SIX MEMOS for the NEXT MILLENNIUM TALO CALVINOopyghe © 1985 yh ae ale Ching ree tte San Th bok pce nae apes ig tr Ieee a seg on ey utile pty Mich Rann, of ape agp: hetn D ohio, Sen he et emi I Ci em (The Chr Er Neon bee 185-80) $store Sythe arr nn Sp 1.188 ons thine“ Qu Pete sa a SND 100.6 pp Pie tk ¢ some e et mano, 1 See Cars Ea Nr 95 ‘ci Oe oat the tik: Abo I aril considered the Tc ht thet chose by Kab Caio, "Six Mena or the Next Millen” dae mt comespond othe manana ound 1 hve Fei eecenary to hep it Calvino was delighted 1 the word “eros ater having though of ae dai es ich a “Some Literary Wl ‘ua "A Choice of Literary Vs” "Se erry Legaces"—al of thom ending with Nr the Next Mile ‘Calvino started thinking about the Charles ot Norton Lactres as ooo they wee pro na 1984, He sto elore the ast range of onl open to Bim and he wot le Ing at he il nthe inportance of contains, tl the diy he etl a acer to organic the etre fer ht he dete masta his tine other preparation, Fom the rst of ante ny 1985 he did practical nothing ce, They Tame an sbeton, and ne day he anounced tome that he ad ia sd materi fa gh tees, ow the tile for what might hve be tm igh ecu: Sl omic es ie” (On the bepning and the ening [of ol, But Ie nt yet been ale to Eel the ext My bud ase wring the Be lectures by September 1985, athe moment of Akpan for the United Stites and Harard Univrity OF enue these re the lecturer (Chi woud ave dP Creag wa inthe proces of tasting then—ad he wold ertily Exc reveed them belive thei publication ara took by Harvard Unies Press. Bu do at think there mould ve Ben mao changethe difrence becween the fist verso read ad the final ones esp strate, nt coment Cano wanted to all he th eure “Cantey tn he planned to write ie Came our the others al in perfec order nthe alan ‘igi, his wring dek ay to Be pt ito Newton, "shoul ket expres my grind o Patrick Creagh or his hed work oth ration Kathe Hume, rm Menai State Univer foe the ip sh as gen icin rr ways tas nein preparing the manip or pubes, ani Lica Marie rm Kenta ines, for his deep knwllge of Cio’ work and shang. Ear Caio CONTENTS ~ LIGHTNESS QUICKNESS EXACTITUDE VISIBILITY ‘MULTIPLICITY, ot 55 8 101‘Weare in 1985, and barely itcen years stand etween ws nd 2 new millenium. For the Une being Ident think the approach ‘ofthis date aroates any special emation, However, I'm not here 1 talk of faturlogy, but of iterstare. The millennia about to ‘end fas seen the irth and devopment of the modern ln guages ofthe West, and of the Iiteraturcs that have explored the fexpresing, cognitive, and imaginative possblis of thee li guages It has also been the malennam ofthe book, n hat it Tas sen the abject we calla ook take om the form now fii tous. Perhaps It sgn of oar millennia’ end that we fe quently wonder what wil happen to erature ad books inthe socalled pesindstril es of technology. I doit much el like indulging inthis sort of pecustion My confidence in te future oflterature consists inthe knowledge that there ae things that only erature ean give us by means specific to HT would therefore lke to devote thee lectures to certain wlies, quai tis, of peculiarities of lterature that are very dose tomy heat, trying to state them within the perspective of the new millenium4 LIGHTNESS | wil devote my fst lecture tothe opposition between lightness snl weight, and will uphold the values of ghtess. This doesnot mean tht I consider the virus of weight any leas compelling, hut simply that have more to say about lightness. After forty years of veriting fton, after exploring various rads and making diverse expernents, the te hs come for te tolook for an overall definition of my work I would ages this ny working method has more often than not insole the sub traction of weight. Ihave tried to remove weight scmetimes from people, sometimes fom heavenly bos, sometimes fom ‘tes above al ve trie to remove weight fon thestactre ‘of sores and from language. In this talk I shall Uy to explin—both to myself and to you why have come to consider lightness & value rather than 2 efecto indiate che works ofthe past in which Frecgtize my eal of lightness and to show where I state tis vale the present and how 1 project int the future. 