The novels that attract me most are those that create an illusion of transparency around a knot of human relationships as obscure, cruel, and perverse as possible.
Italo CalvinoRead
So you begin to wonder if Leonia's true passion is really, as they say, the enjoyment of new and different things, and not, instead, the joy of expelling, discarding, cleansing itself of a recurrent impurity.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote explores the idea of passion, questioning whether it stems from genuine enjoyment or from a desire to purge negativity.
In this quote, Italo Calvino reflects on the nature of passion and enjoyment, particularly in the context of Leonia's character. It invites readers to consider whether the pursuit of new experiences is driven by a true appreciation for them or a need to rid oneself of something unpleasant that recurs in life. This philosophical inquiry suggests a deeper layer to our motivations behind seeking novelty, prompting us to examine the balance between genuine pleasure and the drive to escape discomfort.
Themes
PassionEnjoymentPurityChangeNovelty
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about personal growth, you might quote this to emphasize the motivation behind seeking new experiences.
More from Italo Calvino
All quotes →Your first book is the only one that matters. Perhaps a writer should write only that one. That is the one moment when you make the big leap; the opportunity to express yourself is offered that once, and you untie the knot within you then or never again.
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...and every Wednesday the perfumed young lady slips me a hundred-crown note to leave her alone with the convict. And by Thursday the hundred crowns are already gone in so much beer. And when the visiting hour is over, the young lady comes out with the stink of jail in her elegant clothes; and the prisoner goes back to his cell with the lady's perfume in his jailbird's suit. And I'm left with the smell of beer. Life is nothing but trading smells.
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Nobody these days holds the written word in such high esteem as police states do.
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The struggle of literature is in fact a struggle to escape from the confines of language; it stretches out from the utmost limits of what can be said; what stirs literature is the call and attraction of what is not in the dictionary.
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Fantasy is like jam. . . . You have to spread it on a solid piece of bread. If not, it remains a shapeless thing . . . out of which you can’t make anything.
Italo CalvinoRead
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