I believe that Italo Calvino has a lot of authority in his essay, “Why Read the Classics?”. This is partially because he is the author of the essay, so technically he is in control of anything and everything he writes in it. Within the essay, he still does seem to have a lot of authority. He has the authority to persuade us to read the classics because he knows so much about them. I believe that anyone who devotes that much of their life to reading, studying, and understanding the classics of ancient times to more present times deserves to have all the authority when it comes to that topic. Going back to how the essay was organized, Calvino had a lot of expertise on his subject of classics (giving him authority when that subject is involved), so he was able to arrange his essay in the way that he did. His authority and expertise over the subject of classics caused him to be able to speak in a casual way, as if he was talking to you in person, or giving a speech without needing to read from a paper. “Put up your hand anyone who has read the whole of Herodotus and Thucydides.” (Calvino 3). It really seems as if this essay was meant to be read allowed to some sort of a conference or other large group of people. He is able to do this only because of his authority over the subject.
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