»Cosmicomics

Continuing the cosmological adventures I began earlier this week, I am re-reading Italo Calvino's beautiful and magnificent set of stories about the building blocks of the universe. With adventures such as aquatic trips to the moon (to collect its cheese, no less), the romance of evolving sea-creatures, and interstellar games of marbles, these stories use particles in love and galaxies in formation as the characters.

The narrator, Qwfwq, frames each of the stories; in some he appears as a character, in others he relates an episode from a relative's life: "Pitch-dark it was, —old Qfwfq confirmed,— I was only a child, I can barely remember it. We were there, as usual, with Father and Mother, Granny Bb'b, some uncles and aunts who were visiting, Mr. Hnw, the one who later became a horse, and us little ones." So begins "At Daybreak", a story about the condensation of matter and about how stars form.

The first story, "The Distance of the Moon", is among the most beautiful I have read: its charming premise has both hopeless romanticism and sheer adventure, and the name of Mrs Vhd Vhd the Captain's wife makes me laugh.