Books by Italo Calvino

Book SynopsisItalo Calvino (Author) Italo Calvino was born in Cuba in 1923 and grew up in Italy. He was an essayist and journalist and a member of the editorial staff of Einaudi in Turin. One of the most respected writers of the twentieth century, his best-known works of fiction include Invisible Cities, If on a Winter's Night a Traveller, Marcovaldo and Mr Palomar. In 1973 he won the prestigious Premio Feltrinelli. He died in 1985. A collection of Calvino's posthumous personal writings, The Hermit in Paris, was published in 2003. William Weaver (Translator) William Weaver has translated Umberto Eco, Italo Svevo, Primo Levi, Italo Calvino and Roberto Calasso, among others. He is a professor at Bard College.Trade ReviewInvisible Cities changed the way we read and what is possible in the balance between poetry and prose... The book I would choose as pillow and plate, alone on a desert islandWhole chapters of unforced poetic prose in which insight and fantasy are perfectly matched-an exquisite world * Observer *'Invisible Cities is perhaps his most beautiful work-the artist seems to have made peace with the tension between man's ideas of the many and the one * New York Review of Books *The most beautiful of his books throws up ideas, allusions, and breathtaking imaginative insights on almost every page. Each time he returns from his travels, Marco Polo is invited by Kublai Khan to describe the cities he has visited-Although he makes Marco Polo summon up many cities for the Khan's imagination to feed on, Calvino is describing only one city in this book. Venice, that decaying heap of incomparable splendour, still stands as substantial evidence of man's ability to create something perfect out of chaos * Times Literary Supplement *So important for thinking about the rich layers of life around us, our frailties, how we question and how we find meaning. * Red *

Read more less

Book SynopsisYou go into a bookshop and buy If on a Winter's Night a Traveller by Italo Calvino. You try to track down the original book you were reading but end up with a different narrative again. This remarkable novel leads you through many different books including a detective adventure, a romance, a satire, an erotic story, a diary and a quest.Trade ReviewIngenious * Mail on Sunday *Breathtakingly inventiveThe greatest Italian writer of the twentieth century * Guardian *Reading Calvino, you're constantly assailed by the notion that he is writing down what you have always known, except that you've never thought of it before.This is highly unnerving: fortunately you're usually too busy laughing to go mad... I can think of no finer writer to have beside me while Italy explodes, Britain burns, while the world endsA devastating, wonderfully ingenious parody of all those dreary best-sellers you buy at the airport... It is a "world novel": take it with you next time you plan to travel in an armchair * Observer *

Read more less

Book SynopsisItalo Calvino (Author) Italo Calvino was born in Cuba in 1923 and grew up in Italy. He was an essayist and journalist and a member of the editorial staff of Einaudi in Turin. One of the most respected writers of the twentieth century, his best-known works of fiction include Invisible Cities, If on a Winter's Night a Traveller, Marcovaldo and Mr Palomar. In 1973 he won the prestigious Premio Feltrinelli. He died in 1985. A collection of Calvino's posthumous personal writings, The Hermit in Paris, was published in 2003.William Weaver (Translator) William Weaver has translated Umberto Eco, Italo Svevo, Primo Levi, Italo Calvino and Roberto Calasso, among others. He is a professor at Bard College.Trade ReviewHere, Calvino, probably Italy's leading novelist before he died, focuses a probing eye on one man's attempt to name the parts of his universe, almost as though Mr Palomar were trying to define and explain his own existence. Where the Palomar telescope points out into space, Mr Palomar points in: walking the beach, visiting the zoo, strolling in his garden. Each brief chapter reads like an exploded haiku, with Mr Palomar reading an universe into the proverbial grain of sand * Time Out *Beautifully nimble, solitary feats of imaginationCalvino represents a high point of literary evolution; his skill is immense but retains a simian agility. As ever, his gaze is crystal clear and his writing has the easy beauty of clarity. * New Statesman *

Read more less

Book SynopsisMarcovaldo is an enchanting collection of twenty stories that are both melancholy and funny, farce and fantasy. Calvino charts the struggles of an Italian peasant to reconcile country habits with urban life, combining comical disasters with a surrealistic view of city life through the eyes of an outsider. As always with Calvino, nothing is quite as it seems.''Delightful and rewarding as always'' Observer''The most magically ingenious of the contemporary Italian novelists'' The TimesTrade ReviewCalvino is surely among the handful of living writers that can be called, without hesitation, great. Each book by Calvino is a completely original conception. Marcovaldo is one of the best works of fiction published * Spectator *The greatest Italian writer of the twentieth century * Guardian *It is the refinement, the oddness and the humour of the thoughts he gets which make Calvino a rare pleasure to read; he is a match for Borges as he stealthily patrols the limits of the unthinkable * New Review *He will continue to glitter, this strange, lonely prospector in the universe of words, well into the next millennium and after, a master in the empire of the imagination * Independent *What is so much admired by the readers of Mr. Calvino's later Invisible Cities was already at work in Marcovaldo and with a more cogent narrative drive... Marcovaldo conveys the sensuous, tangible qualities of life * New York Times *

