Cosmicomics

by Italo Calvino, William Weaver (Translator)

Italo Calvino's extraordinary imagination and intelligence combine here in an enchanting series of stories about the evolution of the universe. He makes his characters out of mathematical formulae and simple cellular structures. They disport themselves among galaxies, experience the solidification of planets, move from aquatic to terrestrial existence, play games with hydrogen atoms, and even have a love life.

During the course of these stories Calvino toys with continuous creation, the transformation of matter, and the expanding and contracting reaches of space and time. He succeeds in relating complex scientific concepts to the ordinary reactions of common humanity.

William Weaver's excellent translation won a National Book Award in 1969

“Naturally, we were all there," old Qfwfq said, "where else could we have been? Nobody knew then that there could be space. Or time either: what use did we have for time, packed in there like sardines?”

The distance of the moon --
At daybreak --
A sign in space --
All at one point --
Without colors --
Games without end --
The aquatic uncle --
How much shall we bet? --
The dinosaurs --
The form of space --
The light-years --
The spiral.

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Italian Literature, Classics, Literature

153 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1965

About the author

Italo Calvino was born in Cuba and grew up in Italy. He was a journalist and writer of short stories and novels. His best known works include the Our Ancestors trilogy (1952-1959), the Cosmicomics collection of short stories (1965), and the novels Invisible Cities (1972) and If On a Winter's Night a Traveler (1979).

His style is not easy to classify; much of his writing has an air reminiscent to that of fantastical fairy tales (Our Ancestors, Cosmicomics), although sometimes his writing is more "realistic" and in the scenic mode of observation (Difficult Loves, for example). Some of his writing has been called postmodern, reflecting on literature and the act of reading, while some has been labeled magical realist, others fables, others simply "modern". He wrote: "My working method has more often than not involved the subtraction of weight. I have tried to remove weight, sometimes from people, sometimes from heavenly bodies, sometimes from cities; above all I have tried to remove weight from the structure of stories and from language."

Reviews

[فؤاد · Rating 5 out of 5]

تصور کنید قبل از انفجار بزرگ، وقتی تمام جهان در یک نقطه جمع است، گروهی از آدم‌ها هم در آن یک نقطه جای دارند. در میان این گروه زنی است بی‌اندازه زیبا، که همه پنهانی دلباخته‌اش هستند. از آن جایی که همه در یک نقطه جای دارند، بدن‌هاشان عین همدیگر است، در نتیجه همه آن زن را در خود دارند و به خاطر همین از سعادتی ابدی سرشارند.

تا این که یک روز زن می‌گوید: «کاش می‌توانستم برایتان شیرینی درست کنم.» در آن لحظه همه زن را در حال شیرینی پختن تصور می‌کنند، با دست‌های آردی، با سر و صورت خمیر مالیده، با موهایی که هنگام ورز دادن خمیر پریشان شده، و... و آن قدر از هوس دیدن این صحنه لبریز می‌شوند که فقط برای دیدن زن در حال شیرینی‌پزی، تصمیم می‌گیرند شرایط لازم برای شیرینی‌پزی را مهیا کنند: تصمیم می‌گیرند انفجار بزرگ را ترتیب دهند و کهکشان‌ها را درست کنند و خورشید را درست کنند و زمین را درست کنند و دریاها و دشت‌ها و مزارع گندم را درست کنن، و آسیاب‌ها و آردفروشی‌ها را درست کنند، همه و همه برای دیدن آن صحنه.
پس یک عشق باعث می‌شود انفجار بزرگ رخ دهد و آن نقطهٔ اولیه در فضا منتشر شود، تا جهان درست شود، و زنی زیبا بتواند شیرینی بپزد.


این فقط خلاصهٔ یکی از قصه‌های غریب کتاب کمدی‌های کیهانی نوشتهٔ ایتالو کالوینو نویسندهٔ ایتالیایی بود. قصه‌هایی آمیخته از علم و خیال که به سادگی در تعریف رایج از داستان جا نمی‌گیرند. هر قصه با یک نظریهٔ علمی شروع می‌شود، بعد راوی قصه‌ها، موجودی ازلی-ابدی که گاهی او را در حال شرط‌بندی با خدا می‌بینیم و گاه در هیئت یک صدف که هیچ درکی از صدا و نور ندارد، خاطره‌ای پیرامون آن نظریهٔ علمی تعریف می‌کند. خاطره‌ای گاه طنزآمیز و گاه خیال‌انگیز، و در هر حال بسیار جذاب.
در سال ۱۹۶۹ ترجمهٔ انگلیسی کتاب، جایزهٔ ملی کتاب آمریکا را برای نویسنده‌اش به ارمغان آورد.

[Nilesh Kashyap · Rating 5 out of 5]

“FUCKING MINDFUCK!”

I became aware of two facts after reading this book
-Sometime people can be way over-creative
-And sometime this over-creativity can be real pain in the... umm... let’s go with ‘rear’.

So, what is cosmicomics?
I may say it is comics of the universe; it is book of twelve short stories, with setting in all across the universe and from time even before big-bang to present day, and telling us the story of evolution of the universe.
But that is about something written on the pages of this book, but not what the book itself is.

"This book is stupendous blast of creativity."

Well, creative is a word short of describing this book.
Where shall I begin? Maybe with the fact that, this book cannot be tied down to a particular genre. Nope! I don’t think such trivial things such as, genre existed for Calvino. This book is everything ranging from magical-realism, science-fiction, and philosophy.

Or maybe with the fact that, there are no humans in this book. Yes, you got it right ‘no humans’ (and please, no aliens either).
Well, we have ‘old Qfwfq’ as our narrator of the stories. And what is ‘Qfwfq’? I don’t know and looks like Calvino also never decided what is ‘Qfwfq’. But collecting from the stories, he is some kind of anthropomorphized shape-shifter. He is dinosaur in one story and mollusc in another. And he has been there even before universe came into existence.

‘Qfwfq’! What kind of name is that? Let me tell you that ‘Qfwfq’ is the least strange name. How about: Captain Vhd Vhd, Granny Bb’b, Mr. Hnw, Uncle N’ba N’ga, little Xlthlx, Dean (k)yK! And there are many more names, that look like mathematical formula and I don’t even know how to type them.
Have you started realising the strangeness of this book! But the real deal of ‘being strange’ begins with the stories.

Each stories begins with a scientific fact followed by a story developed around that fact, narrated by our very own ‘old Qfwfq’.
First story, 'The Distance of the Moon' starts like this:

At one time, according to Sir George H. Darwin, the Moon was very close to the Earth. Then the tides gradually pushed her far away: the tides that the Moon herself causes in the Earth's waters, where the Earth slowly loses energy.

How well I know! -- old Qfwfq cried,-- the rest of you can't remember, but I can. We had her on top of us all the time, that enormous Moon: when she was full -- nights as bright as day, but with a butter-colored light -- it looked as if she were going to crush us...

