53 pages • 1 hour read
Italo CalvinoThe Nonexistent Knight
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1959A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Background
Authorial Context: Italo Calvino and Fascism
Born on October 15, 1923, in Santiago de Las Vegas, a suburb of Havana, Cuba, Calvino would grow to become one of the most celebrated Italian writers of the 20th century, renowned for his intricate storytelling and philosophical depth. Raised in Italy, he experienced firsthand the political upheavals and social transformations of the early 20th century, including the rise of fascism and the devastation of World War II. According to Calvino, his father was a former anarchist who emigrated to Mexico to join the Ministry of Agriculture. The family returned to Italy in 1925 and lived on a small working farm. The forests, plant life, and environments of this period of Calvino’s life can he found throughout his writing. With parents who were sympathetic to socialist and anarchist ideologies, Calvino grew up hating the fascist party of Benito Mussolini, which rose to power during Calvino’s youth and whose government defined much of his early childhood. He studied agriculture in Turin in the 1940s, hiding his desire to be a writer from his family.
After World War II, Calvino became interested in politics and joined the workers movement in Turin. He abandoned his agriculture studies and turned to the arts, writing stories and studying literature. His first novel, The Path to the Nest of Spiders, was published in 1947 and was met with immediate acclaim. Calvino’s early work was decidedly Neorealist, seeking to portray the realities of Italian life. By the 1950s, however, his writing took a more fantastical turn. Stories such as The Cloven Viscount (1952) and Italian Folktales reimagined the past through an almost magical realist lens. The Nonexistent Knight is a product of this period of Calvino’s career.
One of the most striking aspects of Calvino’s writing is his penchant for experimentation with narrative forms. Calvino consistently challenged traditional storytelling conventions and expectations. Perhaps one of his most famous experiments in narrative structure is found in his novel If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler. Published in 1979, If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler is a metafictional novel that defies categorization. The novel begins with a reader attempting to read a book titled If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino, only to discover that the book is defective and contains only the first chapter. This begins a journey through a series of incomplete narratives, each promising a unique reading experience yet never fully realized.
In works such as Invisible Cities and The Nonexistent Knight, Calvino creates richly imagined worlds that defy the constraints of reality. In Invisible Cities, Calvino presents a series of vignettes describing imaginary cities, each with its own character and atmosphere. These cities exist only in the mind of the narrator, Marco Polo, as he recounts his travels to Kublai Khan. In The Nonexistent Knight, Calvino portrays an empty suit of armor which is given life by sheer force of will, as a nonexistent knight named Agilulf invests the armor with the seemingly-dead idea of chivalry. Contrasted against the Neorealist stories of Calvino’s youth, these more fantastical, surreal stories provide a contrast to the fascism and ideological fascination familiar to Italy in the mid-20th century. The depiction of unknowable lands, escapist imaginations, and hollow codes of belief are a response to Calvino’s experience of war and fascism.
Literary Context: Chivalric Romance
Originating in medieval Europe, chivalric romance flourished as a literary form that celebrated the virtues of knighthood, honor, and courtly love. Over the centuries, it evolved in response to changing social, political, and cultural landscapes. The roots of chivalric romance can be traced back to the medieval courts of Europe, where tales of heroic deeds and courtly love were told and retold by troubadours and minstrels. These early narratives often centered on legendary figures such as King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table, whose exploits embodied the ideals of chivalry and honor. The chivalric code, with its emphasis on bravery, loyalty, and service to one’s lord, became a defining feature of medieval society, influencing not only literature but also art, music, and social etiquette.
One of the most famous examples of medieval chivalric romance is the epic poem La Chanson de Roland (The Song of Roland) from the 11th century. Set against the backdrop of Charlemagne’s campaigns against the Muslim Moors in Spain (much like The Nonexistent Knight), the poem recounts the heroic deeds of Roland, a valiant knight who sacrifices himself in battle to save his comrades. La Chanson de Roland exemplifies the themes of honor, loyalty, and sacrifice that were central to the chivalric ethos, serving as a model for subsequent generations of writers and poets.
As Europe entered the Renaissance and the Enlightenment, the popularity of chivalric romance began to wane. The idea of chivalry remained alive in the collective imagination, inspiring writers and thinkers to revisit and reinterpret the themes and motifs of medieval romance. This resurgence of interest in chivalric ideals reached its peak in the 19th century, as writers sought to recapture the adventure, romance, and moral clarity that characterized the Medieval Period.
