Review of 'The nonexistent knight & The cloven viscount' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
Calvino just has magic. This book really consists of two long stories or novellas. The first one, The Nonexistent Knight is the somewhat amusing story of a suit of armor without a body inside that is serving in Charlemagne's army and of a girl in love with the knight she imagines inside.
But it is in the second story, The Cloven Viscount, that Calvino really lets loose. This is the story of a man cut in half by a canon ball whose two halves return home, one evil and the other good, and the adventures they have; one rampaging across the countryside on his black horse, killing plants and animals and people too, while the other good half travels about trying to cure all ills and heal all wounds.
The Cloven Viscount is a rich and humorous and visceral story that grabbed my fascination almost immediately and was hard …
Calvino just has magic. This book really consists of two long stories or novellas. The first one, The Nonexistent Knight is the somewhat amusing story of a suit of armor without a body inside that is serving in Charlemagne's army and of a girl in love with the knight she imagines inside.
But it is in the second story, The Cloven Viscount, that Calvino really lets loose. This is the story of a man cut in half by a canon ball whose two halves return home, one evil and the other good, and the adventures they have; one rampaging across the countryside on his black horse, killing plants and animals and people too, while the other good half travels about trying to cure all ills and heal all wounds.
The Cloven Viscount is a rich and humorous and visceral story that grabbed my fascination almost immediately and was hard to put down. The author's sense of humor really shone and there are passages that are simultaneously ghastly and hysterical. I definitely encourage anyone to read this one.
