The Watcher and Other Stories

Although by no means the best of Calvino's writing, these three stories still have much to recommend them. 'The Watcher' is essentially an extended commentary on politics, religion and the human condition, told through the story of an election observer who is a devoted member of the Communist party. His post is at a voting station in an church-run asylum, where he struggles to identify how his...more

Although by no means the best of Calvino's writing, these three stories still have much to recommend them. 'The Watcher' is essentially an extended commentary on politics, religion and the human condition, told through the story of an election observer who is a devoted member of the Communist party. His post is at a voting station in an church-run asylum, where he struggles to identify how his principles should direct him when certain of the patients/inmates are sent up to vote. Are they capable of the decision? Does he trust his own, politically coloured, judgement on this over that of the politico-religiously motivated asylum staff? The story had much to say, and there were gems within it, but I have to confess I found it a trudge. Smog was certainly more readable, with a central character I could more identify with, but still lacked the compelling nature of much of the other Calvino I have read. The final story, The Argentine Ant, I found by far the best. A couple and their young baby move into a new house in South America but soon discover that the entire area is infested with ants. Their neighbours each have their own avowed methods of trying to deal with the problem: from pretending it not to exist, to smothering their properties with ineffective powders and chemicals, to creating ingenious traps. But what of the mysterious man from the Argentine Ant Control Corporation? Is there really poison in the molasses he religiously puts down? It is at once a simple tale of a very earthy struggle of humans against ants, and at the same time an examination of how humans respond to the problems that confront them - subtly suggesting that if we dig deep enough, we may find that we ourselves are the root cause of many of our struggles.   hide