Read more less

Book SynopsisA group of travellers chance to meet, first in a castle, then a tavern. Their powers of speech are magically taken from them and instead they have only tarot cards with which to tell their stories. What follows is an exquisite interlinking of narratives, and a fantastic, surreal and chaotic history of all human consciousness.Trade ReviewA work that celebrates storytelling… Magical. -- Fiona Wilson * The Times *The interlinking of tales is incredibly complex and subtle: a history of all human consciousness through the myths of Oedipus, Parsifal, Faust, Hamlet and so on. The Castle of Crossed destinies is a shamelessly original work of art-beautiful in the sense that it is the careful statement of an artist we have learned to trust * New Yorker *Italo Calvino has advanced far beyond his American and English contemporaries. As they continue to look for the place where the spiders make their nests, Calvino has not only found this special place but learned how himself to make fantastic webs of prose to which all things adhere -- Gore VidalThe marriage of the verbal and the visual in The Castle of Crossed Destinies seems almost prodigious. It is as if sulpher and mercury had at last fused into gold * Times Literary Supplement *

Read more less

Book SynopsisCalvino's dazzling post-modernist masterpiece combines a love story, a detective story and a sardonic dissection of the publishing industry in a scintillating allegory of reading. Based on a witty anaolgy between the reader's desire to finish the story and the lover's desire to consummate his or her passion, IF ON A WINTER'S NIGHT is the tale of two bemused readers whose attempts to reach the end of same book - IF ON A WINTER'S NIGHT by Italo Calvino - are constantly and comically frustrated. THE ARABIAN NIGHTS of our day

Read more less

Book SynopsisSet in Italy in the summer of 1940, this trio of stories explores the relationships between the different generations caught up in the war as well as Calvino''s own experiences as a teenager. In the title story, ''Into the War'', we are given an insight into what life was really like for those too young to be conscripted into Mussolini''s army, while in ''The Avanguardisti in Menton'', Calvino and his friends take a revealingly anti-climactic trip to the garrisoned French town of Menton, the sole Italian conquest of the early months of the conflict. The final story, ''UNPA Nights'', is a touching, comic tale of friendship in a blackout, where the narrator''s imagination wanders as he roams through the seedier parts of the darkened town instead of guarding the school buildings. Into the War is Calvino at his autobiographical best, combining brilliantly recollected memory with compelling wit and perfect prose.Trade ReviewThe greatest Italian writer of the twentieth century * Guardian *

Read more less

Book SynopsisTrade ReviewWonderful . . . full of wit and erudition * Telegraph *A brilliant, original approach to literature, a key to Calvino's own work and a thoroughly delightful and illuminating commentary on some of the world's greatest writing * San Francisco Chronicle *I have always liked Calvino and after reading this book, I like him even more -- Wang Xiaobo * The Pleasures of Thinking *Rich and deeply satisfying ... this is very much a book that sets you off thinking ... there is a universe in here -- Nick Lezard * Guardian *Praise for Italo Calvino -- :A genial as well as a brilliant writer -- John UpdikeCalvino will continue to glitter, this strange, lonely prospector in the universe of words. . . a master in the empire of the imagination -- Ian Thomson * Independent *Reading Calvino, you're constantly assailed by the notion that he is writing down what you have always known, except that you've never thought of it before . . . he tells us, joyfully, wickedly, that there are things in the world worth loving as well as hating; and that such things exist in people, too. I can think of no finer writer to have beside me while Italy explodes, while Britain burns, while the world ends. -- Salman RushdieNo-one can read Angela Carter or David Mitchell without thinking of Calvino. Salman Rushdie is enthusiastic in his naming of Calvino as a major influence on his work, as am I. -- Jeanette Winterson

Read more less

Book SynopsisPin is a bawdy, adolescent cobbler''s assistant, both arrogant and insecure who - while the Second World War rages - sings songs and tells jokes to endear himself to the grown-ups of his town - particularly jokes about his sister, who they all know as the town''s ''mattress''. Among those his sister sleeps with is a German sailor, and Pin dares to steal his pistol, hiding it among the spiders'' nests in an act of rebellion that entangles him in the adults'' war.Italo Calvino, one of Italy''s finest postwar writers, has delighted readers around the world with his deceptively simple, fable-like stories. He was born in Cuba in 1923 and raised in San Remo, Italy; he fought for the Italian Resistance from 1943-45. His major works include Cosmicomics (1968), Invisible Cities (1972), and If on a winter''s night a traveler (1979). He died in Siena in 1985. Martin L. McLaughlin is Professor of Italian and Fiat-Serena Professor of Italian Studies at the University of Oxford where he is a Fellow of Magdalen College. In addition to his published academic works he is the English translator of Umberto Eco and Italo Calvino among many others.Trade Review'An insight into the making of a European' Observer 'The crucial novel of Calvino's early years' Mail on Sunday

Read more less

Book SynopsisMeticulously selected and artfully recreated, the selection of stories in Italian is vast and ranges geographically from Corsica and Sicily to Venice and the Alps. Calvino is himself clearly captivated by the folkloric imagination and communicates this in what is a fascinating and rich addition to folk literature.

