio del "divertimento" di massa, la corsa ipnotica al consumismo, l'incapacità di adattarsi al nuovo mondo urbano ostinandosi a cercare la natura anche dove mai potrebbe esserci, le prepotenze dei capi...
Vita, filosofia, temi importanti, ma trattati con una leggerezza e una competenza stilistica raffinata ed elegante che fa di Calvino uno scrittore morale, mai moralista o ancora peggio propagandista, proprio come afferma Alberto Asor Rosa: " Lo scrittore morale non si pone il problema di dire qual è il bene e qual è il male.(...) Per me lo scrittore morale è quello che si limita a suggerire dei comportamenti e ad additare una linea di condotta."
La prima pubblicazione di Marcovaldo risale alla vigilia del Natale del '63 con le bellissime tenere illustrazioni di Sergio Tofano, celebre illustratore de "Il Corriere dei Piccoli", anche se parte dei racconti erano già usciti con L'Unità.

Nel '72 a dei ragazzi di scuola media Calvino rispose così:

"Mi chiedete se Marcovaldo sono un po' io. Direi di sì, ma il fatto strano è che ho cominciato a sentirmi simile a Marcovaldo dopo aver scritto il libro. Quando lo scrivevo credevo che fosse un personaggio un po' buffo un po' triste ma molto diverso da me. Col passar degli anni invece..."
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Apr 10, 2008 Annette rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: people who know what's good

dear italo calvino,
i would like to be able to live in this time and place that you are writing from. i would like to be able to know what it was like to be living in a place that was still struggling to reconcile the modern with the rural. i would like to understand what it was like to live poorly in a place and time like that. maybe it would not be that different to live that way today.

but moving to the heart of the matter, i want to know if marcovaldo is a sympathetic or comical character. i...more dear italo calvino,
i would like to be able to live in this time and place that you are writing from. i would like to be able to know what it was like to be living in a place that was still struggling to reconcile the modern with the rural. i would like to understand what it was like to live poorly in a place and time like that. maybe it would not be that different to live that way today.

but moving to the heart of the matter, i want to know if marcovaldo is a sympathetic or comical character. i feel that you are criticizing the faceless and mechanical nature of city life, that you are trying to show the difficulty of living as a poor citizen in the city. however, it seems you are continually laughing at your poor hero for his idealization of the idyllic. every time he attempts to go beyond what his means allow him in his cramped tenement life, every time he tries to show his children something outside of the flashing signs and smoke filled skies that are all they are able to relate to, something goes horribly wrong. but something goes horribly wrong in such a terribly funny manner that i can't help but wonder who's side you're on? is this a critique of the society or the dreamer? of mechanism or idealism?

it seems unfair that i should get such pleasure out of the sorrows of marcovaldo, the wretch. he only wants something better from life than he has been given. so why, oh why, did you have to make him so small, so humorous?

i should not complain. i love every moment and word. i can both pity and laugh at marcovaldo without feeling too badly about myself. but i do tend to wonder, just what are you playing at?

and as if to respond, i found the following quote from calvino regarding his writing"
"My working method has more often than not involved the subtraction of weight. I have tried to remove weight, sometimes from people, sometimes from heavenly bodies, sometimes from cities; above all I have tried to remove weight from the structure of stories and from language."(less)

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Nov 22, 2007 jeremy rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: translation, fiction

while not as well known as if on a winter's night a traveler, invisible cities, or cosmicomics, marcovaldo equally exemplifies the peerless brilliance of italo calvino's creativity. the tale of marcovaldo, a hapless laborer living with his family in an italian city, unfolds over the course of twenty short stories and is set cyclically within the inexorable rhythm of the passing seasons. marcovaldo's insatiable imagination and affinity for the simple intrigue of everyday existence proves to be mo...more

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Nov 20, 2009 Matthew rated it 5 of 5 stars

I was trying to write about cold weather. Since I was struggling, I set down my pen and opened this book and was amazed to read this:

"Cold has a thousand shapes and a thousand ways of moving in the world: on the sea it gallops like a troop of horses, on the countryside it falls like a swarm of locusts, in the cities like a knife-blade it slashes the streets and penetrates the chinks of unheated houses."

