Visibility by Italo Calvino

The beginning of this chapter, Visibility, deals with the topic of Dante, and the way that he describes the cycles of Purgatory. It also talks about the aspects of imagination and high fantasy. I read Dante's Inferno back in high school for extra credit and from reading that I can say that book included various aspects of symbolism, metaphors, and eloquent language. Imagination and deep thought were necessary to be able to understand more than just the gist of the story, especially due to the complex ideas and descriptive thoughts.

On page 83 of Visibility, Calvino describes that the poet has to "imagine visual content of metaphors he uses to facilitate this process of visual evocation." I believe this is necessary not only for poets, but also other writers, readers, artists and others when trying to depict something visually. He then goes on to describe the two types of imaginative processes. One that has to do with words and imagining an image and the other has to do with an image that is expressed through words. This is a huge aspect of art. Art comes in many forms, but usually begins with an image or something visual. This image evokes imagination, depiction, and various interpretations or emotions from those who view it. An example from the text would be that movies go through the initial write through with words before put into images and scenes.

I thought that it was interesting how this book included a section on Ignatius of Loyola. It was different to read about how he wrote about a "visual composition of a place" (Calvino 84) and he discussed imagination of sins and physical places. On the other hand, it was a little confusing reading about this with the translation mixed in with the original language because I kept losing my place and my thoughts while reading. Lastly, with the topic of visual imagery versus verbal expression, I believe that they are both equally important. These two types of imaginative processes go hand in hand and are both important to understanding literature as well as various forms of art.

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