Read more less

Book SynopsisItalo Calvino (Author, Introducer) Italo Calvino was born in Cuba in 1923 and grew up in Italy. He was an essayist and journalist and a member of the editorial staff of Einaudi in Turin. One of the most respected writers of the twentieth century, his best-known works of fiction include Invisible Cities, If on a Winter's Night a Traveller, Marcovaldo and Mr Palomar. In 1973 he won the prestigious Premio Feltrinelli. He died in 1985. A collection of Calvino's posthumous personal writings, The Hermit in Paris, was published in 2003.Trade ReviewCalvino's refusal to be glum set him apart from other modernists. His marvellous Fifties trilogy, Our Ancestors, brought us allegorical fables about a cloven viscount, a non-existent knight and a baron who swings from the trees * Guardian *Calvino's genius lies not so much in this tantalising conceit, but the brilliance and ingenuity with which he pulls it off...A dazzling display of literary fireworks * Independent *The writing is just breathtaking and the final story, 'The Non-Existent Knight', still sends a shiver up my spineItalo Calvino has advanced far beyond his American and English contemporaries, as they continue to look for the place where the spiders make their nests, Calvino has not only found that special place but learnt how himself to make fantastic webs of prose to which all things adhereReading Calvino, you're constantly assailed by the notion that he is writing down what you have always known, except that you've never thought of it before.This is highly unnerving: fortunately you're usually too busy laughing to go mad... I can think of no finer writer to have beside me while Italy explodes, Britain burns, while the world ends

Read more less

Book SynopsisThese early short stories brim with the beauty of the Italian countryside and seaside, telling tales both sumptuous and unnerving.Calvino's war-torn Italy is vivid, intense, almost hyper-real. A trio of greedy burglars rob a pastry shop, a boy offers a girl presents of toads and insects from the garden, a wealthy family invites a rustic goatherd to lunch, only to mock him. In every story he reveals the hidden meaning beneath the surface of everyday life, and the ludicrousness of war.Some stories from Last Comes the Raven have been previously available in the collection Adam, One Afternoon. This new expanded collection includes several stories newly translated by Ann Goldstein and is an important addition to Calvino's legacy.'In Last Comes the Raven, a collection of early stories, we find the man behind the magician' New YorkerTrade ReviewIn these beautifully translated stories, the quality of the writing emerges as clearly as do the ease and range of his inventiveness. Calvino's special gift is to link the physical and immediate with an allegorical timelessness. All the characters and creatures in these stories conspire to convey a feeling of the wonder, mystery and terror of life * Guardian *Calvino's strength is his economy and subtlety. The best of his allegorical fantasies have the power of the Brothers Grimm, rollicking stories on the surface, with an underlying savagery * Listener *Calvino was drawn to narratives as pure and potent objects; in this collection, he examines but does not deconstruct them . . . There is the author's trademark ironic distance and careful wit, as well as tinges of surrealism. But, where the mature Calvino found a style that was supremely arch, alien, and spare, his more mimetic stories retain the funk of the human . . . The reader of Last Comes the Raven registers a bloom of social feelings: sympathy, recognition, curiosity * New Yorker *

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis collection of playful, deadly febles is populated with waifs and strays, a gluttonous thief and a mischievous gardener. The grimly comic story The Argentine Ant moved Gore Vidal to declare ''if this is not a masterpiece of twentieth-century prose writing, I cannot think of anything better''.Trade ReviewItalo Calvino's Adam, One Afternoon confirms the part he has played in revitalising the art of fiction in our time. In these beautifully translated stories, the quality of the writing emerges as clearly as do the ease and range of his inventiveness. Calvino's special gift is to link the physical and immediate with an allegorical timelessness-All the characters and creatures in these stories conspire to convey a feeling of the wonder, mystery and terror of life * Guardian *Calvino's strength is his economy and subtlety. The best of his allegorical fantasies have the power of the Brothers Grimm, rollicking stories on the surface, with an underlying savagery * Listener *

Read more less

Book SynopsisItalo Calvino''s enchanting stories about the evolution of the universe, with characters that are fashioned from mathematical formulae and cellular structures, The Complete Cosmicomics is translated by Martin McLaughlin, Tim Parks and William Weaver in Penguin Modern Classics.''Naturally, we were all there, - dld Qfwfq said, - where else could we have been? Nobody knew then that there could be space. Or time either: what use did we have for time, packed in there like sardines?'' The Cosmicomics tell the story of the history of the universe, from the big bang, through millennia and across galaxies. It is witnessed through the eyes of ''cosmic know-it-all'' Qfwfq, an exuberant, chameleon-like figure, who takes the shape of a dinosaur, a mollusc, a steamer captain and a moon milk gatherer, among others. This is the first complete edition in English of Italo Calvino''s funny, whimsical and delightful stories, which blend scientific fact, flights of fancy, parody and wordplay to show the strangeness and the wonders of the world. Italo Calvino (1923-1985), one of Italy''s finest postwar writers, has delighted readers around the world with his deceptively simple, fable-like stories. Calvino was born in Cuba and raised in San Remo, Italy; he fought for the Italian Resistance from 1943-45. Among his other works published in Penguin Modern Classics are Italian Folktales, Hermit in Paris, Into the War, The Path to the Spiders'' Nests, Numbers in the Dark, Six Memos for the Next Millennium and Why Read the Classics?If you liked The Complete Cosmicomics, you might enjoy Jorge Luis Borges'' Fictions, also available in Penguin Modern Classics.''The complete and definitive collection ... a masterpiece'' Gilbert Adair, Evening Standard''Dazzling ... a book of revelation'' Tim Adams, Observer ''If you have never read Cosmicomics, you have before you the most joyful reading experience of your life'' Salman Rushdie''A landmark in fiction, the work of a master'' Ursula K Le Guin, GuardianTrade ReviewCalvino was ahead of his time in so many ways that only now is his work widely perceived not as marginal because it is fantasy, but as a landmark in fiction, the work of a master . . . It's a joy to have all the Cosmicomics within one cover, and a handsome cover it is ... Martin McLaughlin's introduction couldn't be better as a guide to these dazzlingly idiosyncratic tales -- Ursula K Le Guin * Guardian *If you have never read Cosmicomics, you have before you the most joyful reading experience of your life -- Salman RushdieThis is classic Calvino, making you think and laugh at the same time -- John Self