There! Simultaneously familiar and new. That is how it is done, Calvino. No wonder I read you...more

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Oct 18, 2010 Marieke rated it 4 of 5 stars

Recommended to Marieke by: Green Group

Shelves: 2010, europe, fiction, green-group

This was a surprisingly enjoyable. i wasn't sure what to expect since i had never read anything by Italo Calvino before. And the premise seemed a bit odd. In fact, it *was* a bit odd, but that is precisely why i liked it. some of the situations Marcovaldo (or his children) got himself (themselves) into remained just this side of absurd and sometimes struck me as thoroughly improbable, but perfect for the chapter nonetheless. the concept of the book was quite clever and not once did i miss the pr...more

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Mar 30, 2013 Meghan Fidler rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: venerated-brains

Italo Calvino's "Marcovaldo or The Seasons in the City" is brilliant. While lighter in mood than Honoré de Balzac's "La Comédie humaine" the narrative follows a similar path: the pitfalls and twists in human interactions. Both highlight class boundaries, the pursuit of wealth, and family relationships.

Calvino reinvents these plot essentials with a humorous satirical edge which, to me, perfectly captures a moment in place and history. From the Section 'Autumn, the garden of stubborn cats':

But in...more Italo Calvino's "Marcovaldo or The Seasons in the City" is brilliant. While lighter in mood than Honoré de Balzac's "La Comédie humaine" the narrative follows a similar path: the pitfalls and twists in human interactions. Both highlight class boundaries, the pursuit of wealth, and family relationships.

Calvino reinvents these plot essentials with a humorous satirical edge which, to me, perfectly captures a moment in place and history. From the Section 'Autumn, the garden of stubborn cats':

But in this vertical city, in this compressed city where all voids tend to fill up and every block of cement tends to mingle with other blocks of cement, a kind of counter-city opens, a negative city, that consists of empty slices between wall and wall, of the minimal distances ordained by the building regulations between two constructions, between the rear of one construction and the rear of the next; it is a city of cavities, wells, air conduits, driveways, inner yards, accesses to basements, like a network of dry canals on a planet of stucco and tar, and it is through this network, grazing the walls, that the ancient cat population still scurries.

Calvino's lambet description moves between the architecture of the city and the people. The main protagonist, Marcavaldo, and his family live through muffled snow scapes, hot city nights, and supermarkets. They interact with with fluorescent advertisements, streetlights, and the arrival of the mail. Throughout the novel the introduction of the main character remains as the heuristic point of view:

This Marcovaldo possessed an eye ill-suited to city life: billboards, traffic-lights, shop windows, neon signs, posters, no matter how carefully devised to catch the attention, never arrested his gaze, which might have been running over the desert sands. Instead, he would never miss a leaf yellowing on a branch, a feather trapped by a roof-tile; there was no horsefly on a horse's back, no worm hole in a plank, or fig-peel squashed on the sidewalk that Marcavaldo didn't remark and ponder over, discovering the changes of the season, the yearnings of his heart, and the woes of his existence.

Be warned, reader: there is a dark undertone in the book, a sense of which you can grasp from the title of the most chilling sections 'Autumn the poisonous rabbit.'(less)

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Jun 03, 2009 Kathy rated it 5 of 5 stars

Marcovaldo is a hapless (but never hopeless!) unskilled laborer in an industrial city in northern Italy. His life as the head of his large family is filled with hardship and poverty. Yet Marcovaldo is a charming and cheerful dreamer who continually looks for beauty and salvation in the ordinary. Simplicity and innate goodness characterize Marcovaldo, and he is well-intentioned and yearning as he navigates the world. While he is ingenuous in the pursuit of his dreams for a more satisying life, Ma...more

