Abstract

In 1985, Italo Calvino wrote a series of lectures (later published as ‘memos’) in which he proposed six values he deemed crucial to literature as it moved into the next millennium: lightness, quickness, ‘crystal’ exactitude, visibility, multiplicity, and consistency. Though never a writer of electronic literature, Calvino has frequently been associated or referenced in relation to digital works. J.R. Carpenter’s web-based work The Gathering Cloud (2016) (hereafter TGC) exhibits Calvino’s values. TGC is informed by Howard’s 1803 Essay on the Modifications of Clouds. Howard’s ‘frontispiece’ and five ‘plates’ are used in Carpenter’s web-based work. Poetry is then superimposed on these repurposed illustrations. Situated ‘within’ the poetry, animated gif collages play. Where Calvino in his memos writes that he considers the virtues of the binary opposites of his values (i.e., weight, lingering, ‘flame’ exactitude, ambiguity, singularity, and inconsistency) no less compelling, Carpenter’s work suggests that Calvino’s values (or rather the absence or removal of their binary opposites) are not only preferable in terms of contemporary literary challenges, but an ethical imperative in relation to environmental impact as it relates to contemporary media, dissemination, and indeed everyday life. In this analysis of TGC, Calvino’s values will be discussed in relation to each of the work’s six sections (i.e., the ‘frontispiece’ and five ‘plates’).

中文翻译：

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伊塔洛·卡尔维诺（Italo Calvino）的《六个备忘录》是JR卡彭特（JR Carpenter）的《聚云》中的道德要求

摘要

1985年，伊塔洛·卡尔维诺（Italo Calvino）撰写了一系列演讲（后来发表为“备忘录”），其中提出了六个价值，这些价值他认为对于进入下一千年的文学至关重要：明亮度，敏捷度，“水晶”的精确度，可见度，多重性，和一致性。尽管卡尔维诺从不曾是电子文学的作家，但他经常与数字作品相关联或被引用。JR卡彭特（JR Carpenter）基于网络的作品《云集》（The Gathering Cloud，2016）（以下简称TGC）展现了卡尔维诺的价值观。TGC获Howard 1803年关于云的修改的随笔。霍华德的“前作”和五个“盘子”被用于卡彭特基于网络的工作中。然后在这些重新使用的插图上叠加诗歌。动画“ gif”拼贴位于诗歌的“内部”。卡尔维诺在备忘录中写道，他认为价值观的二元对立（即体重，挥之不去，“烈焰”的正确性，模棱两可，奇异和不一致）的优点同样引人注目，卡彭特的著作表明卡尔维诺的价值观（或更确切地说（不存在或消除它们的二元对立）不仅在当代文学挑战方面是可取的，而且在与环境影响有关的伦理要求上也是如此，因为它与当代媒体，传播乃至日常生活有关。在对TGC的分析中，卡尔维诺的价值观将与作品的六个部分（即“前作”和五个“盘子”）相关地进行讨论。