The Baron in the Trees, Italo Calvino

The Baron in the Trees
(Tr. Spa-Eng. from a review by Tepeyollotl)

 At twelve years old, Cosimo Rondo Piovasco decides to climb a tree in the family yard not to go down ever. It was at noon on June 15th, 1767, as a form of protest against the unjust punishment inflicted on him by his father and for the tortured small animals (mice, snails, pigs, etc.) that her sister Battista, the family's domestic nun, used to serve at lunch grotesquely, forcing the family to eat despite the disgust provoked.

 Thus, the first day in the trees, he meets his neighbor Viola, the small Marchioness of Ondariva, who will unintentionally encourage the rules under which Cosimo will henceforth be governed. In addition, she will become the love of his life because of the strange self-sufficiency and superiority she shows to the young baron as she was friends with other kids who also climbed trees in order to steal the fruits in some plots and perhaps also with some famous outlaws in the region. But do not get ahead. For Cosimo will live in trees to old age, accompanied for a time by a woolly dog, and from there he will be a witness and sometimes an actor of all the historical events of his century: he will share some adventures with the fruit thieves, he will become a small ranger whose greatest achievement will be to kill a feral cat in a duel that will make a man of him, until he meets Gian dei Brughi, a reputed bandit who will introduce him in a strange way to the pleasure of books. Then he will achieve fame as a philosopher in foreign countries and will be even admired by Voltaire, since he will write an encyclopedic and utopian Draft of Constitution of an ideal state founded in the trees. He will also defend the forests against fires caused by some malefactors, he will fight against Turkish pirates who stole goods of Genoese ships and all of a sudden he will have the lewd emergencies of an ordinary man. Then he will emit sounds as some animals when they seek females and not a few will hang a vast progeny of bastards in Ombrosa. And suddenly Viola will unexpectedly return to her former lands and Cosimo will live with her the most intense and passionate moments of his life, though they will eventually separate forever due to confusion caused by the indomitable pride of both. He will be a Mason, perhaps the founder, of the Lodge of Ombrosa; he will play a fundamental role in the invasions launched by the French army, he will meet Napoleon in an ironic episode similar to the one lived by Alexander and Diogenes, and finally, at a somewhat advanced old age, he will unexpectedly disappear in the air hanging from a balloon anchor, without giving other men the honor to get back to his level. All adventures are narrated by his own brother, a witness and Cosimo's fan since childhood.

 The Baron in the Trees is perhaps the best novel by Italo Calvino and belongs to the trilogy of Our Ancestors (I nostri Antenati), also formed by The Nonexistent Knight and The Cloven Viscount. It underlies Rousseau's theme of loneliness in nature, sometimes necessary for a better understanding of men, as Cosimo's isolation does not obey simple misanthropy, since he does not ignore the world below, quite the contrary, it is perhaps a richer form to meet the needs of those who walk on earth. And for that he will make use of books, of acquaintance with certain characters, and of course, of love. In short, a great recommendation for Calvino's older readers or for those who just come to know his literature.