What I’ve come to realize about Italo Calvino is that he never disappoints the reader no matter what he writes. This is my third work by him, and although I enjoyed the previous two reads more than The Baron In The Trees, it was nevertheless interesting and entertaining in its own right.
The Baron In The Trees is a well written fantasy. It tells the tale of an adolescent who rebels with his orthodox family and leaves them to live in trees. From that moment onwards for the rest of his life, he lives in trees. Even in death, he lives up to his pledge of never setting foot on earth. Italo Calvino is a wonderful storyteller, so I had no hesitation in picking this book of which the premise had a greater attraction. I’m happy to say I wasn’t disappointed. The book held a certain charm on me.
Italo Calvino didn’t write in the genre of magical realism for just pleasure. I now know enough of him to understand that underneath the fairy tale, there is some deeper message that he is trying to convey to the readers. Therefore, I did some research before I read it. I’m glad to have done that for it shed a significant light on the story, helping me connect with it. According to my background reading, Calvino wrote this book primarily as a literary protest against deforestation that destroyed his beloved home city of San Remo, in the Italian Riviera. This led to another dominant theme of the role of an intellectual in post-war contemporary society.
Urban development came with heavy consequences for San Remo. Mass-scale deforestation was carried out to make way for new developments. New buildings rose and new vegetation grew, all with a commercial aim. Calvino wasn’t against development. Rather, he saw its necessity. What he was against was the excessiveness of the destruction, for it robbed the city’s beauty and injured nature. This is where the role of the intellectual comes to play. Calvino was of the view that intellectuals must write to enlighten the people about the importance of maintaining a respectful relationship with nature and its flora and fauna. Most of the scholars of his time viewed enlightenment as humans’ mastery over nature. Calvino completely rejected the view and aligned himself with 18th-century scholars Rousseau and Diderot in advocating for the protection of forests. While contemporary scholars completely objectified nature and its flora and fauna, treating them dismissively as materials for human usage, Italo Calvino stressed the need for nature’s right to protection and be respected as equals. In addition, The Baron In The Trees explores the need to break away from outdated orthodox conventions and reshape human relationships with social and natural worlds.
Italo Calvino’s works are complex. Readers according to their intellect and preference will interpret his stories in different ways. Even this novel may have more possible interpretations that I missed. But as Calvino himself said it didn’t matter how his works are interpreted so long as readers enjoyed his books.
Rating: 3/5
