Themes

　major functions:

• laughter
• terror (false function: crying)
• journey—adventure—initiation—disorientation
• Eros
• the obscene
• aggression—violence—hatred
• riddle
• reintegration of justice—reparation for a wrong—redemption—metamorphosis that establishes a new order

　narrative strategy:

• beginning
• end
• suspense
• time
• “rhymes” in fiction
• “stanzas” in fiction

　symbolic places:

• the forest
• the house
  • house from outside
  • house from inside
  • familiar house
  • hostile house
  • familiar house that becomes hostile
• the city
• Eden
• Hell
• journey of initiation (elsewhere—purgatory)
• the desert
• the crowd
• real places (what they can mean as novelistic and symbolic places): Chicago, Rome, Milan, Shanghai, sewers, the concentration camps, school, the stock exchange, et cetera

　institutions:

• description
• landscape
• how things are done (technical handbooks)
• dialogue
• conversation
• the definition of a character (human types)
• meditation
• monologue
• the dimension of memory

　the I:

• Saint Augustine
• Stendhal

　the character as:

• object of identification
  • exciting
  • narcissistic
  • ironic
• object of desire
• object of loathing
  • dramatic
  • comic
• protective figure
• threatening figure

　how to read:

• a spell
• a lullaby or nursery rhyme
• a myth
  • primitive
  • classical
• a fable
• a Buddhist legend
• a chanson de geste
• a historian
  • of antiquity
  • medieval
• a tragedy
• classical
  • Elizabethan
  • classicistic
• nineteenth-century serial novel
• romance novel
• nonsense rhyme
• news item
• police report
• car accident with compensation claim to the insurance agency
• memoirs of a general
• a “clinical case”
• how does the oral tradition survive today?
• the obscene joke
• the political joke

　thus all types of stories not in a narrative form:

• horoscopes
• gravestones
• bestiaries herbals lapidaries

　stories condensed into images:

• emblems
• genealogical trees
• rebus
• fortune-telling
• ex-votos
• the plates illustrating arts and crafts in the Encyclopédie

　major stylistic categories:

• anthropomorphism
• alienation
• linguistic aggression
• objectivity
• transparency—depth

　language:

• common language—personal language
• Italian
  • as a convention
  • as local moods
• the old-fashioned—the modern

　The various themes can be exemplified by:

• (a) new Italian novel (serialized?) commissioned ad hoc
• (b) recent foreign novel (serialized?) chosen ad hoc
• (c) little-known classic or old popular novel et cetera (anthologized and summarized?)
• (d) classic retold by a contemporary writer (commissioned)
• (e) anthologized examples with didactic framework
• (f ) bibliographical reviews

　In every issue there could be:

　　　　　　(I) TEXTS

• (1) an episode of a
• (2) an episode of b
• (3) an episode of c
• (4) a d

　　　　　　(b and c can be disregarded and can fill possible gaps in a. Anyway something new should begin in every issue. After three or four episodes, if the novel isn’t finished, we can break it off and send readers back to the book.)

　　　　　　(II) STORY AND NEWS STORY

• (5) a news item (death of Pinelli; Casati Stampa; Gadolla): three or more writers are asked to tell it
• (6) an area of Italian current affairs analyzed as a “narrative field”: characters, settings, roles, actions, vocabulary, et cetera (e.g., the judiciary; Reggio Calabria; immigrants), assigned to one or more journalists
• (7) an area of international current affairs analyzed in light of the meanings it has for us (e.g., Israelis-Arabs-Bedouins in mutual exchanges of oppressed-oppressor functions): assigned to a semiologist, a geographer, a sociologist, a historian, et cetera

　　　　　　(III) THEMES AND PROBLEMS

• Presentations of themes or genres (see the list of themes and “how to read”) with anthologies of examples and bibliographical surveys. These themes or genres should be sorted (in the same issue or alternating) according to the subject they are most relevant to:
  • (8) theme relevant to literature
  • (9) theme relevant to popular literature
  • (10) theme relevant to anthropology
  • (11) theme relevant to the current sociological-political context
  • (12) presentation of an author (with anthology and bibliography) (classic or popular or contemporary) relevant to one of the themes of the issue
  • (13) an author or a literary fact that has nothing to do with our themes in the rest of the issue (for example: Francis Ponge) to create a contrast, open a completely different horizon of reading, to demonstrate that we could also be wrong or that the important things are completely different

　　　　　　(IV) ILLUSTRATION

• (14) the great illustrators (from the nineteenth century), foreign and Italian
• (15) a contemporary graphic artist (invited to take up some pages with his offerings)
• (16) contemporary painters and the story: interview with a painter or sculptor (neo-Dada or Pop or neo-Expressionist, et cetera) to see the relationship of the artist’s figurative world with writing, narrative, et cetera

　　　　　　(V) THE BIBLIOPHILE—THE COLLECTOR

• The general orientation of taste is toward popular editions, not luxury editions; we turn toward the collector of old Sonzogno editions.
  • (17) how to collect books of … (editions on the market; foreign editions; antiquarian)
  • (18) presentation of a first edition of a classic that has a visual interest; or of a series; or of serialized novels et cetera
  • (19) presentation of a journal chosen from among the most important from the visual point of view (Minothaure) or thematically interesting (La Ruota, A. G. Bragaglia’s pantheist journal)

　Plan for a Journal. Italo Calvino.

　Translated by Ann Goldstein.