And in the next page:

There were nights when the Moon was full and very, very low, and the tide was so high that the Moon missed a ducking in the sea by a hair's-breadth; well, let's say a few yards anyway. Climb up on the Moon? Of course we did. All you had to do was row out to it in a boat and, when you were underneath, prop a ladder against her and scramble up.

Climbed up on the moon like this-

Easy peasy, eh? Not so easy.

What, you got a question? Let ‘Qfwfq’ complete that for you..

Now, you will ask me what in the world we went up on the Moon for; I'll explain it to you. We went to collect the...

In simple words, Calvino leaves no stone unturned.

But, a big but, these are the things that surround the story, at the center of this is a love triangle. Yes a love triangle and this story has very sad and heart-breaking end. Powerful ending, that will not make you cry but make you think, what loving and being loved is about!

Calvino packs a good amount of humour in each story, and many underlying themes, one story is about a person who is too self-conscious and many stories have characters who are laggards, who refuse to accept the change that occurs in the universe.
Now tell me, how much creativity, strangeness, humour, drama, philosophy can be packed in a 15-page story. You will be surprised, that is all I can say.

Now with so much of ‘everything’ in every story starts the problem of being pain in the... umm... rear.
With so much richness in the stories and every story being completely different, it becomes hard to absorb the stories.
I read four stories on first day, and by the time I finished fourth, I did not have stamina to read a single word more. I was drained, I was puzzled. I sat wondering, what was that I just read!


"What the fuck was that!!" (different situation but the same question)

Second day, I thought I’m ready to read any amount of story. Well, thinking and reality are two different things, so it happened I was again wrong. I somehow finished the book that day, but ended up missing all the fun.


Yeah, that is something like my reading experience of this book, that punch definitely signifies Calvino’s ‘over-creativity’.

What I'm trying to say is that these stories took a little time to sink in, and can be enjoyed most if read slowly with wide gap between reading of two stories. It will make a lot more sense when I tell you that I rated this book with 3-stars on the day I finished it, 4-stars a week later and 5-stars after penning down this review.
Pheww... That’s it!

Now that I’m done, I guess that the first two words of my review will make a lot more sense to you.

[s.penkevich [mental health hiatus] · Rating 4 out of 5]

This books is like those youthful summer nights awash in idyllic optimism and frivolity when you take mushrooms and curl up on the warm earth to stare up at the vastness of the night sky with your friends. You unhinge your mind and soar on melodies of free roaming thoughts that seemingly traverse beyond time and space, commingling with the cosmos to converse with stars and dance with infinity. Italo Calvino delivers abstract concepts as characters grappling with the universe and all the emotions that swirl within it. With hardly a human in sight, this book captures the essence of being human, of love and longing, of hope, hardships, and most importantly, the charm of creativity. A surreal collection of cosmic fables both humorous and heartbreaking, both grounded in science and escaping the chains of logic to the horizons of possibility, and brilliant imagining so playful with language it’s as if the sentences were composed of stardust twinkling above you. Lay back, open your heart and mind, and prepare for a wild, wondrous ride.

[Steven Godin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Twelve dazzling stories from Calvino, where his ambition here was to create a ludic fiction that could reflect complex advances in science without losing his playful nature and sense of magic and lightness. The stories he wrote were direct attempts to assimilate new thinking in cosmology in recognisably human - and comic - dimensions.

Calvino prefaces his stories with a fact or hypothesis about the universe, then he moves on to get inside these vast abstractions, with his trademark qualities that give them a recognisable voice, which twists around the reader with a nimble and often humorous plot. Through his frequent fumbling narrator - the unpronounceable Qfwfq, Calvino makes the argument that there is no corner of the cosmos that cannot be enlightened by human imagination. And as imaginative writers go, Calvino was up there with the best
of them.

Trying to describe such a diverse and entertaining mix, in which he wrestles with chaos and order, the profound and the absurd, is enough to send ones head spinning full of stars. Who else could have come up with idea of scooping milk from the moon, and grumbling even before the
Big Bang! Calvino simply had no boundaries, he could go off in all directions, crossing the literary frontier into uncharted places to show anything is possible, if one simply opens the flood gates of the mind. How does one simply lump Calvino into a single category? it's almost impossible.

Although this wasn't the 'Complete Cosmicomics' (which features more stories plucked from other Calvino books), these original 12 tales were more than enough to enter Calvino's Universe and come out the other side with sheer delight. Even though this was my 8th Calvino, he's like a jack-in-the-box that never gets boring, no matter how many times you open the lid!

Faves -
A Sign in Space
Without Colors
The Aquatic Uncle
The Light-Years

[Sarah Far · Rating 4 out of 5]

❌توجه توجه: شما تنها یک صدم ثانیه بَر روی زمین زندگی می‌کنید

روزی که روز نبود و اصلا هیچ چیز نبود(کلمه بود از فقدان کلمه و نامفهومی زمان میگویم)، تکرار میکنم: هیچ هیچ هیچ چیزی نبود ⏳(نمیتوونی تصور کنی)

ناگهان در یک لحظه‌ی (کیهانی) یک دانه بی نهایت ریزِ (کیهانی) در یک تریلیون تریلیون تریلیونیم ثانیه‌ی (کیهانی) در یک تریلیون تریلیون تریلیون بزرگ شد و همه چیزو بوجود اورد:
فضا،زمان،اتم،مولکول،نور،فوتون،ماده 🌟🌟🌟



ذره ها پیوسته شد با ذره ها تا پدید آمد همه ارض و سماء


و حالا بازی شروع شد:
تنها ۳۸۰ هزار سال از عمر کیهان گذشت،دما پایین اومد و اتم ها شکل گرفتند و نور آزاد شد:


حالا میتوونیم با افتخار بگیم زمان داریم: ۱۳.۸ میلیارد سال پیش و به اون انفجار بزرگ میگیم:
BingBang

بینگ بنگ یا مِهبانگ تو یک محیط نبود،بلکه خودِ BingBang خاستگاه و گسترش فضا بود (میدونم گیج کننده‌س و درکش واقعا سخته)

حالا کهکشانها و ستاره‌ها در جهانِ دیدار پذیرِ ما شده با عکاسمان هابل، عکس میگیرند و میگن:



در آخر خوب یا بد (فعلاً تک و تنها) اینجا داریم بازی میکنیم:




✔حالا متوجه شدید که کتاب در مورد چی بوده: کیهان و هر چیزی که مربوط به کیهانه! و صد البته تکامل کیهانی،حیوانات باستانی و...
اما این کتاب علمی نیست! بلکه یه داستان جذاب با پیکربندی عالی همراه با طنزه که مطمئنم از خووندنش لذت می‌برید به شرطی که سر به هوا باشید 😍😄

✔کتاب رو صوتی با صدای عالیه میلاد تمدن و ترجمه‌ی خوبِ میلاد فرزام گوش دادم (و پیشنهاد میکنم شما هم حتما صوتی گوش بدید)

✔کتاب رو چهار ماه پیش خووندم و الان ریویوش رو نوشتم😜😶

✔هر سوالِ ستاره‌یی داشتید 😄 در حد اطلاعاتم شرح خواهم داد 🌱

[Pavel Nedelcu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Il grande mistero cosmico-ironico



Nelle Cosmicomiche Italo Calvino dà il meglio di sé, della sua ricerca letteraria oltre i limiti dell’immaginabile e del capibile.