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May 11, 2011 Anastasia rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: classici, italia

Ho dato tre stelle al libro seguendo un parere soggettivo, più che oggettivo. Non penso che il libro in sé valga tre stelle, anzi. E' un bel libro, ed infatti mi è piaciuto. Solo che, non so, non riesco ad arrivare alle quattro. Ci ho riflettuto ed ho deciso di mantenermi sulle tre. Sarà forse per il modo in cui è narrato, questo voto è riferito più alla narrazione che al contenuto. Se fosse solo per quest'ultimo il voto sarebbe più alto, perché il contenuto merita molto. Il personaggio di Marco...more Ho dato tre stelle al libro seguendo un parere soggettivo, più che oggettivo. Non penso che il libro in sé valga tre stelle, anzi. E' un bel libro, ed infatti mi è piaciuto. Solo che, non so, non riesco ad arrivare alle quattro. Ci ho riflettuto ed ho deciso di mantenermi sulle tre. Sarà forse per il modo in cui è narrato, questo voto è riferito più alla narrazione che al contenuto. Se fosse solo per quest'ultimo il voto sarebbe più alto, perché il contenuto merita molto. Il personaggio di Marcovaldo è singolare, suscita un po' di compassione per la sua ingenuità. Continua imperterrito a cercare la bellezza della natura in città, e quasi sempre finisce male. Non è così, dopotutto? 'Sta urbanizzazione! Quasi tutte le venti novelle hanno qualcosa di divertente, in alcune persino dolce, e allo stesso tempo estremamente vero.
La cura delle vespe è esilarante, specialmente quando Marcovaldo dice - Abbiate pazienza, adesso arrivano le vespe - e vrrrom ne arriva un esercito. Stavo leggendo per strada mentre tornavo a casa e sono scoppiata a ridere proprio davanti al cancello di casa mia!
Il coniglio velenoso è fra i pochi, forse l'unico, che mi ha messo un po' di tristezza. Povero rabbit!
Il preferito in assoluto: Fumo, vento e bolle di sapone. la prima parte assolutamente assurda e divertente, i figlioletti di Marcovaldo - simpatici loro! - si impuntano sul commercio di detersivi tramite omaggi gratis, trovati nelle buche delle lettere. E per un attimo sembra che davvero ne potrebbe escere qualcosa di industrioso! La fine però è così poeticamente soffice, con tutte quelle bolle in giro per la città!
Ho notato che ogni inizio ha, spesso, una considerazione su fenomeni atmosferici, climi e la città. La mia preferita: "Il freddo ha mille forme e mille modi di muoversi nel mondo: sul mare corre come una mandria di cavalli, sulle campagne si getta come uno sciame di locuste, nelle città come lama di coltello taglia le vie e si infila le fessure delle case non riscaldate."
Non solo sono d'accordo con Calvino, ma questo pezzo è scritto tanto bene! *_*
Mi complimento con lui per aver saputo escogitare situazioni sempre così singolari! Infine un punto più per aver dedicato una novella a quelle bellissime creature dei gatti. u_u(less)

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May 02, 2013 Elisabetta 海琳 rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: reviewed

Caro il nostro Marcovaldo! Come si fa a non affezionarsi a questo personaggio? Io mi immagino questo omuncolo, cappotto, occhialetti, sguardo smarrito, ma attento ad ogni dettaglio che si aggira per una città grigia e spenta alla ricerca di un qualche sparuto ciuffo d'erba, un fiore che spunta tra i mattoni di un'abitazione, un funghetto smarrito in mezzo al mare di cemento, un uccello che canta su un tetto.
Un signor Sommer che fa tanta tenerezza e che con la sua ingenuità e il suo sguardo inno...more

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Nov 24, 2008 Powells.com rated it 5 of 5 stars

