The Baron in the Trees

This book encourages the imagination. It is such a wonderful read. I recommend this read to anyone who likes to dream a little and loves to get carried away in a good fairytale. This is for youngens just as much as it is for grown ups.

Jonathan Black mentions Italo Calvino as one of those many modern writers who have followed mystical and esoteric philosophy ( The Secret History of the World ) and this is clearly a novel that can be read at multiple levels. It is a fable about a Baron who as a youth climbs into the trees and never descends for the rest of his life; but it is also about the ideas of the Enlightenment and Romanticism. Our tree-bound Baron, Cosimo, succeeds in being inspired by the Enlightenment, which was transforming society around him (this is the time of Voltaire and the French Revolution), and also by Romanticism, its antithetical spirit. He is practical, grounded in spirit and ingenious, yet at the same time a visionary who floats above the ground. That makes him the type for the Alchemical philosopher-king. But such deeper meanings are lightly worn and it is easy to treat this as nothing more (or less) than a delightfully told fable. The Secret History of the World

A Calvino's excellent 'divertimento'. Shadowing the Philosophical novel of the Enlightenment period Calvino imagines that a guy (the Count Cosimo) not happy with the family and world environment decides to live in the trees (Cosimo is twelve and it is running the year of 1767) During a period of 53 years since Cosimo's jumping we will follow the development of a personality that will be always in touch with his epoch. Through this period the rebel has correspondence with Diderot, Voltaire a longing for Rosseau theories and even a short visit of Napoleon.During the narrative Calvino, always with a unfleeting sense of humour, entertains us with the adventures of Cosimo: his interactions with the inhabitants of his country,his survival and self improvement strategies and his love affairs. The Enlightenment issues are expressed: it is at the same time hilarious and pertinent the romantic criticism to this period that is present at the lover affair between Cosimo and Viola (his first and unforgettable love). All the novel is punctuated with an empathy for the main characters and their beliefs but added with a salt of irony that the two hundred years of distance implies. Maybe not the best of Calvino but anyway a very amusing and interesting narrative.

This is my first entry in to Italo Calvino's work (next up is "If on a Winter's Night a Traveller") and I am keen to experience more. The story itself throws you back in to childhood and the thrill of tree climbing but, then takes you on a voyage that is about life and therefore takes you in to places, both comfortable and uncomfortable, of your own existence. Without getting too deep about it all, it is simply a good read, there is a tinge of sadness about the impossibility of life and perhaps, the way we over complicate our own lives (like this review!). However, it is not a "sad" book but, a celebration of the simplicity and passion of good storytelling. Enough said, I sound like a pompous git ... read it and enjoy it for all all the possibilities it brings.

Excellent book showing the wonderful imagination of the writer to, from simple premises, created a magical tale about individuality, principle and independence.