Calvino's Essay: Question 7

Calvino shows quite a bit of authority throughout this essay. I haven't exactly read many professionally written essays, but I can tell Calvino knows his stuff. First from his usage of reallyyyy big words. For example, banal and stultifying. Previous to reading this essay, I had never heard of those words, let alone used so fluently. For those wondering, banal means devoid of freshness or originality and stultifying means to make, or cause to disappear, foolish or ridiculous. His very impressive vocabulary was what first lead me to learn of his great authority. Next, was his innovativeness. Calvino writes in a completely new way to me. Never once have I read an essay that at the end tells you to pretty much to disregard everything the writer has just persuaded you towards. I'm still a little shocked from that. He slowly is building up this big point only to tell us all his reasoning has no bearing on the situation. You've got to be pretty authoritive to be able to pull a fast one like that. Another good show of his authority is how vast his knowledge of all the classics is. He talks about at least ten authors and is able to cite them all. You've reached a pretty high level when you're able to do that.