MacKenzie Christy

IB English Literature
RS for IO#1, The Nonexistent Knight
November 13, 2014

IB English Literature
MacKenzie Christy
IB Candidate Number

How was your understanding of cultural and contextual considerations of the work developed through
the interactive oral discussion?

After listening to my peers presentation on the history Italo Calvino included in his novella The
Nonexistent Knight, I better learned why he used as many allusions to Charlemagnes time and religion as
he did. I have not done more research on Buddhist religion and Taoism, but I feel as if this religion and
system of beliefs can tie into the characters of the novella. I learned how in the Buddhist religion, people
believe that when they die, their goal is to be reincarnated into a species higher than their previous life
and how Agilulf could be striving for perfection. Agilulf tries his hardest to follow the code of chivalry
and knighthood word for word and remains loyal and the most respectful knight in their cavalry. I also
learned how Taoism rids life of greed, lust, pride and dishonesty. Due to this belief, Agilulf can be seen as
a Taoist by the means that he does not love, he is not incredibly prideful of himself, he is not greedy and
helps everyone in need, and when faced with the likely falsehood of his name, he sets off to prove it
truthful. Agilulfs armour may represent the yin-yang symbol of how in order to have harmony, not only
the good is needed, but also the bad, which is also a symbol is Taoism.
While seeing the resemblance of religion and history in accordance to the novella is interesting, I
understand that it is important to view the story as itself and read more in depth in order to support my
theories. I am looking forward to doing more research and reading more in depth about the possible
allusions to Buddhism in Calvinos characters. I will specifically pay closer attention to the character of
Gurduloo and how he may fit in with this theory of Buddhistic beliefs and how he, in many ways,
juxtaposes the protagonist Agilulf.

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Word Count: 316

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IB English Literature
MacKenzie Christy
IB Candidate Number

Part I: Works in Translation Written Assignment

Humanity Expressed Through

Agilulf in Italo Calvinos
The Nonexistent Knight
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By
MacKenzie Christy

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IB Candidate Number
January 13th, 2015
Word Count: 1417

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IB English Literature
MacKenzie Christy
IB Candidate Number

Humanity Expressed Through Agilulf

In Italo Calvinos novella The Nonexistent Knight, he reveals the true shortcomings of society by
using satirical writing and telling characters stories to show the haphazard path of life. Calvino shows
how attaining perfection is nearly impossible while living in an imperfect world and portrays life as a
mere trophy in some cases. Although the protagonist is not an actual person, Agilulf is arguably more
human than the other paladins and can be seen as a symbol for all of mankind and shows the human strive
for unattainable perfection.

The protagonist of the novella, Agilulf, is one of the knights in Charlemagnes army but he is not
like any of the other paladins of his calvary, he is nonexistent. The king finds out Agilulf does not exist
when asking the knights to state their titles and achievements such as Bernard of Mompolier...Winner of
Brunamonte and Galiferno (Calvino 4) until Charlemagne reaches Agilulf and asks him to lift his visor
but no one was inside (Calvino 6). Calvino makes it obvious to the reader that Agilulf takes pride in his
appearance and what everyone else thinks of him by the looks of his gleaming white armour (Calvino
5) which clearly juxtaposes the other knights banal armour and disorganized way of accomplishing
things. He is an intriguing character even though he is not necessarily the most complex one of the
novella.

Calvinos style can be confusing to read, but it greatly enhances the novellas plot and can
symbolize life in general. Each of the characters seem to be the protagonist of their own specific part of
the novella; their stories are all intertwined and weave in and out of each other as if trying to throw the
reader off a defamiliarize them with different stories with the same overall plot. Although the novella is
mainly focused on the nonexistent knight himself, each of the other main characters are in focus, at
least one point in the novella, which shows how life is not always focused on only one person. Life, as
well at the novella itself, is full of twists and turns (Calvino 88) which ultimately shapes a present to
who they are to become.

Not one person knows the true meaning of life and it has been a question since the beginning of
time why humans are to be alive. Like humans, Agilulf questions the meaning of life but comes to the
conclusion that all everyone really cares about are titles and how everyone is in constant competition with
each other for insignificant reasons and living solely to please oneself is mundane; but unlike the other
paladins, Agilulf fights and competes specifically By will power and faith in our holy cause! (Calvino
7). In the end of the novella, it does not matter what the paladins achieved but rather what they learned
about themselves; becoming the perfect knight was no longer the most important detail about their lives
but rather how they transformed from being narcissistic to altruistic and giving back to those who need it.

