Our Ancestors

Viscount Medardo is bisected by a Turkish cannonball on the plains of Bohemia; These three vivid images are the points of departure for Calvino's classic triptych of moral tales, now published in one volume and all displaying the exuberant talent of a master storyteller.

Viscount Medardo is bisected by a Turkish cannonball, Baron Cosimo retires to the trees for the rest of his days, and Agiluf the Knight is an empty suit of armour.

Our Ancestors brings together three surreal novellas set in distinct historical worlds across medieval and early modern Europe. In The Cloven Viscount, a nobleman returns from war as two separate beings, one cruel and one impossibly virtuous, leaving his community to suffer the consequences.

In The Baron in the Trees, a young aristocrat climbs into the branches of the Italian Riviera and refuses to touch the ground again, living out his life among the leaves while history moves below him.

In The Nonexistent Knight, a suit of armour fights in the army of Charlemagne, sustained only by will and duty.

Our Ancestors blends satire with fable, exploring how power, war and social expectation shape the self.

'The most magically ingenious of the contemporary Italian novelists' The Times

Contributor: Archibald Colquhoun (Translated by), Italo Calvino (Introduction by)

Translator: Archibald Colquhoun

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