Visibility
This reading was definitely trickier for me to comprehend as compared to the last reading. After I read the chapter once, I felt like I did not fully grasp the meaning and did not understand the main points because of how different the content was from our last reading. Therefore I had to reread it over again. One of the most interesting take-aways from this piece was that it introduced an alternative way to think about art and how our minds and imaginations play a larger role than we think.
I appreciate the religious aspect of this reading because these ideas are ones that not many people have been introduced to. I found the initial point fascinating about how images come into our minds through God. Calvino uses Dante to explain this when he states, "Dante is presented with scenes that act as quotations or representations of examples of sins and virtues, at first as bas-reliefs that appear to move and to speak, then as visions projected before his eyes, then as voices reaching hi ear, and finally as purely mental images". This is a really interesting way to think about how the inspirational visions we interpret and imagine become more and more inward, surpass all external factors.
The point that I related to most was when Calvino introduces the two types of imaginative processes. The first one, when one starts with a word and arrives at a visual image, has to do with reading a scene in a novel or event in the newspaper and then visualizing it for ourselves. In hindsight, we are creating art or a visual representation of something we have never even seen in our minds. I do this all the time when I read a book, and then when the movie comes out based on the book, I am always disappointed that the actors they chose do not look like the ones I created in my head. The second one, where one starts with a visual image and arrives at verbal expression, has to do with how we react to art and how it elicits a personal response. This happens when we interpret artwork, or look at a photograph, or watch a film, which are things we all can relate to.
I appreciate the religious aspect of this reading because these ideas are ones that not many people have been introduced to. I found the initial point fascinating about how images come into our minds through God. Calvino uses Dante to explain this when he states, "Dante is presented with scenes that act as quotations or representations of examples of sins and virtues, at first as bas-reliefs that appear to move and to speak, then as visions projected before his eyes, then as voices reaching hi ear, and finally as purely mental images". This is a really interesting way to think about how the inspirational visions we interpret and imagine become more and more inward, surpass all external factors.
The point that I related to most was when Calvino introduces the two types of imaginative processes. The first one, when one starts with a word and arrives at a visual image, has to do with reading a scene in a novel or event in the newspaper and then visualizing it for ourselves. In hindsight, we are creating art or a visual representation of something we have never even seen in our minds. I do this all the time when I read a book, and then when the movie comes out based on the book, I am always disappointed that the actors they chose do not look like the ones I created in my head. The second one, where one starts with a visual image and arrives at verbal expression, has to do with how we react to art and how it elicits a personal response. This happens when we interpret artwork, or look at a photograph, or watch a film, which are things we all can relate to.
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