Although Agilulf ponders the idea of living and has a reason for everything, yet no one, not even
Agilulf himself, is able to give a reason why Agilulf exists but also does not at the same time.. In all of the
paladins eyes, Agilulf is seen as demanding and too perfect to be true unlike how Agilulf sees everyone
as incompetent and repulsive at some moments. All the paladins in the novella care only about the details
of their titles and how many women they have saved and had relations with trying to compete with one
another. Agilulf is anything but envious of humans and claims disintegrating naked corpses disgusts me
no more than the flesh of living human beings (Calvino 57) while performing the monotonous task of
cleaning the field after a battle, but in the beginning he wonderswhat it was like to shut ones eyes and

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IB English Literature
MacKenzie Christy
IB Candidate Number

lose consciousness as if he becomes jealous when thinking of the humanly activities he cannot
participate in. Each time the other paladins bring up Agilulf in conversation, they come to the conclusion
that He exists without existing (Calvino 17) and each time, not one person can explain why he is who
he is but rather just he is here for a reason.

Attempting to live his life in perfect harmony and chivalry, Agilulf remains stoic, even through
tough times, and does not develop into a changed character unlike the other knights of the novella.
Throughout the entire novella, Agilulf keeps to the code of chivalry and honesty and when faced with the
reality that his title may no longer hold true, he sets off on a journey to reclaim his name at my journeys
end (Calvino 89) and until he finds Sophronia, he no longer holds his honor and name (Calvino 81).
After Gurduloo and Agilulf saved Priscilla from the bears, Gurduloo goes off to have relations with every
woman that lives in the castle while Agilulf focuses mostly on making Priscilla beautiful and working on
her image (Calvino 101) rather than lavishing her; he does the acts of chivalry because he is unable to
give Priscilla what she wants because of the fact he does not have a body and does not attach himself to
humanly possessions. Any other paladin would have taken advantage of a beautiful woman standing in
front of them, but Agilulf remains respectful during the whole time during the night. Agilulf remains the
same chivalrous character throughout the novella and does not let titles or rankings get in the way of his
true character.

In some cases, Agilulf uses geometry as an attempt to explain his life by means of shapes.
Triangles are geometric shapes which give meaning of structure and aggression. After listening to
Raimbaut talk about killing the one who felled my glorious father (Calvino 18) Agilulf thinks to
himself about the downfalls of society and their tendencies to lash out and resorts to geometry to settle
him down and Agilulf tends to turn to math to absorb his discontent and disquiet (Calvino 20) when
times get difficult and begins to question his life and existence in general; it is as if Calvino uses
geometry to give Agilulfs life structure and meaning without him facing conflicting problems that he
cannot face because of his inability to do humanly activities. Agilulf tries to justify his existence by
performing humanlike activities to prove he is truly alive without living. Knowing that perfection is not
an achievable goal, he turns to math where the only answer is the perfect answer. There are many ways to
reach the correct answer and for the most part, each different process leads to the right answer.

Specifically, Calvino uses an archetype of three which represents perfection and the idea of the
Holy Trinity; Agilulf can be seen as the god-figure of the novella as he is alway above others and
always doing the right thing even if it means his life is in danger. As the novella progresses, Raimbaut,
Gurduloo, and Agilulf become, of sorts, the Holy Trinity as they all are one in the same. Gurduloo is
Agilulfs foil character which brings forth Agilulfs strive for perfection because Gurduloo is just a
person who exists that doesnt realise he exists (Calvino 28) and absorbs himself into being everything
but himself. At one point in the novella, after Agilulfs name had been proven true, but he did not stay
long enough to hear, Raimbaut runs off to find Agilulf, but rather instead finds his armour in a what looks
like a pyramid with other pieces rolled haphazardly on the ground (Calvino 131) . Raimbaut then takes
Agilulfs identity and realizes Agilulfs life had not been perfect and he faced the most difficult tasks any
of the paladins had to endure. Agilulf is the perfect knight in the other knights eyes, but to himself, he is
nobody.

The question of existence is brought up many times throughout Calvinos The Nonexistent Knight
and how the innate longing for perfection ultimately does not matter once one finds his true self. Although

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IB English Literature
MacKenzie Christy
IB Candidate Number

Agilulf did not succeed at being the perfect knight he stayed true to himself and arguable is ultimately
more human than any other paladin of the novella by his chivalry, skills of reasoning, and judgement of
situations, no matter what position they put him in. Agilulf symbolizes humanity and life in general and
the overall competition to be perfect even though it is utterly impossible.

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Word Count: 1417

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Works Cited

IB English Literature
MacKenzie Christy
IB Candidate Number

Calvino, Italo. The Nonexistent Knight and the Cloven Viscount. Trans. Archibald Colquhoun.
San Diego.: Mariner Books, 1959. Print.

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