The Nonexistent Knight

Humans have a tendency to seek paradigms in their daily lives. Society does this in order to provide comfort and a sense of order. Without order, life is chaotic. Yet with knowing this, there are individuals in society that attempt to perceive these paradigms as restrictive and infringing in one’s free will. In the late twentieth century, postmodernists challenged traditional thinking and began to explore unconventional logic. Italo Calvino, an Italian novelist, considered this concept in The Nonexistent Knight. The author showcases postmodernism in breaking standard literary traditions to convey the general notion that there are no absolute truths in the world. By manipulating traditional archetypes and stereotypes, the author purposely alters
Traditionally, the Hero’s Journey is a twelve stage cycle in a novel which follows the protagonist on their quest. However Calvino, chooses to purposefully not include all twelve stages which changes the paradigm of the Hero’s Journey and often excludes multiple stages. For instance, the fourth stage of the Hero’s Journey usually entails that the protagonist will meet their mentor, who is supposed to provide guidance towards the protagonist to ensure their success. However, in the The Nonexistent Knight, Calvino utilizes Agilulf, the protagonist, to skip the fourth stage. Instead of Calvino providing Agilulf a mentor, he is his own. Though he is physically nonexistent, he is meticulous in regards to his knightly duties and believes that as a perfectionist, there is no other knight that he can learn from. Calvino emphasizes that his perfection is seen by him and everyone around him when his peers admit that "He [Agilulf] was always right" (Calvino 8). In most fiction literary novels, a mentor is obligatory for a protagonist. It is evidential that a mentor can play a significant role which enables the protagonist to be successful. However, Calvino symbolizes that success
In the Medieval Period, the status of women depended on the status and wealth of her husband. Women were portrayed as the damsel-in-distress, having them to be perceived as weak and dependent. Calvino, being a postmodernist, saw The Nonexistent Knight as an opportunity to manipulate the pattern of identifying women as inferior to the male. The author commences changing the paradigm when Raimbaut, a male knight, is mid-fighting other knights, and thinks he may potentially “must die now” (Calvino 43). Calvino, by describing that Raimbaut is being heavily ambushed by his opponents, indicates that death became an option for him. Bradamante, a female Amazonian knight, once seeing the fierce fight, interferes and fights alongside Raimbaut, helping him to be victorious. Raimbaut soon became gracious of the unknown hero and says “Thanks brother” (Calvino 44). Raimbaut believes that a man saved him because of the great courage and strength the knight possessed when saving him. In the Medieval Period, the idea of a female being a knight was rare, as they were seen to lack the abilities one needed; therefore knights were commonly males. However, in The Nonexistent Knight, Calvino deliberately shows the two genders being equal in ability. Calvino delineates this to clear the stereotype that women are inferior to males by making Bradamante be the hero and Raimbaut be the