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
The things that the novel does not say are necessarily more numerous than those it does say and only a special halo around what is written can give the illusion that you are reading also what is not written.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Calvino emphasizes that the unsaid aspects of a novel hold significant importance, shaping the reader's interpretation.
Italo Calvino's quote suggests that a novel's power lies not only in its explicit narrative but also in what is left unsaid. The implicit meanings and the silence surrounding certain themes create a deeper understanding, allowing the reader to perceive layers of meaning that are not directly articulated. This 'special halo' implies that reading is an active process where readers engage with the text and fill in gaps with their imagination and interpretation.
Themes
NovelUnsaidMeaningReaderInterpretation
In practice
Example use cases
In a literature class discussing the depth of a novel's narrative.
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.
Italo CalvinoRead
...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.
Italo CalvinoRead
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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