Il protagonista dei vari racconti, con il suo nome impronunciabile, Qfwfq, esiste da sempre e, si ipotizza, vivrà per sempre. È stato testimone della nascita dell’universo, della scomparsa dei dinosauri, della formazione dell’atmosfera e dei colori, dell’allontanamento della luna dalla Terra, e di altri eventi "cosmici" simili.

In ognuno degli eventi è stato al centro dell’azione, trasformato magari in una forma di vita diversa dalla specie umana: prima un punto, poi un pesce, poi un dinosauro, o una forma di vita non ancora ben definita, in continua evoluzione.

Mi è piaciuto questo esercizio di immaginazione, il tono ironico di Qfwfq, nonostante i racconti possano annoiare molto in alcune parti: per esempio, nel riproporre una storia d’amore in quasi ogni racconto, anche quando magari si sarebbero create le basi per un altro tipo di svolgimento narrativo, oppure nel descrivere lo Spazio dettagliatamente, ma ripetendosi e cercando l’effetto ironico in queste ripetizioni.

Gusto soggettivo a parte, sicuramente si tratta di un’opera molto originale nel panorama della letteratura italiana e universale: un libro che resta impresso, per una ragione o un'altra, che stupisce e fa riflettere sul grande mistero che è l’origine e l’evoluzione del Mondo.

[Bradley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This one pretty much floored me. The scope and the way this was written kinda blew my mind.

What do I mean? Well, it's one hell of an accomplished SF... encompassing all time and space from a single viewpoint in what may as well be god... but isn't.

It's a love story with a very complicated relationship of an alien with another alien, it's a love story with time, physics, genetics, and all sorts of real math. I will admit that a very great deal of my enjoyment of this novel stems from the fact that I'm conversant with real science in a big way and this book incorporates it all very heavily in the narrative.

The book is kinda like this: think of five or six hella great popular science writers, turn them into short-story writers, let it have the feel of Marvel or DC cosmic-stage stories, and then have it feel right at home with Neil Gaiman's Sandman.

I'm not joking. It's really that good and that odd. And while the science bits and how it's written is very heavy in a way, I don't think it overwhelms the actual stories at all. It's unusual and it's very smart, but I wouldn't let that deter you from reading it. Indeed, I think everyone should read this and have it be a solid staple of the mind.

My only complaint might be a bit idiotic. I really think these stories would translate perfectly into a real comic. I know it's kinda implied in the title, but still... I think it would be improved, making it even more readable and brilliant... that is, assuming that the artist is up to snuff. :)

[Mohammad Ranjbari · Rating 5 out of 5]

بعضی از کتاب ها هستند که خواننده را با حیله ی فرافکنی، از متن خودشان دور می کنند. در این کتاب، نبوغ نویسنده و ابداعات و تفاوت سبکی وی، شگردی ست که ناخواسته خواننده را اغلب کنجکاو می کند تا به سبک بنگرد تا اینکه خود کتاب را بخواند، بارها چند پاراگراف خوانده شده را به عقب برگشتم تا مطالبی که در حین توجه به سبک و شگرد نویسنده از دست داده بودم، جبران کنم و دوباره به دست بیاورم، کالوینو، در کمدیهای کیهانی بسیار به انسان و تفکر و توهم او نزدیک است.

اگر به زبان ادبی بگویم، در واقع داستان های این کتاب نوعی کهن الگوست که اغلب ما در دنیای خیالاتمان به آنها توجه زودگذر و دست اندازانه ای داریم. توهماتی چون:
توجه به خود مرکز بینی و اینکه کائنات برای من پیامی دارد یا من کائنات را می بینم و کائنات نیز من را، تصور سقوطی ابدی که در خلال آن سقوط کارهای زیادی انجام می دهیم، تصور خود به عنوان یک تماشاگر قبل و بعد از بیگ بنگ و شکل گیری کائنات و سیر کامل نحوه ی تشکیل کهکشان ها و ستاره ها و ...
البته کالوینو به این هم اکتفا نمی کند و چاشنی طنز و ابداع را نیز بدان می افزاید.
اسمهای غریبی که به دلیل عدم تلفظ کردنشان،خواننده حتما در ذهن خود به آنها کدهای خوانش آسانتری می دهد، یا تصاویر بسیار غریبی که شاید فقط خود نویسنده برای اولین بار به آنها فکر کرده و اغلب مختص دنیای تخیلی تک به تک افراد است، مانند سوار شدن بر قایق و بر عکس راه رفتن بر سطح ماه و از پولک های ماه شیر و خامه جمع کردن و پرت کردن وارونه ی آنها از سطح ماه به قایق!
یا اتم بازی یا در واقع تیله بازی دو چهره ی لجوج در شکل گیری کائنات و جر زدن هایشان به یکدیگر و ...

من در خلال این کتاب بشدت مسحور و مجذوب شدم، آرزو می کردم که فکر نگارش چنین کتابی کاش به مغز من خطور می کرد، اما به این قانع هستم که چه لذت فراوانی از نبوغ این نویسنده بردم.
مطمئنم خاطره ی خوانش این کتاب تا ابد در یادم خواهد ماند

۹۸/۰۱/۰۲

[Garima · Rating 5 out of 5]

Qfwfq : Been there, Seen that, done that.

Been where? Where the distance of the moon from the ocean was just a ladder away.

Seen what? The formation of galaxies, A colorless world, A time when there was no concept of time.

Done what? Lived on the nebulae, Lived as a dinosaur, fallen in love with a tadpole.

A literary cosmos made up of staggering imagination, Calvino’s Cosmicomics exceeded the expectations I always have before reading any of his books and it makes me even more proud of declaring him as my favorite writer. A collection of 12 short stories, written by taking cue from random scientific facts/theories and re-telling of the fragmented tales about evolution of universe through the eyes of our narrator, Qfwfq, who had been a ubiquitous witness as well as part of everything since the universe was created. Sounds quite ambitious, especially taking the short story format, but that's where Calvino’s talent shines the brightest.

The relationship established between various scientific concepts, bizarre living beings and their lives thereof, presents a witty commentary on understanding of the environment and coming to terms with innumerable and inevitable changes that takes place in our lives in natural as well as unnatural or uncalled ways.

Compared to the uncertainties of earth and air, lagoons and seas and oceans represented a future with security.

Also there is a subtle social commentary about the nature of human beings who acknowledge world not as one but as a society governed by numerous borders and boundaries and a fine distinction is sited as to who is who according to the place they belongs to.

But the others also had wronged the Z'zus, to begin with, by calling them "immigrants," on the pretext that, since the others had been there first, the Z'zus had come later. This was mere unfounded prejudice -- that seems obvious to me -- because neither before nor after existed, nor any place to immigrate from, but there were those who insisted that the concept of "immigrant" could be understood in the abstract, outside of space and time.