While not as well known as If on a Winter's Night a Traveler, Invisible Cities, or Cosmicomics, Marcovaldo equally exemplifies the peerless brilliance of Italo Calvino's creativity. The tale of Marcovaldo, a hapless laborer living with his family in an Italian city, unfolds over the course of 20 short stories and is set cyclically within the inexorable rhythm of the passing seasons. Marcovaldo's insatiable imagination and affinity for the simple intrigue of everyday existence proves to be more a...more

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Feb 05, 2013 Kurt Kemmerer rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is a fine single sitting meal, though I took it in over a few days. The pre-dinner drink made Marcovaldo taste much like an Italian version of an adult relative of Saroyan's Aram. I've decided to serve the first appetizer to all of my patients with insomnia. I'll call it exposure therapy. It won't work, but I'm also thinking of fighting with windmills after reading this delicious, joyful bit of slapstick, humor and curiosity (though often misplaced) mixed with steadfast humanity.

Still, poo...more

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Oct 30, 2012 Algernon rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012

Calvino has been on my radar for a long time, and I think I made a good choice in picking Marcovaldo for a first try. This is a small book, but it has a big heart. The stories are set in the poverty ridden early 1950's and follow up to the relative abundance of the 1960's, the immediate connections that spring to mind are the grand masters of Italian neo-realism: de Sica in The Bycicle Thiefs, Fellini in Amarcord and Roma, Visconti in Rocco and his Brothers or White Nights. Going further afield,...more

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Feb 16, 2013 Guy rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Overall, this was a delightful read. I find myself tempted to add a but, but then I stop myself. So, there is some ambivalence, which relates to the few times when the fantastical elements crossed some kind of line in my sensibilities and I could hear my internal voice observe 'That's not believable.' Now for a however. However, those few times were not so egregious as to make the reads bad, but enough to move this from a five to a four star read. The short stories had a magical charm about them...more Overall, this was a delightful read. I find myself tempted to add a but, but then I stop myself. So, there is some ambivalence, which relates to the few times when the fantastical elements crossed some kind of line in my sensibilities and I could hear my internal voice observe 'That's not believable.' Now for a however. However, those few times were not so egregious as to make the reads bad, but enough to move this from a five to a four star read. The short stories had a magical charm about them, and so the few times the narration left what is 'real' into magic, you would think that that would be okay. But the strength of the charm in the stories lies in how real are Marcovaldo's experiences and observations. And so when they stretch credulity, somehow even as they are told with delight and charm it somehow detracts from the strength. Weird.

And I was bemused at the economic discussions Calvino flirted with in most of the stories. And in a great jest of life, as I was re-visiting my course Economics Debunked in preparation for teaching it, I read the fourth Winter story. In it Calvino makes a very amusing observation through his protagonist, the financially struggling labourer Marcovaldo: "At six in the evening the city fell into the hands of the consumers. All during the day the big occupation of the productive public was to produce: they produced consumer goods. At a certain hour, as if a switch had been thrown, they stopped production and, away!, they were all off, to consumer. Every day an impetuous flowering barely had time to blossom inside the lighted shop-windows, the read salamis to hang, the towers of porcelain dishes to rise to the ceiling, the rolls of fabric to unfurl folds like peacock's tails, when lo! the consuming throng burst in, to dismantle, to gnaw, to grope, to plunder" (84).

This story delights. Well, they all delight. Excellent read.

And I'd like to thank Karl Ivan of the WSS in Goodreads for suggesting to me Calvino in a discussion we shared.(less)

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Dec 14, 2011 Laura rated it 4 of 5 stars

Marcovaldo e' une "comte philosophique" della meta' del '900. Um Candide del capitalismo al nascere de miracolo economico. Personaggio puro e ingenuo alla ricerca della natura, la vita e la bellezza in una città di cemento, operaio povero che riesce appena a mantenere la famiglia, ci guida nelle sue avventure buffe e tristi, a meta' strada tra mondo reale e di fantasia.

