Images on emptiness: a study on Italo Calvino’s trilogy Our ancestors

Authors

  • Neide das Graças Souza-Bortolini Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5007/2175-7917.2015v20nesp1p104

Abstract

This study aims at analyzing Our Ancestors (1960) – Italo Calvino’s trilogy which brings The Cloven Viscount (1951), The Baron in the trees (1957) and the Nonexistent Knight (1959). In the trilogy the image connects to a representation of theatricality, from Calvino’s notion of "visibility". Some pieces of his work open up the possibility of a significant reading of his fiction in the fantastic genre, from the poetics of neo-realism. The scenic-musical spectacle of Grupo Galpão - Partido (1999) – based on the first book of the trilogy- is a strong example of the image dimension in Calvino’s literature, that is repeatedly recreated by theater, among other arts. The notion of artistic image in the exchanging glances game, into dialogue with some features of the post dramatic theatre, points to the subject's unconscious dimension. Along that path, an articulation of Our Ancestors is traced within the psychoanalytic notion of subject, indicated by the concepts of real, symbolic and imaginary.

Author Biography

Neide das Graças Souza-Bortolini, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais

Graduada em Psicologia pela Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, dedicou-se aos estudos nas áreas de saúde e educação. Mestrado na área de Literatura Brasileira, investigando a Literatura Infantil na perspectiva da Psicanálise e Escritura. Professora na Universidade Federal de Ouro Preto desenvolveu atividades no Departamento de Educação, no Centro de Educação Aberta e à Distância. Professora Assistente no Instituto de Filosofia, Arte e Cultura, no Departamento de Artes Cênicas, dedicou-se à formação em Licenciatura, à extensão e à pesquisa que integra literatura, teatro de rua, formação de artistas/espectadores e comunidades. Doutorado em Artes na Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais pesquisa as interfaces nos campos da literatura, teatro, imagem a partir da obra de Italo Calvino.

Downloads

Published

2015-02-07

How to Cite

SOUZA-BORTOLINI, Neide das Graças. Images on emptiness: a study on Italo Calvino’s trilogy Our ancestors. Anuário de Literatura, [S. l.], v. 20, n. 2, p. 104–122, 2015. DOI: 10.5007/2175-7917.2015v20nesp1p104. Disponível em: https://periodicos.ufsc.br/index.php/literatura/article/view/2175-7917.2015v20nesp1p104. Acesso em: 5 feb. 2026.

Issue

Edição Especial - v. 20, n. esp. 1 (2015)

Section

Articles

License

This journal provides open access to all of it content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge. Such access is associated with increased readership and increased citation of an author's work. For more information on this approach, see the Public Knowledge Project, which has designed this system to improve the scholarly and public quality of research, and which freely distributes the journal system as well as other software to support the open access publishing of scholarly resources. The names and email addresses entered in this journal site will be used exclusively for the stated purposes of this journal and will not be made available for any other purpose or to any other party.

Licença Creative Commons
Este trabalho está licenciado com uma Licença Creative Commons - Atribuição 4.0 Internacional.