But most importantly, Calvino has presented a poignant and humorous take on humanly nature, feelings and emotions without employing any humans in his narrative yet there are titles and conceptions which constitute a human world.

There were three of them: an aunt and two uncles, all three very tall and practically identical; we never really understood which uncle was the husband and which the brother, or exactly how they were related to us: in those days there were many things that were left vague.

All the stories accentuates a particular feature of this cosmos in a highly skillful way wherein Calvino has dilated a single idea into astounding proportions of ace story- telling and that’s why I can’t really pick a favorite story of mine. The names of the characters, especially Qfwfq are particularly interesting. According to wiki: The name "Qfwfq" is a palindrome. The name may be an allusion to the second law of thermodynamics; substituting = for f gives Q=W=Q, which describes a heat engine.

Coming from a non-science background I can’t really grasp all these scientific concepts in their entirety but still marvel at the extent to which Calvino experimented and came up with such brilliant feat of literature. This review or rather my gushy ramblings might convey a little about this book and more about my love for Calvino, so I highly recommend a more definite and fantastic review by Stephen M along with reading this book.

I must add that past and future were vague terms for me, and I couldn't make much distinction between them: my memory didn't extend beyond the interminable present of our parallel fall.

[Piyangie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cosmicomics is a collection of twelve fantastical short stories developed on some scientific theory about the evolution of the universe. Most of these stories are narrated by one Qfwfq, and I presume he is human in most of the stories though he is also a dinosaur and mollusk in some others. There are a couple of stories without the presence of Qfwfq.

Science fiction is not my cup of tea. All the same, I'm fascinated by Calvino's power of imagination. I don't claim that the stories are all interesting; some are downright boring. But even in them, Calvino's imaginative power is outstanding. I'm also awed by the fact that these stories, though based on a scientific theory, explore human relationships - family and sexual, human vices, and Calvino's philosophical views.

Italo Calvino writes intelligently. His works are thought-provoking and stimulate the mind. But for all that, I prefer his philosophical work.

More of my reviews can be found at http://piyangiejay.com/

[Dream.M · Rating 3 out of 5]

همچنان معتقدم کالوینو نویسنده متوسطیه با هوش و خلاقیت بالا.
توی این مجموعه داستان کوتاه هم بنظرم جای فرضیه جهان ماتریکس برای cosmogony خالی بود و آقای کالوینو کوتاهی کرده :/
.....
این کتاب رو با س.س.ن.ی همخوانی کردیم که خیلی مخن. اه!

[Stephen M · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wonderful set of short stories which comes as no surprise from the Cuban born, Italian Italo Calvino. I had previously read If on a Winter’s Night A Traveler and Invisible Cities, both I highly recommend, and enjoyed both of them immensely. I once heard about the vast differences between all of Calvino’s novels; that certainly seems true, each one of those books bare vague resemblances to one another; the similarities residing in minor things like, short story format, magical realist elements and gorgeous prose. Ultimately, Calvino is one of my favorite authors because he can take nearly any premise and breath wonderful imaginative life into them. If nothing else, I come away with such vivid and delightful images that I can’t help but think he was something of a genius; at least with that aspect of writing which I find to be the hardest. Any one and their mom can write some poetically-tinged block of prose and send it on its way, but it takes a little something extra to create a literary world, living and breathing with the perfect amount of detail it needs, complete unto itself, full of imaginative wonder. Calvino, most especially has a knack for these set pieces. The best example of that comes in the first story of this collection.

Is it a spoiler to describe the first story? Can you spoil a short story collection? Well, if so, you’ve been warned. The entire book follows poor Qwfwq, if read literally, he is some sort of shape shifter—across species as well as subatomic particles—as he experiences the universe at varying times from the moment of its creation, to the development of matter, to the formation of the earth. Each story is prefaced with an italicized section detailing a certain scientific theory or maxim. The first, called The Distance from the Moon, has a theory formulated by George H. Darwin, the famed Charles Darwin’s son. The prediction is in regards to the origin and formation of the moon. At the time of the writing of Cosmicomics, it was believed that the moon was once very close to the earth and that it slowly drifted away from the earth in its orbit. Calvino imagines a strange tribe of some sort of half human, half fish type creatures that harvest the moon for the milk that it has. They ride on a boat across the ocean, where the moon gets closest to the earth. They have to climb a ladder and jump, lingering for a moment between the gravitational pulls of both surfaces until the point where the gravity of the moon overtakes the gravity of the earth and the person is pulled towards the moon. Calvino’s description of the ocean from that point of view is stunning. Imagine “the sea above you, glistening, with the boat and the others upside down, hanging like a bunch of grapes from the vine.” The rest of the story plays with this conceit. This story may be the longest, and it is his most effective. It even follows a strict three-act structure with inciting incident, dark night of the soul and denouement. I was impressed that this section, which is packed full of mother/Lacanian ideas could also be formally compact. More than just that, however, is what permeates through all of these stories. In all of them, Calvino’s imagination shines. If you let it, it will take you up in its wonderful world. The entire collection is a conjunction of fantasy, science, magical realism and realist emotions. One story talks of a left-over dinosaur after the others went extinct. Calvino tells a story about social ostracism and conflicted identity. There is a story about the steady state theory of the universe, the theory all but rejected now. In which the character Qwfwq chases another character, Pwfwp throughout the universe. He finally notices that he can see the back of his own head in front of Pwfwp, Pwfwp is actually chasing Qwfwq! Until he notices that there is an infinite number of Q’s chasing P’s and vice versa. From Q’s perspective, he is chasing P, but from P’s perspective, P is chasing Q.

This is a prime example of Calvino’s overall intention with the work. He wants to impress upon the reader the arbitrary nature of privileging perspective. In an interview within a book called The Uses of Literature: Essays, Calvino says that

“Robbe-Grillet came out with a bitter attack on anthropomorphism, against the writer who still humanized the landscape. . . It is not that Robbe-Grillet’s argument didn’t convince me. It is just that in the course of writing I have come to take the oppostire route in stories that are a positive delirium of anthropomorphism, of the impossibility of thinking about the world except in terms of human figures. . . [I] multiplied his eyes and his nose in every direction until he no longer knows who he is.”

The point of each story is to simultaneously laugh at how ridiculous it is to compare evolution to human social interaction, yet at the same time indulge, because how else do we know about the world around us? In Cosmicomics there is a particular sadness in each story, a loss and tragedy of understanding. Even the signs which we take to be words begins to break down, as the meanings of words proliferate and destabilize.

"I realized that with what seemed a casual jumple of words I had hit on an infinite reserve of new combinations among the signs which compact, opaque, uniform reality would use to disguise its monotony, and I realized that perhaps the race toward the future, the race I had been the first to foresee and desire, tended only—through time and space—toward a crumbling into alternatives like this, until it would dissolve in a geometry of invisible triangles and ricochets like the course of a football among the white lines of a field as I tried to imagine them, drawn at the bottom of the luminous vortex of the planetary systems, deciphering the numbers marked on the chests and backs of the players at night, unrecognizable in the distance."

