I was doing some research on Calvino and read that he was part of the Italian resistance during WWII. I also read that he was involved in many “fantasy” writings earlier in his career, or before our current book. My question is do you think that going through war; especially at a time when war was much more hands on and brutal,( not that it isnt brutal now), had any psychological influence into why Calvino writes the way he does. I cant imagine any truly sane person being able to write as he does, do you think that if he had not been part of the resistance that he would be the same writer, did what he saw and what he experienced change him forever and bring something out in him that might not have been able to escape. We were talking about tormented writers in the last class and how one is either tormented or productive. It is my oponion that Calvino was both, but only because of his experiences during the 40’s. Would he be the same writer, was he the same writer before the war, did the war turn him from simply a productive writer to a tormented and productive writer? I suppose its impossible to tell, but interesting to ponder. Wes