The Nonexistent Knight

"The Nonexistent Knight" (Italian: "Il cavaliere inesistente") is an allegorical fantasy novel by Italo Calvino, first published in Italian 1959 and in English translation in 1962. The novel tells the story of Agilulf, a medieval knight who perfectly exemplifies chivalry, piety, and faithfulness, but exists only as an empty suit of armor. It explores questions of identity, integration with society, and virtue.

Plot

"The Nonexistent Knight" is set in the time of Charlemagne, with some references to Orlando Furioso by Ariosto. The knight Agilulf is a righteous, perfectionist, faithful and pious knight with only one shortcoming: he doesn't exist. Inside his armor there is no man, just an echoing voice that reverberates through the metal. Nevertheless, he serves the army of a Christian king out of "goodwill and faith in the holy cause".

Characters

* Agilulfo, the nonexistent knight.
* Gurdulu, a mentally ill homeless man who become Agilulfo's sidekick.
* Rambaldo di Rossiglione, young noble who is obsessed with the idea of avenging his father by killing Emir Isoarre.
* Torrismundo,
* Bradamante, a female knight, from "Orlando Furioso".

Themes

Agilulf does not exist as a person, but only as the fulfillment of the rules and protocols of knighthood. This theme is strongly connected to modern conditions: Agilulf has been described as "the symbol of the 'robotized' man, who performs bureaucratic acts with near-absoluteunconsciousness."cite journal
journal=Romansk Forum |last=Hagen |first=Margareth |title=La seduzione del cavaliere inesistente |volume=16 |pages=875-885 |date=February 2002 |url=http://www.duo.uio.no/roman/Art/Rf-16-02-2/ita/Hagen.pdf |accessdate=2008-09-11]

The idea of confusion of one's own identity with others and the outside world continued to be developed in Calvino'slater works.cite journal |journal=The New York Review of Books |title=Fabulous Calvino |last=Vidal |first=Gore |date=May 30, 1974 |volume=21 |issue=9 |url=http://www.nybooks.com/articles/9491 |accessdate=2008-07-28]

Reception

"The Nonexistent Knight" was collected together with The Cloven Viscount and The Baron in the Trees in a single volume, Our Ancestors, for which Calvino was awarded the Salento Prize in 1960.cite book| title=Understanding Italo Calvino| last=Weiss |first=Beno |page=xiv |year=1993 |publisher=University of South Carolina Press |isbn=0872498581 |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=zRewK6x7HQUC |accessdate=2008-07-28] The book was adapted to film by the Italian director Pino Zac in 1970.cite book|last=Healy |first=Robin Patrick |title=Twentieth-century Italian Literature in English Translation |year=1998 |publisher=University of Toronto Press |page=126 |isbn=0802008003 |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=t7WVhymRPZEC |accessdate=2008-07-28]

References

*cite news |work=Time Magazine |title=Chivalry Unhorsed |date=August 10, 1962 |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,873734,00.html |accessdate=2008-07-28
*cite journal |journal=Ratio |title=Transcendence of the Ego (The Non-Existent Knight) |last=Van Fraassen |first=Bas C. |date=December, 2004 |volume=17 |issue=4 |pages=453-477 |doi=10.1111/j.1467-9329.2004.00265.x |url=http://www.princeton.edu/~fraassen/abstract/Transcendence-Fin.pdf |accessdate=2008-09-11
*cite book |last=McLaughlin |first=Martin |title=Italo Calvino |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |year=1998 |isbn=0748609172 |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=9i2QN8tIocEC |accessdate=2008-09-11