Read more less

Book SynopsisWhy Read the Classics? is an elegant defence of the value of great literature by one of the finest authors of the last century. Beginning with an essay on the attributes that define a classic (number one - classics are those books that people always say they are ''rereading'', not ''reading''), this is an absorbing collection of Italo Calvino''s witty and passionate criticism.Trade ReviewEnthusiasm and intelligence: these are the essential qualities of the critic. Calvino, himself a novelist of rare quality, possessed both generously. This is a book to read for itself, and also because it will send you back to other books to read, either again in a new way, or for the first time... Superb * Daily Telegraph *This volume itself is a classic book at bedtime, a seductive invitation to forgotten opportunities or rereading * The Times *A master’s guidance on everything from the ancient Greeks to Ernest Hemingway, proving that “a classic is a book that has never finished saying what it has to say.” This timeless description applies to Calvino’s own books too -- John Self

Read more less

Book SynopsisIncludes five autobiographical meditations that delves into the author's past, remembering awkward childhood walks with his father, a lifelong obsession with the cinema and fighting in the Italian Resistance against the Fascists.Trade ReviewThese autobiographical essays marvellously reconstitute different strata of his past in all the pristine, warm stir of immediacy * Sunday Times *In these personal essays, Calvino dives into his memory and childhood with great warmth -- John SelfI propose a new adjective, calvinoid - as in a calvinoid construct, an impossible and beautiful structure spun out of the detritus of the quotidian . . . the scientific precision of his imagination and his carnivalesque delight in irony and absurdity . . . His legacy is an atlas full of calvinoid constructs, invisible cities, that will dazzle the lucky explorer -- Clive Sinclair * Independent *

Read more less

Book SynopsisA couple on an epicurean journey across Mexico are excited by the idea of a particular ingredient, suggested by ancient rituals of human sacrifice. Precariously balanced on his throne, a king is able only to listen to the sounds around him - sure that any deviation from their normal progression would mean the uprising of the conspirators that surround him. And three different men search desperately for the beguiling scents of lost women, from a Count visiting Madame Odile''s perfumery, to a London drummer stepping over spent, naked bodies.Trade Review'The pleasure of these stories is intense: the flexibility and range of Calvino's imagination bring to them a kind of organic perfection as though they had not been written by a man but rather grown of their own accord' Sunday Telegraph

Read more less

Book SynopsisNumbers in the Dark is a collection of short stories covering the length of Italo Calvino''s extraordinary writing career, from when he was a teenager to shortly before his death. They include witty allegories and wise fables; a town where everything has been forbidden apart from the game of tip-cat; a pitiable tribe watching the flight paths of guided missiles from outside their mud huts; a computer programmer considering the possible sequence of a series of brutal acts; and dialogues with Henry Ford, a Neanderthal and the gloomy, overthrown Montezuma ...Trade Review'The author's command of detail and his fine, inventive imagination, his ability to turn ideas upside down and inside out, his awareness of the comic capacity of everyday life, are always ready to surprise and delight.' Literary Review

Read more less

Book SynopsisItalo Calvino once said that he preferred to give false details about his biography since he felt that even the genuine data of a writer''s life shed no light on the creative work. But this volume of posthumously collected personal writings is the closest we will ever come to the autobiography of this most private of writers. The pieces collected here range from the early 1950s to his last interview, completed just before his sudden death in 1985. Apart from providing a glimpse into his own formative experiences and evolution as an author, Calvino''s autobiographical writings also examine the major events of twentieth-century history from a very personal viewpoint. This volume is full of ideas on literature and other writers, all conveyed with the author''s distinctive lightness and intelligence.Italo Calvino, one of Italy''s finest postwar writers, has delighted readers around the world with his deceptively simple, fable-like stories. Calvino was born in Cuba in 1923 and ra

Read more less

Book SynopsisFrom fabulous enchantments and supernatural horrors to subtler, more psychological terrors, the best of nineteenth-century fantastic literature is collected here by Italo Calvino. These mysterious and macabre tales include Hoffmann''s nightmarish ''The Sandman'', Poe''s terrifying ''The Tell-Tale Heart'' and Dickens''s chilling ghost story ''The Signal-Man'', and relatively unknown works from celebrated writers including Honoré de Balzac, Henry James, Sir Walter Scott, Guy de Maupassant and Robert Louis Stevenson, alongside lesser-known contributors. Each story comes with a fascinating introduction by Calvino.Trade Review'Describes imaginary worlds with the most extraordinary precision and beauty' - Gore Vidal 'One of the most playful, intelligent and inventive minds in the whole of European fiction' - Philip Hensher, Mail on Sunday