1 will tart with the last polnt. When I began my career, the ‘ategorcal imperative of every young writer was to represent his ‘wn ime, Fal of god intentions, ried to dently ysl with the rutlesenerpes propelling the evens of our centr, both4 LIGHTNESS callectve and individ. red to find some stony between ‘the adventurous, pearegue inner rythm that prompted me 2 ‘write and the frantic spectacle ofthe worl, semetimes dramatic sometimes protege, Soon I Became aware tha between the facts of life that shoul have been my rae materia the quick light touch I wanted fr my wlting, there was a gl that cost me increasing effort to cross, Maybe I was only then beosning rare ofthe weight, ee inert, the opacity ofthe world—-qual: ites that sick to writing from Ue str, anes one finds some vy of evading chem [At certain moments {fel that the entie word was tutning Ito stone’ show petacation, more oes advanced depending ‘on people and places but one tat spared aspect fife It was a Uno ane could excape the inexorable stare of Mesa. The ‘only hero able to cutoff Meds ead is Pereus, who les with winged sandals; Perseus, who does not tur his ze upon the face ofthe Gorgon but only upon her image eefleetet in his bronze shi Thus Perc comes to my a cven at tht mo- ‘ment, jst 361 too am about to be eaught i ave of stone which happens every time F try to speak about my own past. Bewer to let my talk be composed of mags frm tytolegy. To ct of Medusa head without being med to stone, Te seus supports himself on the very lightest of things, the nds an the lous, and ixes his gaze upon what canbe revealed ony by indirect vison, an mage cag ina mito. Iam immed) tempted to see this myth san allegory onthe pots ratonship to the worl a esonin the method tfallw when writing. But "know that any interpretation imporerishes the mth and suflo- cates it With myths, one should not ben hare etter to let them settle into the memory, to stop and dwell on every ‘etal, to reflect on them without losing toch with thet I quae of images. The lesion we ean lear rom a myth is i the Tra narrative, notin what weal ot fom he outside. LiGHINeSs 5 “The reatiombip between Rescus and the Gorgon i a com: plex one and does not end withthe bcaing of the monster, ‘Mess’ bood gives birth toa winged ors, Pegi the ev ines of stone is ransformed int opposite. With one Blow of 1s hoof on Mount Helicon, Fegene makes a spring gush forth, ‘where the Muses drink, In certain versions of the myth, iti Perse who res the miraculous Pegasus, so deat tothe Mises, ‘orm from the accursed blood of Metis. (Even the winged sa. das, incidentally come from the word of monsters, or Rereus obtained them from Medusa’ sisters, the Grae, who had one tooth and one eye among them) As forthe severed head, Rese does nt abandon it but eerie it concealed ina bg. When his femies ae about to overcome him, he has only to dsl t, Ihlding it by its nak locks, and his blodstained booty Becomes {am isincble weapon inthe hero's hand. it 3 weapon he ses ‘only in eases of dire necessity, ad ony again thowe who deserve the punishment of bring turned nto status. Here, certainly the riyth i elling ws vmething, somthing impli in the images that cat be explained in any other way Perseus succeds in ‘mastering that horendos fice hy kecping i iden, st a in the fn place he vanquished ity sion sina mero. Peet strength always bes in a refusal to look diet, but not in tefl ofthe realty in which he ft to Iie he cates the ‘reality with him and accepts i ths particular brn, ‘On the relationship Between Pere and Medusa, we can learn seething pore En Ovid's Actmphoms. Perse win another bate: le hacks a seacmonsterto pce with his sword fn sets Andromeda fee Now he prepares todo what any of us ‘wold do after sich an awful chore—-he wants o wash his has, But another problem arcs: where to put Modus’ head, And here Oil has some lines (1.740752 tht sem tome extraordl- yn shaving how tmuch delicacy of spirit man mast ave to Thea Pesci, kill of monsters “So thatthe rngh sand should‘= LIGHTNESS not harm the sake-aired head ong cpu dra ne ado ren) he makes the ground soft wth abe of leaves, ad 08 top of that he stew tle branches of plants born under water, and. this he places Medusa head, fce down” thnk ha the Tightness of which Perseus the hero, could no be better