An Odyssey In Search Of Selfhood

Italo Calvino is one of the most important Italian writers of the 20th century. His "Our Ancestors" mirrors an oppressive situation of physical, mental or social distress of the people in the modern society, opens out an odyssey that the human beings in search of selfhood.In the modern society ,some people just like the cloven Viscount, were broken up into two pieces by the harsh environment;some as the Baron in the trees, dropped out of ordinary society to find out his own free destiny;some like the non-existent Knight, couldn't prove the existence of himself.Facing those painful situations, these self-seekers never retreated from difficulties. The cloven Viscount changed his view to find the new meaning of the world which was ignored when he was a normal person. The Baron established an ideal society in the world of the trees. The non-existent Knight did everything that could prove his existence, and never drawn rein.At the same time, these character s 'stories were only a dream of Eutopia. The modern society is crueler than Calvino's understand. His ideal wish couldn't come true. Even so, these character s ' optimistic attitude, energetic activity and efforts of the life were engraved upon every readers' memory.In this novel, Calvino absorbed the merits of the fairy tale, the Romance and the Heroic Poetry, expressing one of his literature qualities and styles he had always been enjoying: the "lightness".