Read more less

Book SynopsisItalo Calvino in Collection of Sand claimed that ''the brain begins in the eye''. The essays collected here display his fascination with the visual universe, in which the things we see tell a truth about the world. With encyclopedic knowledge and engaging curiosity, Calvino writes about such diverse subjects as the imaginative pleasures of maps, bizarre exhibitions and the earliest forms of written language. Books and paintings provoke discussions of artistic motivation, while descriptions of a meticulous Japanese garden, Trajan''s column crumbling to dust or a Mexican temple smothered by the jungle lead to contemplations on space, time and civilization. Surprising and profound, Collection of Sand provides a glimpse into the mind of a master of the magination.Italo Calvino, one of Italy''s finest postwar writers, has delighted readers around the world with his deceptively simple, fable-like stories. Calvino was born in Cuba in 1923 and raised in San Remo, Italy; he fought for the Italian Resistance from 1943-45. He died in Siena in 1985, of a brain hemorrhage.Martin L. McLaughlin is Professor of Italian and Fiat-Serena Professor of Italian Studies at the University of Oxford where he is a Fellow of Magdalen College. He is the English translator of Umberto Eco and Italo Calvino among many others.Trade ReviewA brilliant collection that may change the way you see the world around you * Guardian *A pleasure . . . offers new glimpses into the mind of the great writer while also reminding us of Calvino's insatiable curiosity * Independent *A delight, these essays are distinguished by a sly philosophic humour and whimsy * Spectator *

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe extraordinary letters of Italo Calvino, one of the great writers of the twentieth century, translated into English for the first time by Martin McLaughlin, with an introduction by Michael Wood.Italo Calvino, novelist, literary critic and editor, was also a masterful letter writer whose correspondents included Umberto Eco, Primo Levi, Gore Vidal and Pier Paolo Pasolini. This collection of his extraordinary letters, the first in English, gives an illuminating insight into his work and life. They include correspondence with fellow authors, generous encouragement to young writers, responses to critics, thoughts on literary criticism and literature in general, as well as giving glimpses of Calvino''s role in the antifascist Resistance, his disenchantment with Communism and his travels to America and Cuba. Together they reveal the searching intellect, clarity and passionate commitment of a great writer at work.''This literally marvelous collection of letters

Read more less

Book Synopsis''An indispensable writer ... Calvino, possesses the power of seeing into the deepest recesses of human minds and then bringing their dreams to life'' Salman RushdieThe difference between life and literature; the good intentions of holiday reading; the avante-garde; the fate of the novel; the fantastical; the art of translation: these are just some of the ideas in The Written World and the Unwritten World. A collection of essays, articles, interviews, correspondence, notes and other occasional pieces on writing, reading and interpreting books, this work gives us new insight into Italo Calvino''s expansive, curious and generous mind.Translated by Ann GoldsteinTrade ReviewElectric . . . this rich collection of essays, reviews, interviews and more . . . are not only the backstory to his fictional method, but often another expression of it -- Tim Adams * Observer *Engagingly whimsical . . . a wry sense of humour . . . there are gems to be mined. And, like real precious stones, they are found in unlikely places * Economist *Glimmering insight and wit . . . incisive . . . reading this book is time spent with a first-rate mind -- Chris Power * The Sunday Times *Playful . . . unfailingly stimulating . . . there are plenty of delights -- John Self * Guardian *It is for these moments of pathos, irony and honesty, when palaces of dazzling reflection are swept aside and the most adventurous thinking is undone, that one reads Italo Calvino -- Tim Parks * TLS *Intelligent, witty, pleasingly erudite and razor-sharp -- Alberto Manguel * Literary Review *Wonderful . . . surveys his varied interests and discerning style . . . Calvino's prose is sparkling as ever, and he approaches ideas with wit and an open mind, always ready to challenge a stale point of view. This anthology will delight Calvino fans old and new * Publishers Weekly *

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis''Time is a catastrophe, perpetual and irreversible.'' Science and fiction interweave delightfully in these playful Cosmicomic short stories.Penguin Modern: fifty new books celebrating the pioneering spirit of the iconic Penguin Modern Classics series, with each one offering a concentrated hit of its contemporary, international flavour. Here are authors ranging from Kathy Acker to James Baldwin, Truman Capote to Stanislaw Lem and George Orwell to Shirley Jackson; essays radical and inspiring; poems moving and disturbing; stories surreal and fabulous; taking us from the deep South to modern Japan, New York''s underground scene to the farthest reaches of outer space.