rep resented than hy this geatute of refeing courtesy toward 3 being so monstrout and terifying yet atthe same tne somehow Aral and perishable. But the most unexpected hing ithe mir- cle that fellows: when they touch Meda, the Ile marine plants tun int coral and dh syenph, inorder to hare coral for {coroments, ris to bring sprigs ad seme to the terble = " This lah of images, in which the ine grace of the coral touches the sage horror af the Gorgon, so siggestive that | ‘would not ket pod iby altempting lones or interpretations. ‘What Ian do is to compte Ovid lines with those of « modern poet, Figenio Montal, in his "Piccolo testament,” where we lb ind the subtest of clements—they could stand a aymbols of his poetry: "acca madreperaces dl lumaca/o smerigho di ‘etrocalpestata” (nother peat trace of sll/ oF mica of crushed gss)—put up against fearful hlish monster, a Lac- fer with pith black wings who descends upon the cities of the ‘West Never as in this poem, written in 1953, dd Monae evoke sich an spoealyptic vision, yet those minute, hina tac= {ngs that are placed nthe foreground an ct in contrast to dark catustrophe—*Conservane ln pia nell spect quando speata pn lampada/ a sardana si fara infernal” (Keep ts ash ‘in your compact / when every Iamp soit and the sada be- comes infernal). But how can we hope to save ouch in that ‘which bs most fag? Montales poem ta profesion of faith inthe peristence of what scems most fit t0 perish, in the mora valuce invested in the mort tentous trace “i tene haghore striata’ lggit non ea quello dun fanl- LIGHTNESS -7 ero" (the thin gmmer striking down there wast that of a snatch) Tm order to talk about ou own times have gone the long way around, calling up Ovid fagile Medusa and Monae lack Leifer Ire hard fora novelist to give examples of his iden of lightness frm the events of everyday fe, witout making them the unattainable object ofan endless gute Thi is what Milan Kundera has done with great charity and immediacy. His novel The Unbworaie Lge of Bing is eal a biter confirmation ofthe Incluctale Wright of Living not only in the situation of ‘desperate and all pervading oppression that has been the fate of his hapless county, but ina human condition common tous all, Ihowever infinitely more formate we may be. For Kundera the ‘weight of living consists che in constriction, in the dense net ‘ol public and priate constriction that enfolds us more and more ‘oely. His novel shows us how everything we choose and vale fn ie Fr i ightnes soon reveals its toe, unbearable weigh Feshaps only the lvenes and moby ofthe intligence escape this sentence—the very quaites with which this noel written, and which elong 1 & world quite diferent from the one we liven ‘Whenever humanity sms condemned to heavnes | think should like Perse into a diferent space. I dort mean esap- ing into dreams into the ieatina. [mean that Ihave to change my approach, lok at the word frm adilerent prspec- tive, with aierent loge and with Feah methods of cognition aint vericaton. The images of lights that Useck should not Fae avay lke dreams daslved by the realises of present and future Tn the boundless univer of Mterature there ae always ne ‘Theta tein in rom Moe tn haben woe on a9 LGHINESS| sree to bere th ery eet a ery ance sf ATi ht on ge or age af he worl a ier cage it an et a hig theme 1 ook to wce to ursh my sine i wich toes dogpar ry ny ach oe em ten ce dems he wr cre th te Chick the menage of DNR the ne of ers Shige st eur nae ugh sae sce he ang tne en he amputee ht alr e setae pwr ges xp hgh he op Teed utter th ese ne cng he tw wr anon machines a ext nyo on Siar sot thy om wk ct ee re fev porams The second nl elton ie est thot pent ih sach cabin nage ring ls sed wien sec bt with iw ration ‘Sigg ot th fro cts The on ‘thine nth they oe hots of wets is, iit ninco sted oon ge fh wo ute ny vw HT an teping e fname mee gh oe wth od Shen ne hry ety. The DR of Lat i heft get wk of gory in whch Ege ofthe we to ese he Shy fhe wer kang os eepion f tat sty mim: pana vette he poset pyc mater, the war wa te te ha cs tater ae po se rks Hehe ot pea Comrise mms bat theft tinge slew ta eps ft 2 conte sll es Ler ce coger fe eet UGHINESS-9 the wight of materi cing. Even whe ying dwn the nigrum lve