The Queen's Necklace

by Italo Calvino

'The inspector ordered that the bird be searched.One of the agents stalled saying it made him feel sick, and after some fierce pecking another withdrew sucking a bleeding finger.'

In these two stories from an inventive, comic master of the form, old friends and friendly rivals Pietro and Tommasso discover a treasure lost by the side of the road, and become suspected of a using a blameless chicken for devious ends. Italo Calvino's writing explores the fringes of these small, unusual scenes and finds incalculable wisdom and humour there.

This book contains The Queen's Necklace and The Workshop Hen .

Genres: Short Stories, Italian Literature, Fiction, Literature, Modern Classics, Italy, Classics

64 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 15, 2011

About the author

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 easy to classify; much of his writing has an air reminiscent to that of fantastical fairy tales (Our Ancestors, Cosmicomics), although sometimes his writing is more "realistic" and in the scenic mode of observation (Difficult Loves, for example). Some of his writing has been called postmodern, reflecting on literature and the act of reading, while some has been labeled magical realist, others fables, others simply "modern". He wrote: "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."

Reviews

[Alix · Rating 4 out of 5]

So Italian - great descriptions of Italian country and factory life. Characters were full of faults and yet still lovable. Charming little introduction to Calvino. I really liked reading the stream of consciousness during the factory work and how accurately it captured the way in which mental processes are continually interrupted by our day to day tasks.

[Luís · Rating 3 out of 5]

1. The Queen's Necklace: a terrific melodrama developed from the fortunes of the story's title object, shimmers with the promise of witty anatomy of the several social levels occupied by its losers and finders.
2. The Workshop Hen: in the succeeding of the previous tale.

[Lea · Rating 2 out of 5]

I feel a bit bad giving this only 2 stars, but it wasn't better than just okay. I liked Calvino's style, while pretty old-fashioned, I'm not one to eschew this quasi-communist worker suffering thing he's got going on. However story-wise, I found both of them disappointing. With the title story I at first thought I had missed something when I got to the end, because it felt so unfinished. The second story feels more like an afterthought.

Still, I wouldn't mind reading a novel by Calvino at some point.

[Dhanaraj Rajan · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are just two stories in this collection:

1. The Queen's Necklace - Three stars.
2. Workshop Hen - Five stars.

Overall, I would not advise any new reader of Calvino to begin with this book.

[Iheke Ndukwe · Rating 2 out of 5]

What a bizarre book? I bought it while mooching through WH Smiths pocket modern classic collection (thinking 'it'll take me a few hours to whizz through') Boy was I wrong, despite the fact that its a short story - the scale which Calvino writes and the different points of attack make you feel as though the story is epic. That said, you can't but help feel seriously disappointed by the ending. This feeling runs into the second short story included in the book entitled "The Workshop Hen" - again Calvino builds up to make a prescient observation about humans only to bail at the last moment. As pieces of writing they are excellent but as working short stories they leave you hanging in a bad way. If you are the type of person that needs resolution and/or symmetry - give Calvino a wide berth.

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Calvino could honestly write about anything and I would enjoy it, and these two short stories are an excellent example. Here he writes about two factory workers, old friends Pietro and Tommasso, and the daily schemes which make of the tapestry of their lives. The only fault I could find with both works is that they felt too short.

[Chamodi Waidyathilaka · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pietro and Tommaso, two factory workers, frequently argues issues like parenthood in the economic hardship (as if they are the ones who rise look after the kids!).

Their rivalry escalates when they find a pearl necklace, leading to comedic conflict and joint ownership after it breaks. Tommaso's frustrations with outdated views are clashed with humor involving a dog, Guderian.
Enrico, an architect, reflects on his shifting ideals amid his search for a necklace.

The author delves into dignity, class conflict, and complex relationships, showing by Adalberto's care as an example for a hen, which becomes a focal point of worker tensions. The hen's tragic fate underscores worker discontent.

Italo Calvino's "The Queen's Necklace," is with themes of wealth and the absurdities of life. For me most of the time i felt distracted reading this. What am i even reading. But then it also reminds me how moral of people and struggles in the economy entangles with each other.

[Janelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first story seems unfinished as there’s never any resolution to what happens to the necklace but in this story Calvino manages to show all layers of society from the factory workers to the owners. The second story “the workers hen” is set in the same factory and shows the distrust of workers by the management taken to an extreme plus the exploitation of workers. This is done with plenty of humour and detail.

[tee]

classic Calvino surface indefiniteness—“One writes fables in periods of oppression” (1943)

notes:
The muffled ringing of alarm clocks began a sporadic dialogue from one house to the next, becoming denser in the suburbs, until finally it merged, as town merged into country, into a back and forth of cock-a-doodle-doos.
The city opened up before him like an oyster, like a halcyon sea. When you're young and on the move, and especially when you're driving fast, a town can suddenly open up before you, even a familiar place, a place that's so routine as to have become invisible.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kinda pointless but also kinda interesting.

[Mark Easton · Rating 2 out of 5]

Immersed with dusty prose and the hard, mechanical lives of factory workers, the two stories in this short collection offer a great glimpse into Calvino's writing, although ultimately they both let the reader down.

The Queen's Necklace has, at its heart, a promising story, but its absurd ending is as misplaced as it is unfinished, and gives the reader the eerie feeling they are reading something that was never intended to be read. In comparison, the Workshop Hen is a complete story, and while it doesn't elevate the reader to any special realm, it gives an enjoyable account of the travails of the masses at the hands of the callous elite.

The shame of this collection is that while it impresses on the reader they are in the hands of a great writer, it unfortunately doesn't place into their hands anything close to great writing.