He takes anthropocentrism to its logical extreme. By applying human characteristic to even the most absurd of things—subatomic particles and the original point of matter from which the big bang sprung—he exposes it this "humanizing" for the absurdity it is.

While reading all these stories, I couldn’t stop thinking about the sheer incomprehensibility of the universe. From its most minute particles to its cosmic grandiosity, we are stuck amid an ocean of unknowability; the basis for our existence only to be reified in arbitrary metaphors—even string theorists will tell you that “strings” are just the best metaphor they came conjure—and we are stuck in this self-privileged perspective by which we interact with the universe. I think about the incredibly miniature, the infinite regress of sub-atomic matter and the indomitable vastness of a star, not even ours, ours isn’t even that large and my head begins to spin. In every story, Calvino harps on this inability for any of us to really understand the incredible nature of the universe. I have no way of even picturing how vast the universe is; the speed of light—186,000 miles per second—still takes some 100 million years to travel between stars. If an atom were extrapolated to the size of a solar system, a string would be the size of a tree on earth. I struggle to even conceive of this and all the while I envy the certainty of preachers, religious fundamentalists or any person with a disposition for staunch certainty. They have, within their understanding, this entire universe, which we lack the vocabulary and imagination to even properly represent, subsumed under a single, perfect explanation. It causes them not a single shred of doubt or uncertainty; it is completely beyond me.

My only solace is indulging in what I love: reading, writing, learning, and most especially literature, like this beautiful book. I am overcome with gratitude and astonishment for having a brain and consciousness capable of appreciating this ever-confounding reality we call home and Calvino, for making it so damn wonderful and fun.

[fคrຊคຖ.tຖ · Rating 4 out of 5]

متفاوت‌ترین کتاب داستانی که تا به حال خوندم! واقعا این حجم از نوآوری در تخیل جای تحسین داره 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 ولی اثری هست که به شدت می‌تونه سلیقه‌ای باشه و هرکسی خوشش نیاد.
 درباره کتاب: مجموعه داستان‌های کوتاهی که از زبان موجودی ازلی به اسم Qfwfq ِتعریف می‌شن. داستان‌ها، خاطراتِ او از وقایعی در تاریخ جهان هستی است. (باچاشنی طنز😁)

[Paul Bryant · Rating 1 out of 5]

I guess if there was nothing on tv and you were bored your mind might start wandering and you might possibly conceive that a civilisation of very tiny unicorns called Gzz and Tjsdfh might live up my arse but you wouldn't want to write a damn book about it, would you. However thin the book might be.

[Argos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Okuduğum kitap Can Yayınları 1999, (3.baskı), içinde 12 öykü var. Sanırım YKY çıkan baskısı daha geniş. Her öykünün girişinde bilimsel bir gerçeklik anlatılıyor.

“Kozmokomik Öyküler” hangi türe ait kabul edilmekte bilmiyorum ama bence “komik bilim kurgu” diye yeni bir türe ait olsun. Bilim ile fantasya mizah ile harmanlanmış öykülerde. Kitabin kahramani olan “qfwfq” dünya ve uzay hakkında herşeyi bilir, galaksiler, dinozorlar, jeolojik dönemler, yıldız sistemleri ve diğer herşey ondan sorulur sanki.

Calvino bilimsel olarak kabul gören evrenin oluş teorisine hikayelerle katkı sunuyor sanki. “Varoluş” diye bas bas bağıran yeryüzündeki insanın evrende, kosmosda nasıl da küçük nasıl da komik olduğunu müthiş mizahi kalemiyle anlatıyor. Kendisi “Ayın Uzaklığı” öyküsünü en “gerçeküstücü” bulduğunu, diğer öykülerinde bilimsel çıkış noktasıyla daha örtüşen bir fikrin yön verdiğini olay örgüsüne ama bu fikre her zaman bir düş, bir duygu kılıfı geçirilmiş olduğunu söylemektedir (Amerika Dersleri s.101, YKY)

Kitabı okurken hep S. Hawking ile I. Calvino “evren” hakkında nehir söyleşi yapsalardı acaba ne olurdu diye düşündüm. Biri bilimsel diğeri mizahi potansiyel olarak “genius” iki kişi.

Çok özel bir yazar Calvino, geç keşfettim ama sağlam keşfettim.

SENİ GÖRDÜM ,
NOLMUŞ YANİ ?

[Ehsan'Shokraie' · Rating 4 out of 5]

کمدی های کیهانی را در روز هایی میخوانم که تراژدی های زمینی یک به یک رخ می دهند..در روز هایی 2انسان بار دیگر در فضا هستند..روزهایی که بیشتر از همیشه تعفن خرافات تعصب و ابتذال مشام را ازرده می کند,و در روزهایی که طبیعت اطراف من میسوزد..درختان میسوزند,حیوانات می سوزند,زمین می سوزد,اینان دیگر تحمل زهر دائمی وجود بشریت را ندارند..کمدی های کیهانی بیش از هر چیز مرا به تفکر در گذر زمان واداشت..هزاران سال,میلیون ها سال از عمر زمین گذشته..اما چه وحشت ها که زمین در طی حیات کوتاه نفرین بار انسان به خود ندیده..زمین,سیاره ای که در ارامش سبز و ابی خود خفته..امروز ذره ذره جام زهر وجود انسان را می چشد..میلیون ها سال زندگی و حیات بر سطح خود دیده اما امروز از زمین خون جاری ست..خونی حاصل از زخم های کاری انسان..زمین هرگز کینه نمی ورزد..مکار یا که جبار نیست..زمین اسوده خاطر است..که ان روز که به ملاقات نابودی خود بشتابد,می داند,می داند که انسان را نیز خواهد برد..مرگی با شرافت,پایان شهید وار زمین که روز به روز نزدیک تر می شود

[Trevor · Rating 4 out of 5]

I started this book years ago and then forgot I’d started it. It’s an odd little book. A bit like a series of modern-day myths based around our ‘scientific’ understandings of the universe.

Generally, the characters aren’t actually human, but we are talking anthropomorphic characters all the same. Sexual desire, unrequited love, trying to leave your mark. A lent a friend Mitchell’s The Last Dinosaur Book and she mentioned that one of the stories in this is about a dinosaur. I remember knowing that too. It is perhaps one of the better stories in the collection. It has themes I’m particularly interested in – how the ‘cultural Other’ is defined, how their definition changes with time, sometimes to opposites, how they are mostly an object of fear, even while we mock them. The story of the woman on the moon is also a lovely thing. I felt some of these were not as well realised as the others. Falling forever in parallel lines or waiting for the galaxy to make a complete cycle. But Calvino is Calvino.

[Aslı Can · Rating 5 out of 5]

Okuduğum en yaratıcı metinlerden birisi oldu sanırım. Bir öykü kitabı ve her öykünün anlatıcısı aynı, belki de bir roman bile denebilir. Anlatıcımız, evrenin başından-hatta daha evren bile yokken- günümüze kadar her koşulu yaşamış Qfwfg adlı bir arkadaş. Her öykü bilimsel bir alıntıyla başlıyor ve Qfwfg de alıntıda bahsedilen dönemde geçen bir anısını anlatıyor bize. Evren yavaş yavaş oluşur, güneş bir soğuyup bir ısınırken Qfwfg de ayrılık acıları ve yeni koşullara adapte olmaktaki sıkıntılarını anlatıyor bize.