Ho impiegato molto a decidermi a leggerlo, non essendo il mio genere preferito. Ed invece sono stata sedotta dallo stile elegan...more

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Sep 17, 2011 Mouse rated it 4 of 5 stars

These twenty beautiful stories takes us on a journey with Marcovaldo & his family, through a big industrialized city in northern Italy. Through each story we share Marcovaldo's excitement as he perceives something beautiful and we also feel his disappointment as the stories reach their conclusion. What is interesting is the illusion of an economic boom in a city which is perhaps filled with people like Marcovaldo, poor & unsatisfied only because their children have never even seen forest...more

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Oct 13, 2012 Giovanna rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: italia, classici-italiani

La critica alla "civiltà industriale" si accompagna a d una altrettanto decisa critica a ogni sogno di un paradiso perduto. L'amore per la natura di Marcovaldo è quello che può nascere solo in un uomo di città. questo estraneo alla città è il cittadino per eccellenza. Tristezza.Tristezza in ogni racconto: quello del coniglio velenoso è terribile. E ironia. Ironia ovunque.Un libro che si legge in due ore, facile facile, ma che offre tanti, tantissimi spunti di riflessione. Più che attuale. Eppure...more

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Mar 18, 2013 Sd rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: imagining

"At six in the evening the city fell into the hands of the consumers. All during the day the big occupation of the productive public was to produce: they produced consumer goods. At a certain hour, as if a switch had been thrown, they stopped production and, away!, they were all off, to consume. Every day an impetuous flowering barely had time to blossom inside the lighted shop-windows, the red salamis to hang, the towers of porcelain dishes to rise to the ceiling, the rolls of fabric to unfurl...more

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Nov 14, 2010 Margherita Dolcevita rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Lo lessi alle elementari. Il mio primo romanzo di Calvino che mi portò a detestarlo per anni. Rileggerlo è stata una bella sfida personale contro i miei atavici pregiudizi. La seconda lettura mi ha lasciato un'impressione completamente diversa. Fermo restando che Calvino scrive benissimo (e di questo me n'ero accorta già in tenera età), il libro è di un'attualità disarmante. Certi capitoli rispecchiano esattamente talune situazioni odierne e questo dà da pensare, deve far pensare. Ho apprezzato...more

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Jan 30, 2011 Kelanth, numquam risit ubi dracones vivunt rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: narrativa, favorites, romanzi-corriere-italia, ebook-carta

Ho letto questo libro sotto costrizione scolastica come si suol dire, ma contrariamente a molti libri imposti e mal digeriti, questo è un perla rara di scrittura ironica con un retrogusto amaro che ti fa guardare con altri occhi le cose che ci circondono. Consiglio questo libro perchè secondo me è ideale da portare sotto l'ombrellone o da appoggiare su un plaid in montagna, non è complesso, sono novelle brevi ideali tra un tuffo o l'altro o una sosta in rifugio. Ricordo ancora che la mattina pre...more

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Nov 18, 2010 Isairon rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

20 racconti sulla vita cittadina di Marcovaldo, operaio non specializzato della ditta “Sbav”. Vita fatta di stenti in una città dove tutti sono laboriosi e impegnati a produrre. Dove però i bambini non sanno com’è fatto un bosco, non sanno com’è un giardino, perché li hanno mai visti. 20 racconti dove la natura viene inutilmente cercata in città, con risultati che portano il nostro Marcovaldo in situazioni tragicomiche. Da leggere per la simpatia del protagonista e della sua famiglia, ma anche p...more

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Nov 06, 2012 Thais rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Avevo provato a leggerlo da piccola, ma non ricordo per quale motivo (forse era una lettura imposta, o semplicemente non era il momento adatto) non mi era piaciuto e l'avevo abbandonato.
Adesso, invece, ho trovato molto dolce e poetico questo manovale sognatore che non si adatta alla vita di cità e insegue la natura come un bene prezioso. Non un santo, perché è egoista e a tratti meschino, ma solo nei confronti degli uomini: per la natura prova una vera e propria attrazione.
Mi è piaciuto molto, s...more

