NTERVIEWER
In a country where nearly every major writer has written for the movies or even directed them, you seem to have resisted the lure of the cinema. Why and how?
CALVINO
As a young man I was a great cinema fan, a great moviegoer. But I was always a spectator. The idea of moving to the other side of the screen has never attracted me much. Knowing how it’s done removes a bit of the childish fascination that cinema has for me. I like Japanese and Swedish films precisely because they are so remote.
INTERVIEWER
Have you ever been bored?
CALVINO
Yes, in my childhood. But it must be pointed out that childhood boredom is a special kind of boredom. It is a boredom full of dreams, a sort of projection into another place, into another reality. In adulthood boredom is made of repetition, it is the continuation of something from which we are no longer expecting any surprise. And I—would that I had time to get bored today! What I do have is the fear of repeating myself in my literary work. This is the reason that every time I must come up with a new challenge to face. I must find something to do that will look like a novelty, something a little beyond my capabilities.