Eğlenceli bir kitap. Yine de İtalo Calvino okurken hep biraz tetikte olmak lazım çünkü en basit cümlelerden bile beklenmedik alt anlamlar çıkabiliyor.

Bi de ek not: Kitap bütün kozmokomik öykülerin bir derlemesi olduğu için yarıdan sonra tekrar eden öyküler var. O yüzden belli bi yerden sonra sıkılmaya başlayabilirsiniz okurken ama sabredin derim, en sevdiğim öykülerden biri olan Ay Kızları kitabın bu son yarısındaydı.

[Miss Ravi · Rating 4 out of 5]

«نه آن شب، نه شب‌ها و روزهای بعد او را پیدا نکردم. جهان همچنان در اطرافم رنگ‌های تازه‌ای می‌گرفت. ابرهای صورتی متراکم می‌شدند و توده‌های بنفشی به وجود می‌آوردند که صاعقه‌های طلایی پرتاب می‌کردند. بعد از رگبار رنگین‌کمان‌های طولانی رنگ‌هایی را با انواع ترکیب‌ها نشان می‌دادند که تا آن زمان هیچ‌کس ندیده بود. کلروفیل هم ‌دیگر وارد عمل شده بود. خزه‌ها و سرخس‌ها درهّ‌های سیلابی را سبز کرده بودند. در مجموع صحنه‌ای بود که با زیبایی او جور در می‌آمد اما او آن‌جا نبود و بدون او تمام این تجملات رنگارنگ به نظرم مثل اسرافی بی‌مورد می‌رسیدند.»


فکرش را بکنید که هیچ‌کدام از داستان‌ها در فضای واقعی و قابل انتظارمان رخ نمی‌دهد اما تا دل‌تان بخواهد، موضوع داستان‌ها نزدیک به احساسات و رفتارهای انسانی ماست. دلتنگی برای معشوقی که بعد از شکل‌گیری اولیه‌ی رنگ‌ها، به قعر زمین گریخت، جایی نزدیک به هسته آن و وقتی عاشق برای یافتن‌اش به دل زمین سفر کرد، دریافت که معشوق او زیباتر از همه‌ی رنگ‌هاست و عجیب نیست اگر نخواهد زمین را با آن شقایق‌های سرخ در سبزی دشت تماشا کند. انگار قصه‌ی آدم‌ها از ازل، از جایی قبل از بیگ‌بنگ و تشکیل هوا و فضا و ماده و قوانین فیزیک و نجوم همین بوده. دل‌باختن و دل‌تنگی. برای همین است که داستان‌ها جذاب‌اند و پر کشش. می‌توانستم در عین پیچیدگی و تازگی فضا –به‌خصوص با مهارت فوق‌العاده‌ی کالوینو در فضاسازی- همچنان ماجرا را دنبال کنم. چون حس همذات‌پنداری در من بیدار می‌شد. چون راوی داستان‌ها با آن اسم عجیب‌وغریبش که حتی گاهی بدن انسانی هم نداشت، خصلت‌هایی از خود بروز می‌داد که برایم آشنا بود. از این‌که در میانه‌ی خواندن «آنک نام گل» برای آسودگی خاطر اومبرتو اکو همچنان در ایتالیا ماندم و به سراغ کالوینو رفتم، خیلی راضی‌ام.

[Ali Karimnejad · Rating 3 out of 5]

سه ستاره فقط بخاطر ذوق و ابتکار نویسنده

شوخی‌های کیهانی مجموعه‌ای از داستان‌های کوتاه هستش که در اون نه با آدم‌ها بلکه با "چیز"‌هایی سر و کار داریم که به شکل کمابیش قابل قبولی جان‌بخشی شده. این "چیز"ها از ذرات تشکیل‌دهنده در لحظه مهبانگ که شدیدا کنار هم چپیدن شروع می‌شه و همین‌طور داستان به داستان به زمان‌های جلوتر می‌یاد. مِن جمله غبارهای کیهانی، ذرات تشکیل دهنده زمین، اولین موجودات زنده و ...ا

داستان‌ها به هم ربطی ندارن و هر داستان رو می‌شه مستقل و بدون رعایت ترتیب کتاب خوند. خود داستان‌ها هم سر و ته مشخصی ندارن. لزوما معنای خاصی هم ندارن بلکه صرفا موضوعات علمی هستن که دستمایه شوخی قرار گرفتن. این شوخی‌ها هم در عموما چارچوبهای مشابهی چون عشق دو تا نرم تن و درنتیجه شکل‌گیری اولین پوسته سخت، بازیگوشی دو تا غبار کیهانی و درنتیجه پیشروی فضا‌زمان، ماجرای مهاجرت آبزی‌ها و رفتن به خشکی و خلاصه شوخی‌هایی از این دست هستش.

کتاب معنای بخصوصی نداره و تمام ارزش این کتاب در لذتی هستش که خواننده ممکنه از این شوخی‌ها ببره. من بشخصه لذت چندانی از این شوخی‌ها نبردم ولی خوب این یک نظر شخصی هستش و شاید اگر منم این کتاب رو تو شرایطی خونده بودم که مغزم به لحاظ فکری اینقدر خسته نبود و اینقدر کم‌خوابی نمی‌داشتم شاید بیشتر از این کتاب خوشم میومد. با این همه، ذوق و ابتکار نویسنده واقعا قابل ستایش بود

[Roya · Rating 3 out of 5]

واقعا بامزه و خلاقانه بود.😼
باید امسال بیشتر از کالوینو بخونم.

[Madeleine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Calvino opened this beautiful little collection with "The Distance of the Moon," a tale from the days when the lunar landscape could be reached with nothing more than a ladder and some well-timed gymnastics, so it struck me as appropriate that I began reading “Cosmicomics” on the night of a full moon.

I had its richly resonant first two stories running through my head while driving home from work that evening. The first half of my commute is a journey illuminated by the artificial lights of both commerce and my fellow impatient motorists before giving way to a monotonous stretch of interstate road, offering precious few spots of gap-toothed skyline that allow the evening sky to break through; one of these infrequent openings offered a glimpse of the looming, swollen moon. The distortion of a full lunar sphere just beginning its ascent, an engorged orb hanging so low and heavy that she could pass for the grandest part of the man-made horizon, is one of my favorite displays offered by my favorite celestial phenomenon: I’ve had a particular affinity for the full moon ever since I discovered that unusually well-lit nighttime walks were the most reliable antidote for my teenage moodiness. The optical illusion that makes a low moon loom gigantically renders a familiar sight unusual, and stealing a few glances of it during my daily trek lent a tangibility to Calvino's story I wasn't expecting but didn't really surprise me. This would not be the first (and I sincerely doubt the last) time I couldn't help but apply Calvino's vision to a real-world occurrence.