One of the key figures in the 19th-century reappraisal of chivalric romance was Sir Walter Scott, whose historical novels such as Ivanhoe and The Talisman breathed new life into the genre. Published in 1820, Ivanhoe tells the story of a Saxon knight, Ivanhoe, who fights against the tyranny of the Norman overlords in Medieval England. Drawing on elements of Medieval history and legend, Scott created a vivid and immersive world populated by knights, damsels in distress, and dastardly villains, capturing the imagination of readers and sparking a renewed interest in the medieval past.
The reappraisal of chivalric romance in the 19th century was not merely a nostalgic longing for a bygone era but also a response to the social and political upheavals of the time. As Europe grappled with the challenges of industrialization, urbanization, and social inequality, writers and intellectuals turned to the past for inspiration and guidance, seeking solace in the moral clarity and heroism of Medieval chivalry, even if these principles were largely fictional and projected onto an invented version of the past. In the works of Scott, Tennyson, and others, chivalric romance offered a vision of a more noble and virtuous age, a world where honor and integrity still held sway, as a means of making sense of their present through past values of honor.
The Nonexistent Knight functions as a reappraisal of the 19th century reimagining, portraying Charlemagne as a confused, elderly king, his knights as greedy fools, and the code of chivalry as a hollow set of rules which no one follows, save for the titular nonexistent knight.
Literary Context: The Holy Grail
The Nonexistent Knight features a group of knights who belong to the Order of the Holy Grail. The knights who search for the Holy Grail were a cornerstone of chivalric romances, particularly those involving King Arthur. The Holy Grail was a sacred relic imbued with mystical powers and spiritual significance. In Arthurian romantic poems, the Holy Grail serves as a powerful symbol of divine grace and redemption, embodying the quest for spiritual fulfillment and enlightenment. The earliest references to the Holy Grail can be found in Medieval French and Welsh texts, where it is depicted as a mysterious vessel used by Christ during the Last Supper or as the cup used to catch his blood during the Crucifixion. Over time, the legend of the Holy Grail became intertwined with the mythos of King Arthur, as writers such as Chretien de Troyes and Sir Thomas Malory incorporated it into their Arthurian romances.
One of the most famous Arthurian poems to feature the Holy Grail is Chretien de Troyes’s Perceval, the Story of the Grail, written in the late 12th century. In this tale, the young knight Perceval embarks on a quest to find the Holy Grail, guided by his desire to restore honor to his family and fulfill his destiny as a knight of the Round Table. Along the way, he encounters a series of challenges and temptations, testing his courage, loyalty, and piety. The Holy Grail in Perceval symbolizes the divine presence and the quest for spiritual enlightenment. It is described as a miraculous vessel that bestows blessings upon those who partake of its contents, offering healing, sustenance, and salvation to the pure of heart. For Perceval, the quest for the Holy Grail becomes a journey of self-discovery and redemption, as he learns to overcome his own shortcomings and embrace the virtues of humility, compassion, and faith.
Similarly, in Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur, the Holy Grail plays a central role in the story of King Arthur and his knights. Malory’s epic retelling of the Arthurian legend weaves together various strands of the Grail mythos, depicting it as a symbol of divine providence and the ultimate goal of knightly virtue. The quest for the Holy Grail becomes a test of the knights’ courage, purity, and devotion to God, as they set out on a perilous journey to seek the sacred relic and achieve spiritual enlightenment.
In chivalric romances, the Holy Grail takes on a broader significance, serving as a metaphor for the quest for meaning and purpose in life. As the knights embark on their quest, they encounter a series of trials and tribulations that test their mettle and challenge their beliefs. The Holy Grail becomes a symbol of hope and redemption, offering the promise of spiritual fulfillment to those who are deemed worthy. Yet, the quest for the Holy Grail is not without its pitfalls and temptations. Along the way, the knights must confront their own flaws and weaknesses, overcoming pride, greed, and ambition in order to achieve their goal. The Holy Grail becomes a mirror that reflects the true nature of the knights’ souls, revealing their innermost desires and fears.
Like much of the detail in The Nonexistent Knight, the role of the Holy Grail in the novel is to illustrate the exhausted nature of life at the end of an era. The Knights of the Grail are greedy parasites who demand food from the local peasants rather than work for themselves. They have entirely given up on searching for the Grail and have given themselves over to debauchery instead. They, like the idea of chivalry itself, are approaching the end of viable life.
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