thet demain ery sea, feck themed alow ats ok npr devatons from the strat ine hereby ensuring Heo bth to atm ant human bing The poctry ofthe ive, of init om “pected pbilitercve the oct of nothings es fram a pct who alo doubts heer abt the sea reality ofthe word This tome of things xtc tthe vise pects of the word and bee tht Lace ats beso ¢ pore thelinle mote of dst siting nasa of sung a dark ‘om (1114-124; the mince lal similar bt each ne tere, that waves gency the buen, he bain san (374=576) othe sper that wrap them Sahes acu wot our nt them a me wa along (L389) Thue already mentioned Ovi Meares another ey Aloe por writen ly yeas after Lares), which a String pit nen pyc realty bain the be of myth {For Oni, to, everthing ca be tmfrmed some thigh, nd eet ork means dling te sl ty of the noel. And ao or hin thee ban eset party tetseen everything that ext a oped to ay sort of he ary af pero sls Ith worl of Laren compere ‘timate sto, Oils wer sade pf the quae tutes and forms tat dfn the warty hg, whether Hon, anima, or persons. But these are oy the einen 2p Paras of sng common stance ati wed yp found emotion=ay be changed int what most ers om Ting can of page Er oe ‘wane tht Ove ply his inept He els one 2 woman eles tht she changing lat lots ee: her ft10-UGHINESs are rooted to the earch, a sft bark ereps up ite by litle and ffl her groin; she makes a movement to tear her hair ana find her hands fll of eaves. Or he peaks of Arachne’ fingers, ‘expert at winding or unraveling wool turing the spindle, plying the needle in embroidery, fingers that at a certain point we re Tengthonng ito slender sper’ lps and beginning to weave 8 wh In both Lucretins and Ovid lightness ia way of looking st the world hase on philosophy and science: the dactrines ol Ep icuras for Lures and ewe of Pythagoras for Ovid (a Pytag- ‘ras who, as presented by Ovid, greatly revembles the Bada) In bodh eases he Hightnes ako something ang form the writing itself, fram the poet's ow linguistic power, quite inde= pendent of whatever philosophic doctrine the poet esis to be fetloning From what I haves 9 fa, think the concept of lightness begining to take shape, Above all T hope to have shown that there is such a thing a lightness of thls, just as we all know that there i lightness of fey In fact hough lightness ean make Fvolity seem dl and heavy "could not lstrate this notion hte than by wing a ory fom the Deosern (VL), i which the Florentine port Guo CCavaleant appears. Boccacio presents Csvlcanti a an austere Plilosophe, walking mediatively among marble tombe neat » ‘church, The jonene dre of Harence i ing through the LIGHINESS ‘the books in my library, eckng examples of lightness. In Shake- speae Took immediately forthe point t which Mercutio arrives fon the scene (L718 "You are a lover: borow Cupid’ ‘wings/ And soar with them above 3 common bound” Meret. Immediately contradicts Romeo, who hae just replied, “Under lowe heay burden do {sink Mercut's way of moving about the world ie pin enough frm the very fist verbs he wes dance, to soar, to prick The human face i mas," vite” Scary has he come on stage when he Fels the need to explain his plosophy, not with theoretical discourse but by relating ream. Queen Mab, the fares! midwife, appears in a drat ‘made ofan empty hazel Her wagon-spokes made of long spinners legs, “The cove, of the wings of grashoppers, Her traces, ofthe alles spider web, Her collars f the moonshine’ way beams Her whip of rickets ne; the lsh, fn Anes ot get hat hs och sro with team fete domi" —in ny opinion vil deta that eae the ream of Queen Mab to combine Licetan stoma, Rensinsnee nee Phonan, and Cele kl T wala ie Mercato dancing gut come along with us athe desl of the wen millenium The ns Ua fom a chou to Rome and ue aren any espe nat tle our guns ces Motsned by let srg ft ab sere tho ofthe Montage atl Capes eal eae ton at preached bythe Nurser which dcr not sued in be coming the model fr universal ve vesre cid ou in he gers optimism af natarl phsopysa raced by rr {Etence, ith unsure resus tht can Jel! Gath a much 5 ie LicHINess 19 The age of Shakespeare recognized subtle forces connecting ‘macroconm and microcosm, raging fom thove of the: Neo Platonic firmament tothe spirits of metal transformed in the