Description

Book Synopsis

Set 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.



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The greatest Italian writer of the twentieth century * Guardian *

Into the War

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    A Paperback / softback by Italo Calvino, Martin McLaughlin

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      Book details

      Publisher Penguin Random House Group
      Imprint Penguin Classics
      Published 3 November 2011
      ISBN-13 9780141193731
      978-0141193731
      ISBN-10 0141193735
      Also in:
      Contemporary Fiction Books by Italo Calvino

      Description

      Book Synopsis

      Set 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 Review
      The greatest Italian writer of the twentieth century * Guardian *

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