These stories make the kind of sense that dreams do, in a way. While clearly mismatched words don’t rhyme upon waking as they do in nocturnal narratives and the person who represents a singular entity in sleep becomes an obviously symbolic amalgamation of strangers and forgotten friends once the dreamer is jarred into consciousness, the creation myths Calvino weaves into dazzling truths actually do hold up upon further examination, even if they do require the occasional suspension of disbelief; still, who’s to say the cosmos and the population that arose with it adhere to the same stringent reality we’ve come to accept?

While the formative years of the cosmic terrain -- the Earth and its lunar satellite included -- are decidedly alien in their lack of familiar concepts (just as our commonalities were novel then: "You understand? It was the first time. There had never been things to play with before. And how could we have played? With that pap of gaseous matter?"), the inhabitants' stumbling confusion about what's going on but solid certainty that whatever's happening is important didn't require a leap of imagination to understand. Calvino imbued his cast of nonhuman characters with decidedly human curiosity and incredibly human failings, which helps to ground an otherwise ethereal collection of interweaving tales in achingly relatable terms.

What struck me most about this book is how actively shameful impulses have shaped and driven self-aware creatures since, quite literally, there have been self-aware beings in a position to affect their environment. Those jealousies, those prejudices, and most of all those proud insecurities were allowed to reach a boiling point and bubbled into the external world. The effects weren't always catastrophic but they did leave lasting marks on the nascent universe. To consider that the universe as we know it (what we know of it, anyway) was crafted neither by a happy, scientifically explained accident nor the whim of just but avuncular deities, but rather some ordinary guy's selfish motives and a need to leave a cosmic "I wuz here" smear of existential proof is a perspective shift worth mulling over.

I still maintain that this is perfection in 153 pages. My second encounter with Calvino was just as fortuitous and spilled off the page into real life just as much as my first -- so much, in fact, that I bought another one of this books almost immediately upon finishing this one because I just want to glut myself on Calvino's unequaled prose. Simply, the man reminds me of what a magical experience a good book is and why reading has been one of my favorite pastimes for as long as it has. This is a quick read that demands the reader to pace him/herself to properly dwell on the densely packed splendor within.

[Rana · Rating 5 out of 5]

این کتاب یک مجموعه داستان خلاقانه با فضای خیلی متفاوته. داستانهایی که آدم‌هاش تحت تاثیر جاذبه‌ی ماه در مواقع خاصی از سطح زمین جدا میشن و میرن رو ماه و برمیگردن؛ داستانهایی که شخصیتاش از کهکشان‌های مختلف با چندین سال نوری فاصله با هم ارتباط برقرار میکنن و چندین میلیون سال منتظر جواب پیغام‌هاشون میمونن؛ داستان‌هایی که بعضی شخصیتاش خشک‌زی شدن و بعضی فامیل‌هاشون هنوز آبزی‌اند؛ داستان نرم‌تنی که اولین بار "دیدن" رو اختراع کرد؛ وَ وَ وَ.
خوندنش خوش گذشت و فضای متفاوتش خودش مثل یک خواب بود قبل از خوابیدن شب‌ها.

[Kristi Siegel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Italo Calvino, in Cosmicomics, writes a philosophical, pseudo-scientific fantasy that attempts, somewhat whimsically, to answer the kind of questions a child might pose: How did the earth begin? Where do we come from? How did language begin? The book charts the path of a character named Qfwfq who roams through emerging galaxies, romps with hydrogen atoms, and, in general, makes observations about an evolving universe.

Calvino’s book, a landmark of postmodern fiction, depicts a common postmodernist theme: i.e., the “literature of exhaustion,” the sense that we are surrounded by words, drowning in words, and—as a consequence—words are all used up and devoid of meaning. However, Calvino, writing back in the 1960s could hardly have known how prophetic his words would be when related to cyber-space.

In a chapter entitled “A Sign in Space,” Qfwfq, who is in the midst of whisking through the Milky Way, stops and innocently draws a sign, the first sign, in fact, at a point in space, so that he can find his way when he comes around again in about two hundred million years. Qfwfq points out that just the process of making the first sign itself involved considerable leaps of thought. He states that we think of a sign as “something that can be distinguished from something else” when, at that point in existence “nothing could be distinguished from anything …” and there were no previous examples to suggest what a sign might even be.

Qfwfq’s sign, though, creates difference. Where there had been empty space there was now a something, a sign, a symbol that had to be reckoned with. For a long time, his sign remains untarnished. Then, some 600 million years later, as Qfwfq makes his third circuit, he sees that his sign has been crossed out and another sign put next to it, a sign that was obviously a copy of Qfwfq’s original sign. With the sign, its erasure, and the counterfeit sign, the universe’s first dialogue begins. One-upmanship takes over and soon—at least in terms of galactic years—the signs and countersigns begin proliferating at a rapidly escalating pace. Finally, Qfwfq remarks nostalgically:

“In the universe now there was no longer a container and a thing contained, but only a general thickness of signs superimposed and coagulated, occupying the whole volume of space; it was constantly being dotted, minutely, a network of lines and scratches and reliefs and engravings; the universe was scrawled over on all sides, along all its dimensions. There was no longer any way to establish a point of reference.”

In 1965, Calvino could not have known that the mass of signs he describes clogging the universe was an uncanny prediction of the Internet itself where signs and sights/sites grow in increasing numbers in cyber-space. Calvino's tale parallels the type of world in which we now live. The Internet, without exaggeration, really is like a system of signs “superimposed and coagulated, occupying the whole volume of space.” While terms such as the "information highway" imply that the Internet is a gateway to knowledge, I wonder about the ability to concentrate, and achieve any type of knowledge - much less wisdom - in our tech-laden, data-riddled world.



From a prior publication

[K.D. Absolutely · Rating 3 out of 5]

Twelve totally enchanting tales about the evolution of the universe. This book is a good set of fanciful stories that a father can use to answer his son’s never-ending questions about the moon, the sun and everything up in the sky.

This is my third book by Italo Calvino and he still to disappoint me. Like Milan Kundera, he also does not re-write himself. He was a league of his own - writing about a unfinished manuscript being read by you, the reader - in If on a winter’s night a traveler. He looked back and went medieval and talked about tarot cards in A Castle of Crossed Destinies. Now, he looked up in the sky, brought out his astronomy book and wrote a book belonging to a sci-fi sub-genre called intellectual fantasy: his 1965 collection of short stories, Cosmicomics.

In the beginning, before the Big Bang, all the matter in the universe was concentrated in a single point. As his narrator Qfwfq says: ”Where else could we have been? Nobody knew then that there could be space. Or time either: what use did we have for time, packed in there like sardines?” Then Calvino tells his story about the creation of the universe just like the story in Genesis not in the way Moses (Genesis being the first book of Moses) but in a playful manner with his non-human characters whose names are mathematical symbols or algorithms doing out-of-this-world activities like putting ladder to climb up to the moon or throwing atoms just like how we threw balls up in the sky when we were kids. Calvino’s style here reminds me a lot of Salman Rushdie’s brand of magical realism not using real people (like G. G. Marquez) but more of make-believe characters that adds to the magic and uniqueness of the story. In fact, this is what Salman says about the book:

“I first read Cosmicomics in my early 20s, and it's a book I've gone back to again and again. It is possibly the most enjoyable story collection ever written, a book that will frequently make you laugh out loud at its mischievous mastery, capricious ingenuity and nerve.”