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisIntroducing Little Clothbound Classics: irresistible, mini editions of short stories, novellas and essays from the world''s greatest writers, designed by the award-winning Coralie Bickford-Smith. Celebrating the range and diversity of Penguin Classics, they take us from snowy Japan to springtime Vienna, from haunted New England to a sun-drenched Mediterranean island, and from a game of chess on the ocean to a love story on the moon. Beautifully designed and printed, these collectible editions are bound in colourful, tactile cloth and stamped with foil.Twelve enchanting and fantastical stories about the evolution of the universe from the giant of Italian literature, Italo Calvino. His characters - whether human, dinosaur or mollusc - disport themselves among galaxies, experience the solidification of planets, move from aquatic to terrestrial existence, play games with hydrogen atoms - and have time for a love life.''A landmark in fiction, the work of a master'' - Ursula K Le GuinTrade ReviewIf you have never read Cosmicomics, you have before you the most joyful reading experience of your life -- Salman RushdieA landmark in fiction, the work of a master -- Ursula K Le GuinThis is classic Calvino, making you think and laugh at the same time -- John Self

Read more less

Book Synopsis90 classic titles celebrating 90 years of Penguin BooksI went down, I climbed back up into the light of the jaguar sun into the sea of the green sap of the leaves. The world spun, I plunged down, my throat cut by the knife of the king-priest The solar energy coursed along dense networks of blood and chlorophyll; I was living and dying in all the fibers of what is chewed and digested and in all the fibres that absorb the sun

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisA “wondrous work from the early career of one of the world's greatest writers” (Kirkus Reviews), masterfully translated from Italian into English by Ann Goldstein Intricate interior lives are brilliantly explored in these short stories, now presented in one definitive collection as the author intended them. In Difficult Loves, Italy's master storyteller weaves tales in which cherished deceptions and illusions of loveincluding self-loveare swept away in magical instants of recognition. A soldier is reduced to quivering fear by the presence of a full-figured woman in his train compartment; a young clerk leaves a lady's bed at dawn; a young woman is isolated from bathers on a beach by the loss of her bikini bottom. Each of them discovers hidden truths beneath the surface of everyday life. This edition also include two stories translated into English for the first time, translated by Ann Goldstein (The Neopolitan Quartet, Elena Ferrante).

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis is the first collection in English of the extraordinary letters of one of the great writers of the twentieth century. Italy's most important postwar novelist, Italo Calvino (1923-1985) achieved worldwide fame with such books as Cosmicomics, Invisible Cities, and If on a Winter's Night a Traveler. But he was also an influential literary critic,Trade ReviewOne of The Guardian Best Books of 2013, chosen by Pankaj Mishra Selected for the SFG Gift Guide 2013 "[C]onsistently absorbing and suggestive... [T]he chronicle not only of Calvino's intellectual development but of postwar Italy's... The letters in this book deal with great subtlety, sophistication, and wit, and occasionally even a certain cynicism, with challenges that might have overburdened a less mercurial, multifarious, essentially sane spirit."--Jonathan Galassi, New York Review of Books "The image of Calvino as postmodernism's light-footed prince follows easily. But, behind that image, who was Calvino? The publication of a considerable selection of Calvino's letters affords an opportunity, or many opportunities, to ask that question anew."--Lawrence Norfolk, Wall Street Journal "[T]here is no writer alive who resembles ... Calvino. So the appearance of a selection of Calvino's letters in English is a moment of happiness... [T]hese letters offer a gorgeous portrait of Calvino in the midst of his own productivity: as an editor, a reader, a critic, an inventor of new literary forms. And they allow the reader to investigate the complicated background from which those strange forms emerged."--Adam Thirlwell, New Republic "This collection, the first in English, gives voice and witness to a vibrant mind intensely engaged in the literary and political future of postwar Italy and the history of ideas... McLaughlin's translation is award-winning; the extensive notes provide a model of masterful research. Irresistible for Calvino readers."--Library Journal "Italo Calvino's letters ... provide ... pleasure and surprise... In them he shines as an editor of obvious brilliance and a writer of lavish gratitude towards those who appreciate his work."--Vivian Gornick, Prospect "Superbly translated by Martin McLaughlin, these letters place Calvino in the larger frame of 20th century Italy and provide a showcase for his refined and civil voice... Italo Calvino: Letters, 1941-1985 is a charming addition to the Planet Calvino--a place cluttered with sphinxes, chimeras, knights, spaceships and viscounts both cloven and whole."--Ian Thomson, Guardian "[I]mpeccably translated and annotated."--Robert Gordon, Literary Review "[A]ltogether fantastic... Italo Calvino: Letters, 1941-1985 is indispensable in its entirety, a treasure trove of timeless insight on literature and life."--Maria Popova, Brain Pickings "The general reader will come away from the Letters admiring this skeptical, loyal, generous, industrious man, who gave the life of letters the dignity it so often seems to lack."--Adam Kirsch, Barnes and Noble Review "It is impossible to overstate just how sublime and richly insightful Italo Calvino: Letters, 1941-1985 is in its entirety."--Maria Popova, Brain Pickings "This selection of letter offers intellectual riches and access to the workings of a wholly original mind. The presentation of the book is exemplary, with copious, precise notes by Martin McLaughlin identifying not only the recipients of the letters but also the background to the topics under discussion. McLaughlin's translation is fluent and elegant throughout."--Joseph Farrell, The (Scotland) Herald "[F]ascinating... A vastly entertaining collection, meticulously edited and annotated."--Peter Sirr, Irish Times "As the letters chart Calvino's journey from postwar communist concerns with faithfulness to history to his destiny as an imaginative maestro more concerned with being faithful to the universe, the text both instructs and entertains."--Gregory Day, WA Today "[C]ompelling."--Tiffany Nichols, City Book Review "[D]eeply rewarding."--Lisa Hilton, Standpoint "[I]t is provides a far greater insight into the life of Italo Calvino than an ordinary biography would have done."--Artswrap "Michael Wood has made a studious selection of Calvino's letters and a provides an insightful introduction that frames his selection in the larger tableau of Calvino's life and work. Ample notes further clarify many of the personal and historical details as well as the Italian idioms that appear throughout these letters. It is a book worthy of both study and appreciation."--Stephan Delbos, BODY "Selected and introduced by Michael Wood, translated by Martin McLaughlin, the collection is a mesmerizing peek inside the thinking of the great modern fabulist... Much of [Calvino's] letter writing seems to be an exercise in clear expression... He is a writer as scrupulous and demanding on himself as he is on the world around him. Calvino took the role of public intellectual very seriously, convinced in his job to explore the fringes of thought... A writer of such great control and refreshing playfulness, Calvino reveals how serious and unsure his journey was in this collection of candid letters."--Seth Satterlee, PWxyz (Publishers Weekly blog) "There is much to admire in McLaughlin's translation of the letters, not least his sensitivity to Calvino's variations of style and tone, from the ironic to the pedantic. The collection also provides new texts in English that provide valuable insights into the germination of Calvino's best-known works. It captures the writer's generosity and integrity and, above all, his deep and abiding passion for literary culture."--Rita Wilson, Sydney Review of BooksTable of ContentsIntroduction, by Michael Wood vii Translator's Note, by Martin McLaughlin xvii Abbreviations xix 1941-1945 1 1946-1950 32 1951-1955 73 1956-1960 111 1961-1965 212 1966-1970 311 1971-1975 390 1976-1980 461 1981-1985 511 Notes 535 Index 599

