Italo Calvino and dust

Matter, imagination, identity

Abstract

Italo Calvino and Dust. Matter, Imagination, Identity. Calvino sporadically uses the figure of dust. However, it is neither marginal nor harmless. Dust is a metaphor for a material that disintegrates and contradicts all apparent solidity; it is a curtain that inhibits vision and the transparency of the gaze, yet Calvino also considers it to be the substance of which imagination is made. This article mainly focuses on some of Calvino’s later writings, such as Collezione di sabbia and Palomar.