Calvino – Desai, On Freedom and Alienation. Rules and Boundaries of Life on a Tree

Both Italo Calvino (The Baron in the Trees) and, much later, Kiran Desai (Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard) created an alternative life-space above ground, on the trees. In case of Calvino’s character Cosimo, it is a life-long experience, we follow Cosimo from childhood to maturity in the new environment as he takes an active part in the important historical events of his new surroundings. Desai’s Sampath ends up on a guava tree almost by accident, in his adult age, and does not control the repercussions of this choice. The paper will discuss the similarities and differences between the two different concepts of freedom advocated by the characters, along with the inevitable rules and boundaries attached to these utopias.Calvinov roman Il barone rampante (1957) nastao je čak četrdeset godina prije romana Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard (1998) Kiran Desai, no, unatoč posve različitom kontekstu i vremenu nastanka, s potonjim dijeli motiv koji za oba romana predstavlja okosnicu radnje: povlačenje protagonista na stablo i uspostavu nove životne sredine iznad zemlje. Pritom Calvino opisuje gotovo cjeloživotni boravak junaka na stablu, dok Desai predstavlja znatno kraće vremensko razdoblje. Na temelju uočenih sličnosti i razlika u obradi istih motiva, primjerice vjere ili braka, a posebice novoga životnog prostora, članak analizira poimanje slobode koju likovi promiču, te neizbježna pravila i granice koji postoje ili se paradoksalno stvaraju unatoč utopijskome životu