alc crucible, sical myths ean provide thet repertory ‘of mmphs and dryads, but the Cate mythologies are even cher in the imagery of the most delicate atual forces, with thei ches and fires. This eatural bakground—and 1 ant lp thinking of Francis ater fcinating sus on the oceulk phi- losophy of the Renaissance and its echoes in Meratire—explaing ‘wy Shakespeare provides the ales exemplieaton of my the sis And Iam nt thinking solely of Puck athe whole phantas- Imagora ofA Aidunmer Nigh’ Daeam or of Ariel and those who “are such stl As ereams are made on” Lam thinking above ll ofthat particulr and existent infotion that makes t possible for Shakespeares characters to distance theneves lot their coun drama, ths disolving i into melancholy and irony ‘The woghtes gravity Ihave spoken of with regan to Caval- ‘ant reappears inthe age of Cervantes ad Shakespeare: ti that special connection between melancholy and humor studied by Raymond Klan, Erwin Pnofsly, and Fritz Soin Stam ond Meonehly (1964), As mancholys sadness that has taken on lightness, o humor is comedy that elt ts bodily weight (a dimension of human carnaitythitnonethcessconstitates the greatness of Boccaccio and Rabelais). I casts doubt on the sel ‘on the word, and on the whole network of rlgionships that are atstake. Mebincholy and humor, netrieably intermingled char scterize the accents ofthe Prince of Denar, accents we have eared to recognize in nearly al Shakespeare plays on the ips ‘ofso many vats of Hamlet, One ofthese, Jac nV like 1 (1ViASW18), defines melancholy in these terme: "biti is 3 relancholy of mine own, compound of many simples, ex traced from many objets, and indeed the sundry contemplation aa20- LIGHTNESS of my wavels, which, by often rumination, wraps mie in most Thumorous sadness” Its thercore not a dens, page mela holy, bua wi of minute particles of humus and semsations, fine dus of atoms ke everything ele that goes to ake up the ume substance ofthe muluplity of things confess that Lam tempted to construct my own Shakespeare, 4 Lcretian atoms, bt Irae tht ths would be arbitrary. The first writer in the modem work who explicidy prose an somite concept of the universe in ts fantatictransgustion isnot found until some years later, in France: Cyrano de Ber- gene An extraordinary weiter, Cyrano, and one who deserves to be better known, not only athe fs tr forerunner of scence fietion but for his intllectal and peti qualities. allower of GGassens “Sensis” and the astronomy of Copernicus, but nourished above all by the natural phlosophy of the Halan Ren- alssance~Cardano, Bruno, Campanella Cyrano isthe fst pct ‘of atomism in modern itera. In pages wher is ion cannot conceal a genine cosmic excitement, Cyrano extol the unity of all things, animate or inanimate, the combinatora of elementary figures that determine che varity of sing form; an above all Ihe conveys his sense af the precariousnes of the proeses b= hind them. That, how nearly man ise being man, and Me, fe, andthe wold he word. ous vous Geonnez comme cette mate, bull ple- tél, au gré du hasard, peut avd consti homme ‘quily male tant de choses nécssite a construction de som étre, mais yous ne saver pas que cent milions de oi ‘te mati, Sacheminant aa descn dun homme, set LiGHINess- 24 are’ former tant une pierre, tantt du plomb, tnt iu coral, tant une eu, tant ue come, pour le trop ‘ou le op peu de certaines igre ql flit one flit pas signer un homme? Siien que ce net ps merveil ‘quentre ime infinie quantité de matire it change et se remve incessamment, ile ait rencontre 4 fire le peu animaux, de vgétaus, de minérax que rs noms non plus que ce nest pas merveilequ'en cent coupe de ds rive un afl. Aus bien stl impossible que de ce = rmucment il nese fase quclque chon, et cette chee sera toujours admirée d'un Gourd qui ne sara pas combien peu ven est fall quelle walt pas Bite, (ye dine une, 1661, Garier-Hammarin edition, p. 98-99) ‘You marvel that this mater, shuffled pelle atthe whim, of Chance, could have made a man seeing tht 10 mich vas needa forthe constriction of his bing. But you rust realize thata hundred milion tines thi matron he way to human shape, as been stopped to form now stone, ‘ov lea, now coral now a flower, now a comet; an all because of