Aerial perspectives, detours and discrete spaces. The archipelago of imaginary places from Ariosto to Calvino (and more)

Abstract

The paper focuses on the dichotomy between places of memory and place of imaginary in Ludovico Ariosto’s Orlando furioso. The narration of exploded times and discrete worlds is provided through a reading by Italo Calvino across mental geometries, with hints to Franco Vaccari’s conceptual art and Luca Ronconi’s television and theatre experimentations. The “aerial” perspective of the poem is compared to the nihilistic and introspective elsewhere in Invisible Citiesand its characters come alive, escaping and returning, as well as in the stories told by the Tarots in The Castle of Crossed Destinies.