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Feb 09, 2011 Zach rated it 4 of 5 stars

The book consists of a series of vignettes focusing on the somewhat bumbling protagonist Marcovaldo and his family. The first half of the book was written early in Calvino's career, the second half a decade later. It's easy to see his progression as a writer. But it's not really the writing that is lacking in the early chapters, but the unique worldview, the personal philosophy that dominates his later works. This philosophy takes shape by the end of Marcovaldo, so it is worth it to keep reading...more

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Mar 18, 2013 Squirrel rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: owned-books

I have two (kind of three) other works by Italo Calvino sitting on my shelf but chose to start with this one, because it's the shortest one and I read it as a transition piece between two denser books. My experience of this book is probably marred by that mindset.

Calvino's prose is beautiful. It's whimsical and then suddenly grounded, and always conjures a rich world and mood, with hints of magical realism.

There's no overarching storyline. You cycle through the seasons with Marcovaldo, with each...more

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Mar 17, 2013 Antonis rated it 4 of 5 stars

Italo Calvino's Marcovaldo is a collection of 20 short stories, loosely connected with each other in chronological order but not really in causality. There's one story for each season of a year for a span of 5 years. Marcovaldo is a poor worker and a father, living and working in a random city probably somewhere in Italy. But as with all Calvino's works, this city is every city and it's our city as well, with streets and shops and houses that we know very well. His neighbours are our own neighbo...more Italo Calvino's Marcovaldo is a collection of 20 short stories, loosely connected with each other in chronological order but not really in causality. There's one story for each season of a year for a span of 5 years. Marcovaldo is a poor worker and a father, living and working in a random city probably somewhere in Italy. But as with all Calvino's works, this city is every city and it's our city as well, with streets and shops and houses that we know very well. His neighbours are our own neighbours and they can be found everywhere. And his problems just so happen to be our problems that maybe we once had or will probably have... And that is exactly the magic with Marcovaldo, as Calvino practices his almost supernatural ability to makes us think like him and feel like him and get into his head and see through his eyes. So while we know that it's probably a pretty stupid idea to go outside and sleep on a specific park bench we still do it, just like Marcovaldo. We know we can't actually see a plant grow in the rain... but we would try it, just like Marcovaldo. It is those contrasts between the realities of Marcovaldo's life and the drab consumer-society around him, that might perhaps manage to jar us just enough to start viewing life from a different perspective.
As with every other Calvino work that I've had the pleasure to experience, Marcovaldo is very easy to read, with language that flows smoothly and untroubled, beautiful descriptions drawing pictures of not so distant memories and natural dialogue among his characters that can either witty, tense or relaxed depending on the circumstances and always realistic. The stories at the earlier part of the book felt a bit lighter in subject while towards the end they acquired a slightly deeper and more serious tone but that could just as well be a subjective change of perception. Some of them will resonate incredibly well with some readers but it is just as easy to love all of them.
In all, this is a very easy to read book, worthy of its praise and definitely one that I can recommend to anybody.(less)

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Jun 03, 2012 Arwen56 rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: racconti

Non sono una estimatrice di Calvino, ma a Marcovaldo sono davvero affezionata. L’ho letto a scuola, la prima volta, accompagnata, nel mio procedere, dal puntuale, quieto e preciso commentare della mia insegnante di letteratura italiana delle medie. Grande donna. La persona giusta al posto giusto, mi sento di dire. L’ho ripensata spesso. Credo di doverle molto in termini di amore per la letteratura. Temo sia ormai morta, ma non ho modo di sapere cosa ne sia, oggi, di lei. La ricorderò sempre con...more

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May 07, 2012 Marija Atanasova rated it 5 of 5 stars

