“The scope of an epigram”
Quickness, Magic, and Marcovaldo’s Environmental Eye
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 22005432 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Gioia Woods (corresponding author) |
| Year | 2023 |
| Volume | 12 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Publication date | 2023-10-11 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | California Italian Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2155-7926 • E-ISSN: 2155-7926 |
| Publisher | California Digital Library (CDL) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.5070/c312159012 |
| OpenAlex | W4387569925 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 8 |
"Quickness," the second lecture collected in Six Memos for the New Millenium, is an essential value linking the old and new millennium. In this essay, I examine how "quickness" is deployed in Italo Calvino’s celebrated Marcolvaldo stories, giving special attention to the primary elements of quickness: enchantment and attachment. Herein I suggest how quickness communicates impending cultural and environmental catastrophe and the slow violence wrought by consumer capitalism. Positioned as he was during the Great Acceleration-the post-war period of rapid growth during which human action overtook other earth systems as the main governing factor in global processes-Calvino’s recommendation for quickness has special urgency for us as we move further into the Anthropocene
Anthropocene · Art · Environmental ethics · Computer Science · Gothic Literature and Media Analysis · History · Italian Literature and Culture · Philosophy
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |