Italo Calvino





Italo Calvino

Author profile


born
October 15, 1923 in Santiago de Las Vegas, Cuba

died
September 19, 1985

gender
male

genre

influences
Joseph Conrad, Oulipo


About this author

Italo Calvino was born in Cuba and grew up in Italy. He was a journalist and writer of short stories and novels. His best known works include the Our Ancestors trilogy (1952-1959), the Cosmicomics collection of short stories (1965), and the novels Invisible Cities (1972) and If On a Winter's Night a Traveler (1979).

His style is not easily classified; much of his writing has an air of the fantastic reminiscent of fairy tales (Our Ancestors, Cosmicomics), although sometimes his writing is more "realistic" and in the scenic mode of observation (Difficult Loves, for example). Some of his writing has been called postmodern, reflecting on literature and the act of reading, while some has been labeled magical realist, others fables, others simply...more


Average rating: 4.04 · 56,804 ratings · 4,306 reviews · 108 distinct works
If on a Winter's Night a Tr...
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4.09 of 5 stars 4.09 avg rating — 16,659 ratings — published 1979 — 71 editions
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Invisible Cities
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4.2 of 5 stars 4.20 avg rating — 11,182 ratings — published 1972 — 56 editions
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The Baron in the Trees
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4.03 of 5 stars 4.03 avg rating — 5,918 ratings — published 1957 — 21 editions
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Cosmicomics
4.15 of 5 stars 4.15 avg rating — 4,259 ratings — published 1965 — 27 editions
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The Nonexistent Knight & Th...
3.98 of 5 stars 3.98 avg rating — 2,025 ratings — published 1952 — 2 editions
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Difficult Loves
3.88 of 5 stars 3.88 avg rating — 1,672 ratings — published 1970 — 19 editions
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Italian Folktales
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4.14 of 5 stars 4.14 avg rating — 1,340 ratings — published 1956 — 24 editions
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Marcovaldo
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3.9 of 5 stars 3.90 avg rating — 1,496 ratings — published 1963 — 45 editions
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Six Memos For The Next Mill...
4.18 of 5 stars 4.18 avg rating — 1,411 ratings — published 1989 — 27 editions
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Mr Palomar
3.88 of 5 stars 3.88 avg rating — 1,393 ratings — published 1983 — 23 editions
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More books by Italo Calvino…
Il visconte dimezzato The Baron in the Trees Il cavaliere inesistente
Our Ancestors (3 books)
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3.974132570575799 of 5 stars 3.97 avg rating — 8,041 ratings
“In the shop window you have promptly identified the cover with the title you were looking for. Following this visual trail, you have forced your way through the shop past the thick barricade of Books You Haven't Read, which are frowning at you from the tables and shelves, trying to cow you...And thus you pass the outer girdle of ramparts, but then you are attacked by the infantry of Books That If You Had More Than One Life You Would Certainly Also Read But Unfortunately Your Days Are Numbered. With a rapid maneuver you bypass them and move into the phalanxes of the Books You Mean To Read But There Are Others You Must Read First, the Books Too Expensive Now And You'll Wait Till They're Remaindered, the Books ditto When They Come Out in Paperback, Books You Can Borrow From Somebody, Books That Everybody's Read So It's As If You Had Read Them, Too. ”
Italo Calvino, If on a Winter's Night a Traveler

“What makes lovemaking and reading resemble each other most is that within both of them times and spaces open, different from measurable time and space.”
Italo Calvino

“A classic is a book that has never finished saying what it has to say.”
Italo Calvino

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