Thursday, February 28, 2019

The Daughters of the Moon

photo from Wikipedia

The Daughters of the Moon is a 1968 short story by Italo Calvino. In it, the narrator describes the effect of a dying and crumbling moon on an Earth-like planet. You can read it online here. It begins,
The moon is old, Qfwfq agreed, pitted with holes, worn out. Rolling naked through the skies, it erodes and loses its flesh like a bone that’s been gnawed. This is not the first time that such a thing has happened. I remember moons that were even older and more battered than this one; I’ve seen loads of these moons, seen them being born and running across the sky and dying out, one punctured by hail from shooting stars, another exploding from all its craters, and yet another oozing drops of topaz-colored sweat that evaporated immediately, then being covered by greenish clouds and reduced to a dried-up, spongy shell.

What happens on the earth when a moon dies is not easy to describe; I’ll try to do it by referring to the last instance I can remember.

10 comments:

  1. Enjoyed this story while having my first cuppa. Lush language and description. Such a surprise ending.

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    1. Calvino is brilliant! I love his novels but am not as familiar with his short stories.

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  2. This sounds very intriguing, looking forward to reading it. Valerie

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    1. I hope you enjoy it. Calvino has never disappointed me.

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  3. I am not sure how I missed this. I was all caught up in the images of Manhattan, then the waste and consumerism that now littered the junkyard, but I NEVER would have guessed the ending. This was brilliant, dear. You picked a good read for us.

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    1. I'm glad you enjoyed it :) I'm always excited to find stories from authors I like that I can read online.

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  4. WOW that is some lead in ... very descriptive. Yes; makes me want to read more.

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    1. He has a way with words :) Great author!

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  5. I guess I am the dissenting view. I didn't care for it, despite him being a descriptive writer. Oh well. Different strokes, right? LOL!

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    1. Yep, to each her own :) You might like something else by him if you enjoyed his writing style.

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