My favorite among the 12 stories is the first one: The Distance of the Moon where the moon and earth are still closed to each other and men can put up a ladder to climb to the moon. The close proximity of the moon and earth reminded me of the local legend told to us by our teachers here in the Philippines: that there was a man who had to use a wooden mortar and pestle to remove husk from the palay and produce rice. That every time he did that the sky became high and high until it became as far and high as it appears now.

The books reminds me that there is no boring topic only boring novelists. Who would have thought that there could still be interesting stories that can be told about the sky? Especially at night, when you look up and all you can see are darkness and some small blinking tired stars? There is nothing dated about the stories and because he based each story on actual astronomical facts, everything makes sense. Just use your imagination and ride with Calvino in his make-believe flight. Probably humming a bit of Sinatra’s Fly Me to the Moon might also add some spice while reading some of the stories.

[Rowena · Rating 5 out of 5]

Storytelling at its best. I rarely read anything as creative as this, I mean the book's narrator is someone (or something?) called Qfwfq, and other characters in the book include (k)yK, Kgwgk and Mrs. Ph(i)NKѲ! It's a collection of stories about the formation of the universe using scientific terminology and ideas so I guess to fully understand Calvino's genius, some knowledge of science (especially Physics, astronomy and Earth Science) is a good idea.

[امیرمحمد حیدری · Rating 5 out of 5]

این پنج ستاره را می‌دهم چون اثر آن‌قدر فوق‌العاده‌ست که ترجمه و ویراستِ ضعیف را هم از یاد می‌برد.
استادِ گفتن قصه‌های سخت، این‌بار در عصری که فیزیک کوانتوم مد شده، تمام فیزیک رو دست‌مایه‌ی گفتنِ سخت‌ترین قصه‌ها و بامزه‌ترین جوک‌ها می‌کند. از داستان موجوداتی که روی سحاب زندگی می‌کنند، درکی از زمان، مکان، اصابت اشیاء به هم، یا اصلاً خود اشیاء ندارند و شاهد بیگ بنگ هستند؛ یا جمعیتی که همگی دارند سقوط می‌کنند، بدون اینکه بفهمند واقعاً دارند سقوط می‌کنند یا دارند صعود می‌کنند؟ چون در فضا و در خلأ، بالا و پایینی وجود ندارد، و نقطه‌ی ارجاعی هم نیست که جهت حرکت‌شان را با آن بسنجند؛ یا داستانی از دایناسوری که از انقراض فرار می‌کند، یا نرم‌تنی که چشم و دیدن را مدیون اوییم. فوق‌العاده.

[Andrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this on route to Vietnam, sad to leave my half-read but weighty Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid at home. It was strangely a related interlude, a different look at the laws underpinning our universe and our reality. However the motivation of both authors was very similar - how do we as humans try to understand the complexity and wonder of the constraints and possibilities inherent in the structure of our reality? How does physics translate to our human experience, and how does our human experience affect our translation of physics? I was reminded of GEB's recursion - our experience affecting our reality which ths affects our experience - in this lies all possibilities within the boundaries of our physics.

And Calvino sees the limitless lyrical and beautiful possibilities of the human condition - hope, joy, sadness, loss, yearning, lust, anger, confusion, jealousy, arrogance, love, desire - all contained within our universe, which of course containes the observer.

Here he presents with deft touch whimsical, delightful observations in a style where A Brief History of Time meets Alice in Wonderland. This is not fantasy, this is not magical realism, it is sui generis - the best term I can think of is magical science. It is totally believable and so natural it seems real, not allegory.

This little book is a precious gem, each facet sparkling with suprise and wonder.

[Eylül Görmüş · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bu ara üst üste acayip güzel kitaplar okudum, edebiyat tanrıları beni gözetiyorlar sanırım, sağolsunlar. "Bütün Kozmokomik Öyküler" okuduğum kaçıncı Calvino kitabı bilmiyorum ama kendisine beslediğim hürmeti katbekat artırdığını söylemem lazım. "Bir Kış Gecesi Eğer Bir Yolcu"da gördüğümüz dehayı daha da somut şekilde resmen manifesto gibi önümüze koyuyor Calvino bu kitapta. Tanımlaması çok zor, tuhaf öyküler bunlar - antik dönem bilgeliğinden modern uzay bilimine uzanan bir havuzdan besleniyor, üstüne bolca bilim felsefesi boca ediyor, sonra tabii karşısında saygı duruşuna geçmek istediğim hayal gücünü ekleyip, her zamanki lezzetli diliyle anlatıyor da anlatıyor. Hakikaten pek acayip.

Adı üstünde, kozmokomik öyküler. Uzayın yeni oluştuğu zamanlardan, canlıların evrimleşme süreçlerinden, dünyamızın yaratılışından ve çürüyüşünden kalma hikâyeler; müthiş deneysel, zaman zaman okurun beynini zorlayan, son derece zeki, bence ziyadesiyle cesur, bir yandan da pek naif öyküler, yahut yetişkinlere masallar. Aya tırmananlar, yıldız patlamaları nedeniyle galaksiler arası seyahat etmek zorunda kalan göçmenler, suyu terkedip karada yaşama zamanı gelince direnen ilk canlılar, kendini gizlemek zorunda kalan dinozorlar var bu kitapta. Ne kadar heyecan verici şeyler bunlar ya; bunu yazabilmek, zamanı böylece eğip bükebilmek ne acayip bir meziyet.

Günler boyunca anlatıcımız Qfwfq amcamın dizine yatıp kendisinden milyarlarca yıl geride kalmış gençliğini ve çocukluğunu dinledim; kafam karıştı, şaşırdım, güldüm, heyecanlandım, korktum. Vallahi nefis bir deneyimdi. Qfwfq'in biz dünyalılara söylediği şu cümleyle bitireyim: "artık ayan beyan belli oldu ki, sizin yenginiz yenilgidir."

[Sakura87 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solo un appunto: questo libro ha il sapore del liceo, ma non un sapore aspro né sgradevole; la professoressa d’italiano lesse in classe uno di questi racconti, Tutto in un punto. E lo fece in maniera così graziosa, spiegandoci in modo così arguto la varietà di miti in esso sapientemente mischiati, primo tra tutti quello dell’indimenticabile Grande Madre con la sua vestaglia arancione e le sue tagliatelle, che adesso, a distanza di quattro anni, ho deciso di comprarlo - ritrovandoci dentro tutta la tenerezza di quella professoressa, che davvero amava la materia che insegnava.
Poi c’è chi dice che la scuola ammazza la voglia di leggere: il professore, è tutto in mano sua.