Description
“ The war will last until the end of the centuries, there will be neither victor nor vanquished.”
First edition of this great “Voltairean tale” by Italo Calvino.
Copy signed by the author, preserved in its publisher’s binding : rare.
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Calvino, Italo. Il cavaliere inesistente.
Torino, Einaudi, collana « I coralli», n. 108, 1959 (30 novembre).
8vo of 165 pp., (3) pp. ; publisher’s illustrated boards.
195 x 130 mm.
First edition of this great “Voltairean tale” by Italo Calvino.
Signed by the author.
The third and final novel of the “nostri antenati” trilogy is probably one of the highest stories in Italo Calvino’s narrative production.
One day when Charlemagne was reviewing his troops, he made a strange discovery: in the white armor of Agilulfe Edme Bertrandinet of the Guildivernes and others of Carpentras and Syra, there was no one. A model soldier, the knight fulfills his duties through force of will and faith in the holiness of their cause… Italo Calvino gives this unforgettable character an acolyte, the squire Gourdoulou, who exists but does not know it, and a quest: that of Princess Sofronie. But their adventures will not be the only ones told in this story full of twists and turns, denunciation of the absurdity of war and reflection on existence in a fabulous Middle Ages. The Nonexistent Knight is part of the Our Ancestors trilogy, which includes The Perched Viscount and The Perched Baron.
Italo Calvino delivers a profound reflection on war and the meaning of history, and implicitly entrusts us with his thoughts on writing.
It is a tale. An ironic and comical story, nimbly lively, rich in multiple adventures, and serving as support for the author for the condemnations or reflections that contemporary society inspires in him. The theme: knight’s armor without a knight and which behaves like a medieval knight. This paladin “who is not there” speaks, walks, fights like a perfect soldier. But if you lift the visor of your helm, you find nothing but emptiness.
” Yes. it is the people who free themselves from oppression… Once the pawns are in place, with their meaning, well! I played a game of chess with them. I like adventure, imagination, fantasy, pirouettes, Voltaire, of course, but also Stevenson. »
A signed copy preserved in publisher’s boards : rare and sought-after.