Read more less

Book SynopsisItaly's most important postwar novelist, Italo Calvino (1923-1985) achieved worldwide fame with such books as Cosmicomics, Invisible Cities, and If on a Winter's Night a Traveler. This book includes a selection of about 650 letters, written between World War II and the end of Calvino's life.Trade ReviewOne of The Guardian Best Books of 2013, chosen by Pankaj Mishra Selected for the SFG Gift Guide 2013 "[C]onsistently absorbing and suggestive... [T]he chronicle not only of Calvino's intellectual development but of postwar Italy's... The letters in this book deal with great subtlety, sophistication, and wit, and occasionally even a certain cynicism, with challenges that might have overburdened a less mercurial, multifarious, essentially sane spirit."--Jonathan Galassi, New York Review of Books "The image of Calvino as postmodernism's light-footed prince follows easily. But, behind that image, who was Calvino? The publication of a considerable selection of Calvino's letters affords an opportunity, or many opportunities, to ask that question anew."--Lawrence Norfolk, Wall Street Journal "[T]here is no writer alive who resembles ... Calvino. So the appearance of a selection of Calvino's letters in English is a moment of happiness... [T]hese letters offer a gorgeous portrait of Calvino in the midst of his own productivity: as an editor, a reader, a critic, an inventor of new literary forms. And they allow the reader to investigate the complicated background from which those strange forms emerged."--Adam Thirlwell, New Republic "This collection, the first in English, gives voice and witness to a vibrant mind intensely engaged in the literary and political future of postwar Italy and the history of ideas... McLaughlin's translation is award-winning; the extensive notes provide a model of masterful research. Irresistible for Calvino readers."--Library Journal "Italo Calvino's letters ... provide ... pleasure and surprise... In them he shines as an editor of obvious brilliance and a writer of lavish gratitude towards those who appreciate his work."--Vivian Gornick, Prospect "Superbly translated by Martin McLaughlin, these letters place Calvino in the larger frame of 20th century Italy and provide a showcase for his refined and civil voice... Italo Calvino: Letters, 1941-1985 is a charming addition to the Planet Calvino--a place cluttered with sphinxes, chimeras, knights, spaceships and viscounts both cloven and whole."--Ian Thomson, Guardian "[I]mpeccably translated and annotated."--Robert Gordon, Literary Review "[A]ltogether fantastic... Italo Calvino: Letters, 1941-1985 is indispensable in its entirety, a treasure trove of timeless insight on literature and life."--Maria Popova, Brain Pickings "The general reader will come away from the Letters admiring this skeptical, loyal, generous, industrious man, who gave the life of letters the dignity it so often seems to lack."--Adam Kirsch, Barnes and Noble Review "It is impossible to overstate just how sublime and richly insightful Italo Calvino: Letters, 1941-1985 is in its entirety."--Maria Popova, Brain Pickings "This selection of letter offers intellectual riches and access to the workings of a wholly original mind. The presentation of the book is exemplary, with copious, precise notes by Martin McLaughlin identifying not only the recipients of the letters but also the background to the topics under discussion. McLaughlin's translation is fluent and elegant throughout."--Joseph Farrell, The (Scotland) Herald "[F]ascinating... A vastly entertaining collection, meticulously edited and annotated."--Peter Sirr, Irish Times "As the letters chart Calvino's journey from postwar communist concerns with faithfulness to history to his destiny as an imaginative maestro more concerned with being faithful to the universe, the text both instructs and entertains."--Gregory Day, WA Today "[C]ompelling."--Tiffany Nichols, City Book Review "[D]eeply rewarding."--Lisa Hilton, Standpoint "[I]t is provides a far greater insight into the life of Italo Calvino than an ordinary biography would have done."--Artswrap "Michael Wood has made a studious selection of Calvino's letters and a provides an insightful introduction that frames his selection in the larger tableau of Calvino's life and work. Ample notes further clarify many of the personal and historical details as well as the Italian idioms that appear throughout these letters. It is a book worthy of both study and appreciation."--Stephan Delbos, BODY "Selected and introduced by Michael Wood, translated by Martin McLaughlin, the collection is a mesmerizing peek inside the thinking of the great modern fabulist... Much of [Calvino's] letter writing seems to be an exercise in clear expression... He is a writer as scrupulous and demanding on himself as he is on the world around him. Calvino took the role of public intellectual very seriously, convinced in his job to explore the fringes of thought... A writer of such great control and refreshing playfulness, Calvino reveals how serious and unsure his journey was in this collection of candid letters."--Seth Satterlee, PWxyz (Publishers Weekly blog) "There is much to admire in McLaughlin's translation of the letters, not least his sensitivity to Calvino's variations of style and tone, from the ironic to the pedantic. The collection also provides new texts in English that provide valuable insights into the germination of Calvino's best-known works. It captures the writer's generosity and integrity and, above all, his deep and abiding passion for literary culture."--Rita Wilson, Sydney Review of BooksTable of ContentsIntroduction, by Michael Wood vii Translator's Note, by Martin McLaughlin xvii Abbreviations xix 1941-1945 1 1946-1950 32 1951-1955 73 1956-1960 111 1961-1965 212 1966-1970 311 1971-1975 390 1976-1980 461 1981-1985 511 Notes 535 Index 599

