Multiplicity

A chameleon has the ability to change the pigmentation of its skin to either blend into it's background or to communicate with other chameleons. The possiblities of color combinations that the lizard can change into is limitless, just like Calvino's analogy of multiplicity.

He believes that literature is constantly attempting to recognize, analyze, and represent multiplicity and to determine an ending when in reality, the possiblities are endless. There are so many facets to multiplicity that it's impossible to explain the complexity. While a chameleon may just be a simple little lizard (just like us), it has the potential to create the rainbow of its choosing.

Visibility

"Moveti lume che nel ciel s'informa"

"You are moved by a light that is formed in heaven" -Dante

What is it that sparks the imagination? Where do the images in our heads come from? Some suggest that they come from images that we've seen before and they are just reproductions or modifications of what we've already experienced. Some even go so far to say that the images in our imaginations come from God Himself. Wherever they come from, it is our job as writers to write in such a way to spark our intended image in our audience's brain. We need to make our intent visible. We need to write so that readers can connect the images we are portraying into a logical sequence and enhance the story we are producing. I know that when I read novels, there are common images that I think of when houses or people are described and most commonly these places and people are things that I have seen before. I believe that it's our job as writers to write in such as way as to produce new and original images in our readers' minds and to make our intents plainly visible.

Exactitude

"The poet of vagueness can only be the poet of exactitude, who is able to grasp the subtlest sensations with eyes and ears and quick unerring hands."

Exactitude, to me, has a multitude of synonyms: precise, clear, focused, specific, concise, ect. For Calvino, exactitude is the presentation of precise, memorable images that leave the reader with the exact meaning intended. No loquacious ramblings that circle around the point like a lazy vulture, for Calvino. To make a memorable statement, one must be direct. Some might see the necessity of being exact as uncreative and restricted but, on the contrary, exactitude presents a multitude of opportunities for creativity in your word choice, sentence structure, and expression of thoughts and ideas.

The illustration of the flowers is the embodiment of exactitude in my mind because only one flower is in focus. The photographer deliberately zeroed in on that single flower for a reason and he made that apparent by fading all the others into the background.

Quickness

"Success consists in felicity of verbal expression, which every so often may result from a quick flash of inspiration but as a rule involves a patient search for the mot juste, for the sentence in which every word is unalterable, the most effective marriage of sounds and concepts"

When I think of quickness, the images that come to mind are cheetas, NASCAR, fighter jets, Sonic the Hedgehog, you know things like that. But are those things really quick or are they just fast? As a former athlete, coaches always told me that there was a difference between being fast and being quick. Depending on the sport, being quick and being fast were desirable things. In basketball, being quick was a great thing. If you could move your feet and get around a defender, you were considered a skilled player. But, you only had to move maybe 5 feet at the most. In track, on the other hand, running 100 meters in 10 seconds was considered fast. But would those fast track stars be quick in basketball? I think this is what Calvino is trying to get across. There's a difference between being quick in your writing and being fast. To me, quickness has more depth and more meaning attached to it because you have less time to get your message across. There must be a richness to it and little must go a long way.

Lightness

" Soft and clear is the night and without wind, and quietly over the roofs and in the gardens rests the moon, and far away reveals every peaceful mountain"

When I looked through Calvino's essay on lightness, and the thing that really caught my attention was the poem on the moon. The idea of the moon as an image of lightness was very attractive to me. I'm sure Macnab knows exactly the reason why. When I think of the moon I think of a big chunk of rock out in space that orbits around the earth and reflects light from the sun. Very scientific and to the point. But it can be poetic and mystical as well. It does seem to float across the sky throughout the night, yet it is solid and stable. Calvino states, "As soon as the moon appears in poetry, it brings with it a sensation of lightness, suspension, a silent calm enchantment." The moon is a symbol of lightness regarding weight yet it also provides illumination so it can represent lightness in more ways than one.

I grew up out in the country and the nearest light except for our porch light was three miles away. The nights were very dark. But, on those nights that the moon was full, it was almost like daylight. Every tree, leaf, and blade of grass had a stark outline and the shadows they cast were sharp and detailed. At the same time, all of those normal things that you see everyday looked so unfamiliar in the moonlight. The moonlight changed their appearance completely; still perfectly visible yet vastly different. Writing with lightness should be like the moon. It floats, it glides across the sky effortlessly and at the same time lights up the world beneath it. Good writing glides and flows while illuminating the knowledge stored in the words.