The Baron in the Trees
Cosimo, a young eighteenth-century Italian nobleman, rebels by climbing into the trees to remain there for the rest of his life. He adapts efficiently to an arboreal existence and even has love affairs. Translated by Archibald Colquhoun.
The Baron in the Trees Accessories
 If on a winter's night a traveler
Invisible Cities
The Nonexistent Knight and The Cloven Viscount
Cosmicomics
Difficult Loves
The Castle of Crossed Destinies
Mr. Palomar
Italian Folktales
Marcovaldo: or the Seasons in the City
The Leopard: A Novel
The Baron in the Trees Reviews
There's no conflict in this book, no story, and no humor. ( "Whimsy" being a very poor substitute for the latter). I do realize that Calvino is one of the truly unique voices of the twentieth century, a superb fabulist who, etc.-if Baron in the Trees is any indication, he's also a crap novelist. Just a boring character who climbs up a tree and decides to stay there. If that sounds silly and contrived to you, well, there you have it.
The comedy of Cosimo's family is narrated by his younger brother, Biagio, who serves as the "grounded" foil to the folly of his parents and siblings. After this memorable opening, however, any pretense of realism ends, because for the rest of his life Cosimo never touches solid ground again. Although heir to this substantial, if quirkily managed, estate on earth, Cosimo establishes his own kingdom in the trees for the duration of the Age of Enlightenment, and he acquires first a local fame as a judicious protector (guarding against vagabond pirates and adolescent riffraff) and then a continental notoriety as a cerebral wit. The boys' father is a bore "dominated by conflicting ideas" whose meek personality pales when set against the supremacy of the household's womenfolk.
Most young boys, presented with a plateful of boiled snails for dinner and forced to eat them, might well remove themselves from the dining roomjust as Cosimo takes to the trees as a rebellion against the screwball whims of his family. A bibliophile even in his skyward perch, Cosimo corresponds with Diderot, to whom he posits a constitution for the ideal state, a Republic of Arborea. Being not exactly of the world permits him the distance "to see the earth properly." ("Once it was only Nature that produced living phenomena," says a bemused Voltaire. One of Calvino's more popular (and most accessible) novels, the fairy-tale premise of "The Baron in the Trees" has occasionally been criticized for excessive cuteness, its farcical storyline often overpowering both its literary allusions and the seemingly haphazard references to seventeenth-century philosophy.
"Now `tis Reason.") Even Napoleon, on his way to Milan to be crowned, pays a visit to this modern-day Simon Stock. Behind the folly, however, is a Donne-inspired morality tale that argues ad absurdum that there is no escaping the world; even from the air, Cosimo is as much a part of society as the most animated man-about-town on the ground. (Of course, once all of humanity had taken to the trees, Cosimo would necessarily return to his solitary life on the now-deserted land). Their mother, the Generalessa, the daughter of the commander of the Holy Roman Empire's troops, has turned her household into a military camp, where even pieces of embroidery resemble maps "showing the disposition of battles in the Wars of Succession." Cosimo's tough-as-nails sister, Battista, doubles as the cook, serving up basted baby porcupines and rats' liver pate and spending "nights wandering the house in search of mice, holding a candelabra, with a musket under her arm.".
Goes great with coffee. If you were put off by If on a Winter's Night a Traveler, try this more traditional novel. A great deal of fun. One of Calvino's more accessible works, too.
He's happy just to have friends, books, and his own private kingdom. And one of his most polished, reader-friendly stories was "Baron in the Trees," a fable about a nobleman who lives his whole life in a tree. Yes, it sounds weird but the result is sweet, uplifting and full of childlike wonder. Italo Calvino was one of the most underrated maestros of magical realism, where atoms fall in love and empty suits of armor walk and talk. Cosimo himself is a relatively distant character, since the whole book is through the eyes of his otherwise-unimportant brother. And he did, from his adolescence up to old age, becoming famous as the Baron in the Trees. Calvino's lush, detailed writing is always full of a child's wonder, and he sounds like he's living his own fantasies as he describes how Cosimo manages to sleep (a sort of fur cocoon), store his possessions and fall in live.
A young nobleman, Cosimo, was enraged when his eccentric sister made dinner out of his pet snails. Even at the death of his parents, he remained in the trees nearby, watching and helping but not coming down. But even if you take it at face value, "Baron in the Trees" is an enchanting little story.
Even when the Baron dies, he finds a way to ascend even higher. A sweet, quirky fable about a young man who just won't come down to earth, "The Baron in the Trees" is a truly enchanting read. But he is surrounded by equally quirky characters his Jesuit-phobic father, "general" mother, creepy disgraced sister, and an array of book-loving bandits, odd priests, and peasants who get used to the tree-dwelling Baron.
Without leaving the trees, he manages to hunt animals, educate himself with great philosophers, adopts an abandoned dog, lends bestselling books to a local bandito, battles pirates who are conspiring with his uncle, has an affair with a promiscuous Marchesa, and even lives with a band of tree-dwelling Spanish exiles. But Calvino manages to convey the bittersweetness of Cosimo's life: While he loves his odd life, he also knows that it alienates him from the rest of the world and leaves him alone. "Baron in the Trees" is a whimsical little story on the surface, until you look deeper at the message of "living in trees." Cosimo removes himself from the ground, and also removes himself from the worries of ordinary people social position, power, material goods.
while never stepping out of the tree. So when his father ordered him to eat, he ran up a tree and swore to stay there forever.
Have fun. A beautiful fairy tale of a book. Don't know what else to say. If you're into John Crowley, Borges, Ray Bradbury, or the Brothers Grimm, then you'll love this book. It's original, without stinking of Cleverness. It never devolves into heavy-handed allegory. You'll probably love it anyway.
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