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis book documents a year-long exhibition entitled Knots + Surfaces, at Dia Center for the Arts from January 2001 through January 2002, in which Diana Thater presented a large-scale, multiprojection video installation specifically designed to interact with the open architectural space of Dia''s third-floor gallery. A charged environment, combining layered projections with a wall of clustered monitors, becomes a metaphorical charting of multidimensional space. Referring to a recent mathematical hypothesis that correlates a complex, six-dimesional spatial model to a map of a honey bee''s dance, Thater expands her abiding concern with the intersection of nature and culture. Along with an introduction to both her work and the exhibition by Lynne Cooke, the book will include an essay on Thater''s work by Akira Lippit.

Read more less

Book Synopsis'I can think of no finer writer to have beside me while Italy explodes, Britain burns, while the world ends' Salman RushdieFrom the age of twelve, the Baron Cosimo Piovasco di Rondo makes his home among ash, elm, magnolia, plum and almond, living up in the trees. He walks through paths made from the twisted branches of olive, makes his bed in a holly oak, bathes in a fountain constructed from poplar bark. An aerial library holds the books with which he educates himself in philosophy and mathematics. Suspended among the leaves, the Baron adventures with bandits and pirates, conducts a passionate love affair, and watches the Age of Enlightenment pass by beneath him. 'The most magically ingenious of the contemporary Italian novelists' The TimesTrade ReviewReading Calvino, you're constantly assailed by the notion that he is writing down what you have always known, except that you've never thought of it before.This is highly unnerving: fortunately you're usually too busy laughing to go mad... I can think of no finer writer to have beside me while Italy explodes, Britain burns, while the world ends -- Salman RushdieBreathtakingly inventive -- David MitchellThe most magically ingenious of the contemporary Italian novelists * The Times *Calvino is a wizard * New York Review of Books *

Read more less

Book SynopsisA spectacular display of this key European writer's early workThis dazzling collection of stories follows the individual adventures of a varied cast of characters and masterfully illustrates Calvino's unique perspective and narrative gifts. As well as the thirteen tales from his Difficult Loves collection this volume also includes 'Smog', 'A Plunge into Real Estate' and 'The Argentine Ant'.'The quirkiness and grace of the writing, the originality of the imagination at work, the occasional incandescence of vision, and a certain loveable nuttiness make this collection well worth reading' Margaret Atwood'If this is not a masterpiece of twentieth-century prose writing, I cannot think of anything better' Gore Vidal on 'The Argentine Ant'Trade ReviewA beautifully translated collection of early stories by the highly regarded Italian writer. The earliest were written in 1945 when Calvino was twenty-two and the latest date from the 1950s when he was in his early thirties. The quirkiness and the grace of the writing, the originality of the imagination at work, the incandescence of vision, make this collection well worth reading, and for more than archaeological reasons * New York Times Book Review *The greatest Italian writer of the twentieth century * Guardian *

Read more less

Book SynopsisA beautiful hardback edition of Calvino's genre-switching masterwork. A book of surprise and adventure but you, the reader, are the hero. You go into a bookshop and buy If on a Winter's Night a Traveller by Italo Calvino. You like it. But alas there is a printer's error in your copy. You take it back to the shop and get a replacement. But the replacement seems to be a totally different story. You try to track down the original book you were reading but end up with a different narrative again. This remarkable novel leads you through many different books including a detective adventure, a romance, a satire, an erotic story, a diary and a quest. But the real hero is you, the reader.'Breathtakingly inventive' David Mitchell'A writer of dizzying ambition and variety, each of his stories is a fresh adventure into the possibilities of fiction' GuardianVINTAGE QUARTERBOUND CLASSICS: Bound to be beautiful

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less