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selaginello's review against another edition
challenging
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
anto's review against another edition
3.0
El smog, que proviene de la unión de las palabras en inglés «smoke» (humo) y «fog» (niebla), se trata de una forma de contaminación atmosférica debido, principalmente, a las emisiones de los coches, de fábricas e incluso a la combustión de carbón.
Este es el primer libro que leo de Italo Calvino en este año del centenario de su nacimiento. Cronológicamente también es uno de los primeros (1963). Es la historia de un periodista anodino, algo de lo que él se encarga de recordar, que llega a una ciudad donde la contaminación del smog está tomándolo todo sin que a nadie le importe mucho. Me ha dado por pensar cuando empezó a usarse el término smog. En inglés se popularizó en los años 40, pero en español no lo tengo claro. El caso es que me sorprende que en italiano se usara en los 60, aunque fuese solo en ciertos ámbitos como el periodístico.
Es una novela corta interesante por el punto de vista de un protagonista aburrido, disciplinado y celoso de su intimidad, pero sin ningún interés, salvo el que despierta cuando va acompañado de Claudia, la modelo por la que todos giran la cabeza.
Este es el primer libro que leo de Italo Calvino en este año del centenario de su nacimiento. Cronológicamente también es uno de los primeros (1963). Es la historia de un periodista anodino, algo de lo que él se encarga de recordar, que llega a una ciudad donde la contaminación del smog está tomándolo todo sin que a nadie le importe mucho. Me ha dado por pensar cuando empezó a usarse el término smog. En inglés se popularizó en los años 40, pero en español no lo tengo claro. El caso es que me sorprende que en italiano se usara en los 60, aunque fuese solo en ciertos ámbitos como el periodístico.
Es una novela corta interesante por el punto de vista de un protagonista aburrido, disciplinado y celoso de su intimidad, pero sin ningún interés, salvo el que despierta cuando va acompañado de Claudia, la modelo por la que todos giran la cabeza.
punkstronomer's review
4.0
Siempre una delicia Calvino. Esta es una obra más bien menor sin grandes ambiciones (aunque es ambicioso realmente alguno de sus libros?), pero con toda su elegancia, su capacidad observadora que lo emparenta con Perec, su humor tan fino. Creo que Calvino es mi verdadero crush de los últimos años :)
psr's review
4.0
This review is for 'Smog', the English translation of Calvino's novella.
What an odd tale this is (but then, it is Calvino). The closest relation to it I've encountered among the maestro's works (and I've read most of them) is 'The Argentine Ant'. The protagonist moves to a new town where he encounters a menace with which the inhabitants have learnt to co-exist - fog/dust ('Smog'), hordes of ants ('The Argentine Ant'). Beyond that, I've read nothing else like it.
The protagonist leads a relatively easy life. He edits a magazine, Purification, sponsored by a rich industrialist, dedicated to solving the problem of smog but which nobody reads. And yet he is angst-ridden - about his posh girlfriend from another city discovering the circumstances in which he lives, about having to talk to the other regulars at the cheap restaurant where he takes his meals, about the constant noise from the cafe-bar below his rented room, about the dust.
The people around the protagonist find ways of ignoring the degraded condition of their world. His girlfriend, Claudia, pretends to see neither the dust in the city nor the semi-squalor in which he lives. His colleague, Avandero, runs from the city every weekend to go skiing, seeking the purity of the pure white mountain snow. His boss, Commendatore Corda, asserts that the pollution problem will be solved, without appearing to do anything about it. His dining acquaintance, Omar Basaluzzi, escapes into the fantasy of Marxist revolution.
The ending is bizarre and beautiful, finishing up in the countryside among acres of clean white bed linen. As for the meaning, I guess there's a morality tale in there about the perils of accommodation and inaction. I suspect it also reflects Calvino's unease about the state of our modern cities.
What an odd tale this is (but then, it is Calvino). The closest relation to it I've encountered among the maestro's works (and I've read most of them) is 'The Argentine Ant'. The protagonist moves to a new town where he encounters a menace with which the inhabitants have learnt to co-exist - fog/dust ('Smog'), hordes of ants ('The Argentine Ant'). Beyond that, I've read nothing else like it.
The protagonist leads a relatively easy life. He edits a magazine, Purification, sponsored by a rich industrialist, dedicated to solving the problem of smog but which nobody reads. And yet he is angst-ridden - about his posh girlfriend from another city discovering the circumstances in which he lives, about having to talk to the other regulars at the cheap restaurant where he takes his meals, about the constant noise from the cafe-bar below his rented room, about the dust.
The people around the protagonist find ways of ignoring the degraded condition of their world. His girlfriend, Claudia, pretends to see neither the dust in the city nor the semi-squalor in which he lives. His colleague, Avandero, runs from the city every weekend to go skiing, seeking the purity of the pure white mountain snow. His boss, Commendatore Corda, asserts that the pollution problem will be solved, without appearing to do anything about it. His dining acquaintance, Omar Basaluzzi, escapes into the fantasy of Marxist revolution.
The ending is bizarre and beautiful, finishing up in the countryside among acres of clean white bed linen. As for the meaning, I guess there's a morality tale in there about the perils of accommodation and inaction. I suspect it also reflects Calvino's unease about the state of our modern cities.
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