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A review by dude_watchin_with_the_brontes
The Nonexistent Knight & The Cloven Viscount by Italo Calvino
2.0
None of the dreamy quality of Invisible Cities or the off-kilterness of Mr. Palomar. It's a pretty good parody of knights-in-armor tales, but I just couldn't get into it.
I also wonder how much translation comes into it. This one was translated by Archibald Colquhoun, whereas the other two I've read were translated by William Weaver. The writing in The Nonexistant Knight was much more clunky than in the others, and I'm not sure how much is because it was early in Calvino's career, and how much is because Conquohoun is not as good with words. Everything sounded very stilted, and I'm not sure if it was on purpose or not, but it was very distracting.
I also wonder how much translation comes into it. This one was translated by Archibald Colquhoun, whereas the other two I've read were translated by William Weaver. The writing in The Nonexistant Knight was much more clunky than in the others, and I'm not sure how much is because it was early in Calvino's career, and how much is because Conquohoun is not as good with words. Everything sounded very stilted, and I'm not sure if it was on purpose or not, but it was very distracting.