Calvino uses the concept of visibility to discuss images and where they come from. Images play a large role in our lives. We use them to express ourselves, as symbols, and just to make the world more aesthetically pleasing. Calvino tries to tackle where exactly images come from by looking into the source as being heavenly inspired, from the subconscious, or from something Calvino calls a world soul. I think images come from a mixture of all three. I choose the light at the end of the tunnel image to represent visibility because in my mind it just seemed to fit. With the tunnel you are in the dark until suddenly you’re not. With images many time you can’t see exactly what is being shown until suddenly it clicks. Or you don’t have an image to explain a concept but then you get inspired and see the light. I choose the Picture of Dorian Gray as my literary example of visibility because I believe this story shows just how much images impact our lives. In this story, for those who may not know, Dorian Gray is able to stay youthful as long as he does look at his own picture. Obviously, in this book the image is the focal point and becomes a dominating factor in Gray’s life. Calvino attempts to explain where images come from, but it is not difficult to see where this one is from. Dorian wishes to capture his youth in a painting, it begins harmless enough. As I mentioned before, I feel this book is a perfect example of Calvino’s idea of visibility and that images do play a very large role in our everyday lives.

In Calvino’s lecture on exactitude he focuses mainly on language. Out of all the lectures this was probably my favorite because it focused on language. I love words and playing with language and always work to find the exact word I need to express myself. When Calvino talks about exactitude in reference to language he is trying to explain how it is important to use the right words. I completely agree with this, it drives me crazy when people use words in correctly or use twenty words when one would suffice. I choose to use a thesaurus as my image because when I think of finding the right word I think of a thesaurus. Sometimes you cannot just use pretty you have to use attractive, beautiful, or gorgeous to get the correct meaning of what you want to say. Calvino wrote that people should have a plan as to what they want to say and how they want to say it to avoid repetition and use precise language. This makes perfect sense to me. The study of language and how to use it has decreased dramatically and even though the language is changing it still should be studied. Calvino would be shocked today as to the inexact way language is being used.

While Calvino talks about exactitude in reference to language, I feel that being exact can be used in many different areas of life. When I think of exactitude the work of literature that first comes to mind is Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories. Doyle presents a character that is not only exact in his language but also his thoughts and ideas. You could say in a way that he really is exact in his use of words because of his fine use of deductive reasoning makes it so that every statement he makes is exact. He uses everything around his to make not just guesses but correct conclusions which have to be exact or it drives him insane.

A shooting star, to me, is the perfect image of quickness. While you are watching one it may seem to last for minutes. But in reality, the star only lasts for a second. Quickness to me is a measurement of the speed of an action or moment. Calvino describes quickness as time in a story or the lack of time in a story. I find this to be an interesting but frustrating topic. As a clock watcher I always want to know what time it is and frequently in stories time is not referred to at all. I think of fairy tales and fantasy stories as being nefarious for doing this. But they have a purpose in doing so. By not adding a time stamp, it makes them more believable. A perfect example of this is the King Arthur legends. They will refer to time by the passing of the seasons but no year, month, or day is attached. In this way the legends are made more possible by not saying exactly when they happened. The Star Wars introduction is the same, a long long time ago… Time is not always necessary. Calvino says that some factors are not needed in stories to get the main idea across and time is one of them. I enjoy knowing when something is taking place but just because I do not does not mean I enjoy the story any less. Quickness is definitely an idea that authors of the future need to remember.

Even though I do not think I fully understood Calvino’s concept of lightness, the Perseus and Medusa myth helped make it a little clearer. I love mythology and believe it is a very useful teaching method for today. Obviously since I was able to get the idea that even though things look and feel heavy, lightness can come from them. At first, I thought lightness meant bringing light into dark places. It took me awhile to get my head around the fact that the lightness Calvino was referring to was the opposite of heaviness. But back to the mythology, Calvino’s use of the tale of Perseus gently laying down Medusa’s head on a bed of leaves and then the leaves turning to trinkets for the nymphs is a perfect way to portray lightness. I would probably have to say this example; especially the nymphs did it for me. My image of lightness would be a nymph. Whenever I hear the word I get a picture of light, airy figures springing through the forest. If this is not an image of total lightness and a picture without any heaviness of the world, then I do not know what is.
Calvino also wants to show that lightness has the ability to make itself out of heaviness. This seems self explanatory enough but I think there is probably more to it than just meets the eye. I take this to mean that you can always find the good in something, make lemonade out of lemons. A piece of literature that reminds me of the idea of lightness is J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. At first I thought this was the perfect example but then I had to sit back and think about how exactly LoTR really shows lightness. I look at it this way, Middle Earth is living with an increasing heaviness, and eventually things get to the breaking point. However, with the destruction of one item the heaviness is removed and lightness is completely restored. I see this as finding good out of the bad. Even though the hobbits have to go on a trek that they may not survive they are doing it to rid the world of evil. As I mentioned before I am not sure if I fully understand the meaning of lightness in the way that Calvino wants us to but this is how I am able to take it.