more or fewer elements thi wete or were not necessary for designing a man, Little wonder within an Infinite quantity of mater that cexelesly changes aid stirs, the few animal, vegetables, and tincrals we see should happen to be made; na more wonder than getting ‘yal pir ina hundred easts ofthe dice. Indcd i equally Impose forall his string nt to lead to something, and Je this something will always be wonlered at by some blockhead who will ever realize how mall ange would have made into something ele By this route Cyrano goes fr a to prochim the brother- hod of men an cabbages, and thus imagines the protest of22 LIGHTNESS cabbage about tobe beheaded: “Homme, mon cher fire, que aije at qui mite la moet... Jeme lve de tere, je man ‘sje te ter esas, je fe mes enn en rane t pir récompense de ma curtis, me is rancher let!” (Man, my dear brother, what have! dane to oto deserve death? rie frm the earth, I loson forth {tech ext my arms 1 you, [offer you my chile as seed and as 2 sew for my ourtesy you hae my head eit of) IF we conser that this peroratin in favor of truly univer _fteroc was written nearly one hundred andy years before the French revolution, we cc how the iggshnes of the human ‘consciousnes in emerging rom te anthropacntrc parochial «am be abolished in an instant by pti inention, Ad lth n the context of trip tothe moon in which Cyrano’ maginton ‘utdstances his most iustrious predecessor, Lacan of Sarno= sata and Ludovico Arcato In my discussion a lghtness, Cyrano 's bound to figure ehielly bees of the way in which (lore ‘Nevton) he felt the problem of univers gravitation. On ater itis the problem of escaping che force a ravi that so ti Tats his imagination a oka him to think up 2 whole seis of ‘ways of reaching the moon, each one more ingenious tha the Last—for example, by using a phil filled with dew that evapo rates in the sum by scaring himself with ox marron, which is twually sucked up bythe moon: or by repeatedly ting up a ‘magnetized bl fom a litle boa. ‘As for the technique of magnetism, this was destined to be ‘developed and perfected by Jonathan Swf to keep the fying ‘ad of Laputs inthe air The moment at which Laputa fist appears in fight 6 one when Swifts two abscsions seem to ‘ance ont in an instant of mageal equ, 1am speaking of the bodies abstraction ofthe rational at which hi sitite aime ad the mater weight ofthe hod: and cou ce the LUGHINESS «29, sides fit, encompassed with several gradations of glleriss, an stars at certain interval, to descend from ome to the ether. fn the lowest galery I heel seme people fing wth ong alin rod, and others looking on” Swit as contemporary and ade sersary of Newton, Valsre was an adier of Newton, and he Imagined» giant calle Micomégas, who in contast to Sits ants defined not by his blk but by dinero expressed in figures, by spatial and temporal propetcs enumerate in the gor, impasive terms of acetic treatises, In virtue ofthis logic and syle, Micromégas succeeds in yng throgh spice from Sra to Satur to arth, One ight sy than Newtons theories, what most ares the Inerary imagination isnot the ‘conditioning of everything and everyone by the inevitability of its own woght, but rather the bale of forces that enables Inavely bodies to flat in pce. “The cightenth-century imagiton is fll of figures sus pended in ar It no accident that a the eginning of that entuy Antoine Gallas French transition ofthe Tous ad (One Nights opened up the anagination af the West to the Eastern sense of mare: yng carpets, winged horses genie emerging from hmps. In this drive to make the imaghston exceed al bounds, the eighteenth entry reached its lms with the fight ‘of Baron von Munchausen on 4 cannoobal, an image identi forever in ur mins with the statins that are Gustine Dor’ masterpiece. Thee advcnturs of Minch, which like the Twa and Ore Nighy have lone author, my authors, or none at all, area constant challenge tothe Laws of {rat The baron is erred aloft by ducks he pulls up himself nd his horse by tenga the pial of his wig, he comes down {rom the moon ona rope that daring the descent several ies cut and reknoted “These images from flk erature, along with those we haseem 24 LIGHTNESS cen fom more lared Merature, are part ofthe Herary reper ‘asa of Newton