Qfwfq is the narrator of many stories appearing in several works by Italian author

Italo Calvino Italo Calvino (, also , ;. RAI (circa 1970), retrieved 25 October 2012. 15 October 1923 – 19 September 1985) was an Italian writer and journalist. His best known works include the ''Our Ancestors'' trilogy (1952–1959), the '' Cosmicomi ...

Description

Qfwfq is as old as the universe and has taken various forms, of which Qfwfq retains its memory in later incarnations. For example, in the short story "Blood, Sea" (found in the collection ''

t zero T, or t, is the twentieth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''tee'' (pronounced ), plural ''tees''. It is deri ...

'') this character is a man riding in a car with three other people, but this man also remembers when he lived in the form of an amoeba of sorts inhabiting a primeval ocean. He also describes Zylphia, one of the other car passengers, as having been there, raising the question of whether Qfwfq is able to take multiple discrete physical forms at once. Qfwfq also describes having a family, who seem also to transcend time in a similar manner (for example, they had an uncle who was a fish while the rest of the family has evolved into amphibians). He also has a competitive relationship with a similar entity named Kgwgk, which results in the invention of art. In some stories he mentions other entities who are his friends or acquaintances and also has been going around for centuries in the Universe. He is described as "not surprised by anything", and characteristically "not at all sentimental about being the last dinosaur".

Books in which character appears

* ''

Cosmicomics ''Cosmicomics'' ( it, Le cosmicomiche) is a collection of twelve short stories by Italo Calvino first published in Italian in 1965 and in English in 1968. The stories were originally published between 1964 and 1965 in the Italian periodicals ''I ...

'' --- Qfwfq narrates all but two of the short stories in this collection. * ''

'' --- Qfwfq narrates most of the stories in this collection. The first four stories are in a section titled, "More of Qfwfq". * '' Numbers in the Dark and other stories ''--- Qfwfq narrates the final two stories in this collection, "Implosion" and "Nothing and Not Much".

Qfwfq's name

The name "Qfwfq" (as well as "Kgwgk") is a

palindrome A palindrome is a word, number, phrase, or other sequence of symbols that reads the same backwards as forwards, such as the words ''madam'' or ''racecar'', the date and time ''11/11/11 11:11,'' and the sentence: "A man, a plan, a canal – Panam ...

. The name may be an allusion to the

first law of thermodynamics The first law of thermodynamics is a formulation of the law of conservation of energy, adapted for thermodynamic processes. It distinguishes in principle two forms of energy transfer, heat and thermodynamic work for a system of a constant amoun ...

; substituting ''='' for ''f'' gives ''Q=W=Q'', which describes a

heat engine In thermodynamics and engineering, a heat engine is a system that converts heat to mechanical energy, which can then be used to do mechanical work. It does this by bringing a working substance from a higher state temperature to a lower state ...

. Patricia Ann Obremsky, "Italo Calvino: A Limit at Infinity", in Phyllis Carey, ed., "Wagering on Transcendence: The Search for Meaning in Literature" (

Rowman & Littlefield Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group is an independent publishing house founded in 1949. Under several imprints, the company offers scholarly books for the academic market, as well as trade books. The company also owns the book distributing compa ...

, 1997), , p. 83
Excerpts available
at

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Notes and references

{{Reflist Italo Calvino Literary characters