Italo Calvino
Il Visconte Dimezzato

For "halved" it does not mean, in this case, that it is worth or there remains half, but instead divided into two. The subject is the Viscount of Terralba who, having set off to the eastern lands to fight the Turkish advance, is surprised, at the first battle, by a cannonball that physically splits him into two equal parts. This division is not only physical but also moral; indeed, the right side of his body, whose exploits are narrated in the first part of the novel, is his entire evil side. About halfway through the story, the left side of his body also appears, dripping with goodness.

Calvino's is a brilliant idea, a clear moral confrontation, without nuances or psychological dramas (which we find instead in the other characters), which reveals itself to be even more original when compared to the banalities of a certain culture (especially North American) of the struggle between good and evil.

Morality itself, understood as a tendency towards absolute good, comes into question when one realizes that even the good part of the Viscount errs with boundless goodness and excessive compassion. Incredibly, only divided, the two halves feel complete; everything is revealed clearly to them, each thing in its natural order.

This reminds me of the hermetic law of opposites, succinctly summarized by the conclusion that we are accustomed to seeing as opposing attributes which actually belong to the same nature, differing only in degree. The simplest example can be made with temperature: hot and cold are seen as opposites, but in reality, it is only a difference in degree; it is only our perception that classifies them as opposites. Similarly, it is our conscience that should establish how to place ourselves between good and evil, without the continuous and radical pursuit of good leading us to natural dissatisfactions.

On the contrary (just to stay on topic) to my digression, the novel reads like drinking a fruit juice. Calvino entrusts a child with the role of narrator and gifts us with his simplicity lively and colorful images of places and characters, all somewhat bizarre and caricatured, themselves symbols of the vices and virtues of our society.

A doctor who thinks only of his absurd researches and flees in the face of human ailments, and his alter ego, a carpenter with his perfect yet disastrously useful contraptions. A community of Huguenots, devoted only to hard work and a non-existent worship, and the village of lepers, pure idleness, music, and orgies.

A beautiful fresco this booklet of just ninety pages, written in '51, (but it could just as easily have been written yesterday). Anyone can read it, just for the sheer pleasure, even just for fun. And that's also why Italo Calvino wrote it, to entertain and amuse himself.