theories, When he was flteen yeas ld, ‘Gicoma Leopard wrote an amazingly erudite Hee of Aaton= sy, which among other things he sme up Newto' theories, “The ging a the night shes that inapires Leopards most beat ‘fl lines was not simply a Tyical theme: when he epoke about ‘he moon, Leopard knew exctly wht he was talking about tis czaseles discourses onthe unbearable weight of Bing, Leo: pard bestows many images of lightness on the happiness he thinks we can never ata: birds, the voice ofa gil soging at window the laity ofthe aie—and, aoe all he moon, "As aoon ax the moon appears in pote, rings with it a sensation of lightness, suspension, a lent caln enchantment ‘When I began thinking abou thes lectures, wanted to devote ‘one whole alk tothe mon, to trace it apparitions inthe iter= tur of many times and pices Then I decided that the monn thould be let entirely to Leopard For the miraculous thing shout his pocty that he simply takes the weight out of lane ge to the pont that esrbles moonlight. The appearances fof the moon in his poetry do not take up many lines, but they are enough to she the light of the moon on the whole pos, oF ‘he to project upon tthe shadow ofits absence Doleee chi a note senza vento fe quets sora tet en mean ag ort posal lua, edi lontan Hive rena ogni montagr, © grasos un, fo mi rammente che, or volge Tanne, sowa questo colle so vena pen dangoscn a rimirart tu pent allor su quella sa siecome fiche tutta ischia. LGHINESS +25 (© cara hina a cul wanqullorggio danza Te lee nelle seve Gi ea Pri inbruna, toma azzuro Il seren,e tornan Tombre gid cll ed’ tet, A bancheggiae della recente hana (Caf an, el? imi he fa, slenzoss una? Tasers eva, ‘contemplando i desert ind pos Soft and cleat the night and without wind, and quietly ‘over the roofs and in the gardens rets dhe moon, and far ‘sy revels every peacefil mountain, © nl, gros my {emer no mst be a sea gon cane cme to eyo al of Zao yeni en bv at da tom ing ial wh bane © cherished moon, Beneath whose quiet Beams the hares dance inthe woods Already al ese darkens, deepens to blue, an shadows glide frgm roofs and hill a the whitening of the recent moon. ‘What do you do there, moon, in the shy? Te me what you do, silent moon, When evening comes You rise and go con templating wastelands; then you set26+ LIGHINESS Hae a great numberof threads hen interwoven in this oe ture Which thread shoud I pull on ofnd the ed ny band? “There ste thread that connects the moon, Leopard, Newton, rvitation and levitation. Thee isthe tread of Lert, ato nism, Caaleants philosophy of lve, Renaissance magle, Cyr- ano. Then there i the thea of writing 22 metaphor of the powdersfine substance ofthe world. For Luce eters were Moms in continual motion, creating the most dere words and Sounds by means of thei permutations. Tis notion was taken ‘up by along tration of thinkers for whom the world's secrete were contained in the combinatora of the signs usa in writing fone thinks ofthe Ar agra of Raymond Ll the Cabal the Spanish rabbis and of Pico della Mirandols.... Even Galleo 0 the alphabet ae the move forall combinations of minimal tunis..." And then Leib Should T continue along dis road? Wont the conclasions awaiting me ccm al too obvious? Writing 2 a mx for every proces of realty... indo the ony reality we can know Indced the only realty tut ort... No, will ot travel auch road as these, for they would carry me too fr frm the we of words as understand that words ava perpetual pursit of ‘things 25 perpetual adjustment othr inte varity. ‘There remains one thea, the one Ist started to unwind ‘that of literature as an existential function, dhe earch or Hight ‘essa reaction tothe weight of living Ferhps even Lucretia ‘was moved by this need, perhaps even Ovi: Licretiv who was seeking or thought he was seeking Epicure impassieness, and Ovid who was seeking or thought he wat seeking-rein- «aration nother lives according tothe teachings of Pythagors. amy accustomed to consider Iterature a search for nol- ‘edge. In oner to move onto existential ground, Ihave o think oflteratare as extend to anthropology and ethnology snd ny GHINe! Aol. Fea wih the precios exten af tba Me Shout snes el nence he hima pone yr Singhsiody cf wht and yng to snoter wr nor eve