… language is never transparent, and is never merely an instrument …
This is from ‘Two Interviews on Science and Literature’ found in The Uses of Literature: Essays by Italo Calvino, translated by Patrick Creagh (1986; 1982):
In your opinion, what is the relationship today between science and literature?
I recently read an article by Roland Barthes called “Literature versus Science.” Barthes tends to think of literature as the awareness that language has of being language, of having a density of its own, and its own independent existence.
[line break added] For literature, language is never transparent, and is never merely an instrument to convey a “meaning” or a “fact” or a “thought” or a “truth”; that is, it cannot mean anything but itself.
[line break added] Whereas, on the other hand, the idea of language given by science is that of a neutral utensil that is used to say something else, to mean something foreign to it. This different concept of language is what distinguishes science from literature.
My most recent previous post from Calvino’s book is here.
-Julie
Coloring 