The Watcher And Other Stories (1975) - Plot & Excerpts
Calvino’s three short stories ‘The Watcher’, ‘Smog’ & ‘The Argentine Ant’ are easily digestible, imaginative and brilliant. I have heard that these stories do not show Calvino at his best and this makes me feel excited about his other work and also terribly humbled. I must read more Calvino. "The Watcher" is my favourite and tells the story of Amerigo Ormea, a poll watcher for the Communist party at an institution for the ‘incurables’ in Turin, during the national election of 1953. Amerigo observes these 'poor creatures' -who have a range of disabilities – as they exercise their voting rights in a gross parody of the democratic process. The insane, the senile and the comatose are eligible to vote, and are assisted by the Nuns at the institute who invariably cast the actual vote. Amerigo muses and ponders ‘at what point is a human being human’ while he watches the events of the day play out and questions his own deep underlying moral structure. 'they would remember that humanity could be a different thing, as in fables, a world of giants, an Olympus......As we do: and perhaps, without realising it, we are deformed, backward, compared to a different, forgotten form of existence.'I know very little about the Italian communist party or the actual events of the 1953 election but it would seem that the vision of an ideal party and the ideology and personality of each individual communist, is exampled through Amerigo. However, it was not the politics of the story that captured me. It was the study of the events at the polling station, the dispassionate musings and matter of fact statements by Amerigo written in piercing prose that cut me to the bone. "What is this need of ours for beauty? Amerigo asked himself. Is it an acquired characteristic, a linguistic convention? And what, is physical beauty? A sign, a privilege, an irrational stroke of luck. Or is it a gradually shifting model we invent for ourselves, more historical than natural, a protection of our cultural values?"
The title story, about a member of Italian Communist Party assigned to observe voting at a hospital for "incurables," is a breath-taking story! It's much darker in tone than typical Calvino story -- at least ones in Difficult Loves and Marcovaldo -- but retains the quintessential Calvino compassion and humanity. Scene with elderly peasant father sharing almonds with his brain-damaged son is a microcosm of the story's quietly moving tone.(I'm jumping around in my reading some these days, so it might be a while before I get back to the other 2 stories in this collection for a final review. Nonetheless, the title story alone makes it worth reading.)
What do You think about The Watcher And Other Stories (1975)?