cept, where he cul hd he strength fo change the fe fealty Im ents so ations cher oun Ings we te women ove of he eh ofc TE ec Now bight on botaa reenter tcc a oo so ae Bg Tal by the inguston tha ons were pr of tragic or weigh een ay ooed epee: nd stay fre anol th lk Bete the tation Soredand the patna fed ih atop fa dee tht erator prptats thst on erature aaa ight anther wo i commn ounce mong the inn tg Vi Simi Prop hs oy te Fale (968 one of the mao of want ofthe br” deine flows: “Thay thebja omg bin soto een en at sey eae ohooh ee thor ha" Pop hen gor on na pet nb ‘pla teh ing hag he earch or the kas ied gael asd nahin ng carpe the nls fant ora pr the deh wagon Ts probaly ot ping hing ro comet th ne sons ef hamanen td witcha dovamented ntl and flr nthe cago of nage conte inert On the cone tink tht he des analy bin ery erry eptton as to be sought ot the aroplogea ent fo ich t comeponih Tou ie wo en hs by mentoring Kala "Der Ke eter (he nig ofthe ck, Ths ery srry ‘renin 1917 nthe i eon and plo dpa28+ LIGHTNESS pinly areal situation in that winter of warfare the worst for ‘he Austrian Empire the ick of cou, The narrator goes ut wth tan empty bucket to find eal forthe stove. Along the way the hcket serves him as ors, and indced takes him up 0B 2 the second floor of» house, where he rocks up and down a if ding on the back ofa smal The coal merchants shop i n= derground, and the bucket ede i too high wp. He has ard time getting his message across t the man, who would rally lke to respond to is equest, t the coal merchant’ wife wants nothing w do with him: He begs them to give him a shovel a ‘even the worst cal ven though he cast pay immediately The ‘coal merchant wife tis er apo and shooe aay the in ‘wader a if he were a fy The bucket i 0 light dati es off with its rider unl dsappears beyond the ce Mountains, ‘Many of Kalas short stories are mysterious, and this one is prticulrly so, Ie may be that Kafla only wanted o tll ws hat -oing out to lok for abit of coal ona cold wartime night changes themere winging af an empty bucket nto the quest of «knight rant or the desert crosing of a caravan ora fight om a magic carpet. But the idea of an empty bucket raising you above the level where one finds both the help and the egos of ebers the ‘erty bucket, symbol of pesatin and desire and scking, raising you to the point at which a humble request can no longer be ‘aisied allthis opens the toad to ends election, have spoken of the shaman andthe etal hero of pivation ‘thats transformed into lightness and makes posible fight into 2 realm where every need s magieally lille. have spoken of witches lying on humble howschold implements, such at 3 bucket But the hero of Kala story dear scem tbe enone withthe powers of shamanism oe witcher nor docs the coun- Leybeyond the Ice Mountains sen tobe one in which the empty GHINEss 29 bucked anything ot the alr the les fll be able to fy Thy tion cbt, we sal ce he ‘emia, wont pi fr orytigoe nan “Thi geen valet ing tok Ugh, or earmpe ‘hove ites ve tedster2 QUICKNESS 1 wil tart by telling you an ancient legend tein fe the emperor Charlemagne fel in love with a Ger- ‘man gil. The barone at hit court were extremely wore when they save tht the sovereign, hally taken up wih his amorous pasion and unmindfl of his regal dignity, was neglecting the ‘Mrs of tate, When the gil sudenly died, the courtiers were really rleved—but not for long, because Charlemagne’ love td not die with her. The emperor had the embalmed by ear ried to his bedchamber, where he refused to be parted from i “The Archbishop Torpin alimed by this macabre pasion, ss posted an enchantment and insisted on examining the core Hielen under the gis dead tongue he Found ating with a pre- ‘dows stone set in As son athe rng was in Trp’ hands, ‘Chaslemagne fl passionately in love with the archbishop ane Iburviodly hd the gil buried, in order to ecapethe embarransing -stuation, Tepin flung the ring into Lake Constance Chare- Iagne thereupon fll in lve with the lake and would not lave iteshgres This legend, “aken fom a book on magi’ i et down even ‘more concisely than I have recorded tin book of unpublished totes by the French Romantic waiter Jules Barbey Aurevily (yom can find i in the notes tothe Pia eiton of Bary