Доказ колку лесно и глатко се пишува кога човек е надарен со талент.Нема потреба од интелектуални изблици,неочекувани пресврти,палета на ликови и односи меѓу ликовите.Доволен е само еден асоцијален наемен работник,малку крави/чист воздух/речно синило, легура од детска наивност и остроумна проникливост, глад за храна и глад за нешто повеќе, малку надеж, малку Марфи и...абракадабра- книга нагмечена со уметност како порција нагмечена со остатоците од вчерашната вечера.
Формулата е едноставна- Марко...more Доказ колку лесно и глатко се пишува кога човек е надарен со талент.Нема потреба од интелектуални изблици,неочекувани пресврти,палета на ликови и односи меѓу ликовите.Доволен е само еден асоцијален наемен работник,малку крави/чист воздух/речно синило, легура од детска наивност и остроумна проникливост, глад за храна и глад за нешто повеќе, малку надеж, малку Марфи и...абракадабра- книга нагмечена со уметност како порција нагмечена со остатоците од вчерашната вечера.
Формулата е едноставна- Марковалдо забележува печурки/гривјаци/оси/зајци/детергенти- добива надеж дека ќе го задоволи гладот (буквално,метафорички)- се му бега од раце во последен миг(зајакот/печурките/рибите/воздухот се отровни)- освен со разочарувањето треба да се носи и со страв од казна(касата во супермаркетот/пцостите на луѓето искасани од оси/производителите на детергент).Повторливи мотиви со секогаш нова доза генијалност + непретенциозно прикажана свест за сериозни проблеми на денешнината и иднината- губење на средната класа, гушење на природата со претерана урбанизација, експлоатација, конзумеризам..Многу душа во мала книга. Собршено.(less)

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Dec 03, 2011 Isabel rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

On the edge of the sidewalk at a certain point there was a considerable heap of snow. Marcovaldo was about to level it to the height of his little walls when he realized that it was an automobile: the de luxe car of Commendatore Alboino, chairman of the board, all covered with snow. Since the difference between an automobile and a pile of snow was so slight, Marcovaldo began creating the form of an automobile with his shovel. It came out well: you really couldn't tell which of the two was real....more

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Jul 10, 2010 Jeremy added it

Shelves: italian-literature

In a lot of ways this seems to borrow heavily from the naturalism of so much of 19th century lit. You've got a character stuck in a dreary urbanized world, but instead of just wallowing in the ash and grime of industrialization, waiting for him to be defeated and destroyed by his urbanized, regimented existence, Calvino waves this cyclical narrative that shows how one person still manages to find these little moments of everyday beauty, tenderness, and humor in what is otherwise a grinding, mono...more

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May 04, 2011 Brenda C Kayne rated it 4 of 5 stars

Marcovaldo is a charming series of stories regarding a poor Italian peasant who moves to the city to find work and raise a family. He is uneducated and extremely poor and, in Jackie Gleason style, frequently strives to better himself by means of mishap and mistaken thinking. There is great delightful whimsy - both meloncholic and fun - in Calvino's writing. The reader aches for Marcovaldo's longing for the country. I would love to see these stories in filmed animation.

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About Italo Calvino

Italo Calvino was born in Cuba and grew up in Italy. He was a journalist and writer of short stories and novels. His best known works include the Our Ancestors trilogy (1952-1959), the Cosmicomics collection of short stories (1965), and the novels Invisible Cities (1972) and If On a Winter's Night a Traveler (1979).

His style is not easily classified; much of his writing has an air of the fantastic...more

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“Marcovaldo learned to pile the snow into a compact little wall. If he went on making little walls like that, he could build some street for himself alone; only he would know where these streets led, and everybody else would be lost there. He would remake the city, pile up mountains high as houses, which no one would be able to tell from real houses. But perhaps by now all the houses ha turned to snow, inside and out, a whole city of snow and with monuments and spires and trees, a city could be unmade by shovel and remade in a different way.” — 2 people liked it

“Cold has a thousand ways of moving in the world: on the sea it gallops like a troop of horses, on the countryside it falls like a swarm of locusts, in the cities like a knife-blade it slashes the streets and penetrates the chinks of unheated houses.” — 1 person liked it

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