Every point of each of us coincided with every point of each of the others in a single point, which is where we all were." Then a being named Mrs Ph(i)Nk0, the prototypical Italian mama, cried out, "Oh, if I only had some room, how I'd like to make some noodles for you boys!" And at once - wham! - there was room. "(We were) packed in there like sardines," Calvino's narrator says, using "a literary image: in reality, there wasn't even space to pack us into. Before the Bang, in pre-time and pre-space, things were pretty crowded. In "All at One Point," the Big Bang turns out to be the result of the first generous impulse. Then the moon started moving away, and lovers had to choose whether to return to Earth or remain trapped in the land of love. The setting of the story, especially that on Earth, only briefly described, allows the readers attention to be more easily drawn to the characters and their. It is possibly the most enjoyable story collection ever written, a book that will frequently make you laugh out loud at its mischievous mastery, capricious ingenuity and nerve.Īccording to Calvino's story "The Distance of the Moon," the moon was once so close to the earth that lovers could jump across to it and - literally moonstruck - tryst and dally on the shining satellite, which was, by the way, dripping with moon milk, a kind of cream cheese. I first read Cosmicomics in my early 20s, and it's a book I've gone back to again and again. Italo Calvino, in The Distance of the Moon, tells us of a time when the moon was much closer to the Earth, and could be reached by climbing a ladder: from the top of the ladder, standing erect on the last rung, you could just touch the Moon if you held your arms up. In 1965, the great Italian writer Italo Calvino - in a light, fantastic collection of 12 short stories, titled Cosmicomics - took on nothing less than the creation of the universe. Share this on Facebook (Opens in a new window) Share this on Twitter (Opens in a new window) Share this via Email. He is addicted to playing tennis and baseball on Nintendo Wii. Salman Rushdie's most recent book is The Enchantress of Florence.