Somehow Calvino managed to spend 150 pages talking about concepts without ever telling us exactly what those were. Are they all the same thing? Is it actually all right to seek to emulate the opposite ideals? Probably. I liked a few parts of this. I think it succeeds at being interesting and perhaps even good (for by not telling us exactly what he means, he occasionally manages to demonstrate & display his philosophies). But I don't think I learned anything substantial and I would rather have just read the works he was talking about.

The most fascinating section was "quickness," which is really much more about continuity and circularity. "multiplicity" and "exactitude" were the same thing -- or opposites -- I don't know. "visibility" was, um, having interesting imagery? or maybe working intentionally from precise imagery to the written word? or both? & "lightness" was not what it sounds like. I think. The best way to try and understand all this is that Ovid's Metamorphoses appears to be one of the best examples of all five traits.