[Peter Dunn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hmmm not really my cup of tea. I have been working through the Penguin Mini Modern Classics 50-volume box set of short stories and Novellas. It is a great way of pushing you to read outside one’s comfort zone as you feel obliged to read them all as you have bought them and their small size means they take hardly any time to read. This is only the second hat hasn’t really grabbed me so as a set overall it is still doing well.

[Farhan Khalid · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pietro and Tommaso were always arguing

They used to cycle together to the factory where they worked

You could still feel the sleep and the darkness weighing on the rooms. The muffled ringing of alarm clocks began a sporadic dialogue from one house to the next

Their discussion this morning was on the general question, does an increase in the population favour or damage the workers?

Pietro was optimistic and Tommaso pessimistic

Marriage planned between Pietro’s son and Tommaso’s daughter

The two workers stretched out their hands and, delicately, as though picking a flower, plucked the necklace from its branch

Real or fake? Give it back!

Which of them was to keep the necklace before they could hand it back or in any event take a decision as to what to do?

Queen was seized by a vague sense of alarm

Adalberto, the security man, had a hen. He was one of a team of security men in a big factory; and he kept this hen in a little courtyard there; the chief of security had given him permission

Quality is man’s freedom

[Asha Seth · Rating 2 out of 5]

In these two stories from an inventive, comic master of the form, old friends and friendly rivals Pietro and Tommasso discover a treasure lost by the side of the road, and become suspected of a using a blameless chicken for devious ends. Italo Calvino's writing explores the fringes of these small, unusual scenes and finds incalculable wisdom and humour there.
.
.
While the first story ended abruptly, the second was lost on me due to its cliched storyline.
.
.
I'd like to believe that these aren't the best of his stories.

[Charlotte Potter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Two quirky little vignettes, they cleverly move from humour to poignancy whilst maintaining a slight distance between reader and action. 'The Queen's Necklace' felt like being driven down a road (the author is driving) but rather than stay on the expected route, the car keeps diverting in unexpected ways. I liked the way parts of the story, or potential routes, were left behind, unresolved, for the reader to contemplate. This raises all sorts of interesting questions about who, the reader or author, ultimately has agency. 'The Workshop Hen' was shorter, punchier, and said a lot in a small amount of space. I would recommend this little penguin mini as a good way to sample Calvino. It's reminded me how much I enjoyed 'Invisible Cities' and prompted me to finally get round to reading 'If on a winter's night a traveller'.

[Nneka Ola · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lot of these reviews seem to hold the writer in high esteem and feel this book is not his best work. As someone who has never read a book by Italo Calvino before, I didn't have a pre-set standard in mind and absolutely loved both short stories. This book was the perfect accompaniment to a sunny afternoon.

[Mike Fowler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Two short stories, The Queen's Necklace and The Workshop Hen. I enjoyed the writing of both, particularly the descriptions of the settings. I found the plot of The Queen's Necklace to be fragmentary and ultimately inconclusive. The Workshop Hen reuses the many of the same characters and was more humorous though ultimately a tragedy.

[Mohadese · Rating 1 out of 5]

تجربه ثابت کرده وقتی یه کتاب از یه نویسنده رو خیلی دوست داری کتاب دیگه‌ای ازش نخون چون میخوره تو ذوقت
مسخره و بی سر و ته با ترجمه افتضاح و ویراستاری از اون بدتر از نشر روزگار نو

[Don · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quirky commentaries on life in Italy, based around two old factory workers who are friends. The Queen's Necklace concerns the loss of a pearl necklace, and leads the reader through a series of character portraits.

The Workshop Hen is set in the same factory, where the same conflict between the workers and the owners lies in the background. In the same kind of way, this story is more about the people and their lives than about the ostensible subjects.

[Jeremy Hung · Rating 3 out of 5]

”The former saw the dog as a fellow creature, a strong free thing kept prisoner here, a companion in servitude, the latter as merely a lost soul of the ruling class, a tool or accessory, a luxury. The same contrast in attitudes, in short, that workers sometimes manifest with regard to intellectuals.”

[Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first, longer story didn't appeal to me as much as the second one (possibly because of the inclusion of a chicken). Both were amusing though, with a political undercurrent.

[Kandachamy Vijayakumaran · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was the first book by Italo Calvino I read. It was a refreshingly sweet experience.

[Veronika Barta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Shorty September 2024 (in October): Shorts with Pockets

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful characters, almost a screenplay. Reads like Pagnol.

[Kin · Rating 3 out of 5]

สองเรื่องในเล่มสนุกดี แต่สามดาวเป็นเพราะเราเอง อ่านไป เปิดดิกมือเป็นระวิง เข้าใจบ้าง ไม่เข้าใจบ้าง ศัพท์ยากบ้าง ง่ายบ้าง (นี่ฉบับแปลนะเนี่ย!) ไว้ภาษาอังกฤษดีกว่านี้จะมาอ่านใหม่ T^T

[Katie Herring · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved the format, loved the characters,m the feeling, the ambiguity. :-)

[Fatima · Rating 3 out of 5]

This mini modern Classic has two short stories .. "The queen's necklace" and "the workshop hen", the latter was my favorite.

[Jan Moens · Rating 5 out of 5]

8,5/10

[يوسف كيقبادي]

این‌کتاب در ایران توسط نشر روزگار نو ترجمه شده که دارای ایراداتی از قبیل زیر هستش:
در کتاب اصلی اصلن داستان‌هایی از جین‌ریس وجود نداره! دو داستان گردنبند ملکه و کارگاه مرغ تشکیل دهنده این کتاب هستش ولی در ترجمه فارسی توسط این نشر ۲ داستان از جین ریس به نام‌های صرف یک چای با هنرمند و معجون نیز دیده می‌شود.
ترجمه بسیار بسیار مزخرف و حال بهم زنی داره و اصلن توصیه نمی‌کنم بخرید