If a Chessman were a Word - or Calvino Chess

- Posted: 01.Sep.2008.










A few days ago I had a music-box moment when the postman delivered a parcel containing the latest publication of one-letter-word genius Craig Conley. "If a Chessman Were a Word: A Chess~Calvino Dictionary" takes the chess-paragraph from Italo Calvino's Invisible Cities as the starting point for a piece-by-piece mapping of each piece and its corresponding meaning. For instance:

White Queen: a woman combing her long hair in a mirror; a mullioned window; an illuminated canoe; a fringed cushion.

Black King's Bishop: a high priest's temple; a scholar of vanished alphabet; a papyrus cabinet; a necropolis.

Black King's Pawn: the weeds of a vacant lot; a courtesan with an ostrich-plume fan; a rug weaver; a tired actor.

View the on-line demo. Great stuff, but the best part, from my position at least, is that it is dedicated to me!! I couldn't be more happy if I was awarded a Nobel prize!!