That Which Is Not Hell
“The hell of the living is not something that will be,” Italian author Italo Calvino wrote in his novel The Invisible Cities (1972).
By The Empty Square
“The hell of the living is not something that will be,” Italian author Italo Calvino wrote in his novel The Invisible Cities (1972).
“If there is one, it is what is already here, the hell we live in every day, that we make by being together. There are two ways to escape suffering it. The first is easy for many: accept the hell, and become such a part of it that you can no longer see it. The second is risky and demands constant vigilance and apprehension: seek and learn to recognize who and what, in the midst of hell, are not hell, then make them endure, give them space.”
Calvino wrote of Venice, but in essence he told us of the world and challenged our ability to imagine change. Not only in the way that we coexist as cities, countries, and societies but also in our micro-actions and gestures towards each other. Has Calvino’s challenge lost its edge? If not, how can we, in the midst of Hell, imagine change? How can we set out to create places that nourish the mind, build new bonds, and heal broken souls?
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