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Hermit in Paris: Autobiographical Writings
From one of modern literature’s most captivating and elusive masters comes a posthumous volume of thoughtful, elegant, and quick-witted autobiographical writings, all previously unpublished in English. Here is Italo Calvino paying homage to his literary influences and tracing the evolution of his signature style. Here are his reminiscences of Italy’s antifascist resistance...more
Paperback, 272 pages
Published
August 10th 2004
by Vintage
(first published January 1st 206)
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Nov 23, 2008
blue-collar mind
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
essay-mongerers, international minds interested in stopping world domination by any one culture
Shelves:
have-read-then-given-away-for-othe
I was in Italy for the Terra Madre conference that Slow Food holds every two years (as books go, the Slow Food folks have a couple of good ones to read, especially Carlo Petrini's book about founding this wonderful international movement), and while walking MILES through Turin in the evening, I came across a bookstore that had a floor of English titles, and of course, a entire shelf of Calvino, who adopted Turin as his Italian homebase before moving to Paris.
So, when in Rome....
I have read a few...more
So, when in Rome....
I have read a few...more
From one of modern literature’s most captivating and elusive masters comes a posthumous volume of thoughtful, elegant, and quick-witted autobiographical writings, all previously unpublished in English. Here is Italo Calvino paying homage to his literary influences and tracing the evolution of his signature style. Here are his reminiscences of Italy’s antifascist resistance and the frenzy of politics and ideas of the postwar era.
The longest and most delightfully revealing section of the book i
I hoped that by reading this I could better understand some of the ideas behind the incredible words he writes in “Invisible Cities.” Throughout “Hermit in Paris” there are passages about Calvino’s development as a writer and as a political activist. The most enlightening passages are ones in which he ponders both of these developments in relation to place:
“To stay in one place you stay away from it. In Paris, watching Italy. What sort of a trick is this? Among the Invisible Cities there is one...more
“To stay in one place you stay away from it. In Paris, watching Italy. What sort of a trick is this? Among the Invisible Cities there is one...more
Italo Calvino (one of Italy's most celebrated writers) took a six month trip around the United States in 1959. He was doing this on a cultural expedition financed by the Ford Foundation, so basically his job was to travel around talking to people about Italian literature or about American culture or about anything else.
Throughout his trip he sent a series of letters back home to his publishing house in Italy, describing all that he saw and did. The letters are basically amazing. By turn they ar...more
Throughout his trip he sent a series of letters back home to his publishing house in Italy, describing all that he saw and did. The letters are basically amazing. By turn they ar...more
Calvino is one of my favorite writers. I love the way he was always on to something new, never repeated himself but always explored and adventured and expanded his horizons. This collection of interviews and autobiographical notes is interesting in many ways, including his impressions of America circa 1960, his political involvements, and his views on his peers and the literature of his time. The juxtapositions of all these aspects make for a curious portrait, a more-angled one than you usually...more
A lot of it is filler---
But the letters from America are astoundingly interesting to see this place from that well structured thought process. If it were only those couple dozen pages, I'd be tempted to say it bordered on five stars. Also, I've always seen Calvino described as a very closed off man-- and believe it to be accurate --but he opens himself up in observation of other things/people/places that is overly delightful to witness after so many of his books read.
But the letters from America are astoundingly interesting to see this place from that well structured thought process. If it were only those couple dozen pages, I'd be tempted to say it bordered on five stars. Also, I've always seen Calvino described as a very closed off man-- and believe it to be accurate --but he opens himself up in observation of other things/people/places that is overly delightful to witness after so many of his books read.
Three things about this book that I really liked: (1) Calvino's diary about traveling in the Deep South of America in the late 1950s and his disgust with the racism he observed. (2) His memories of Italian history and politics of 1930s-1950s. First-person accounts really are the best way to learn history in my opinion. (3) His answers to interview questions about being a writer, struggling with ideas. I like that genre.
Makes me want to read more Calvino.
Makes me want to read more Calvino.
Such a puzzle: Calvino is a committed communist who travels the US largely through letters of introduction to "polite" society. He seems to be a man of compassion and truth--of The People, for The People-- in many ways, yet he objectifies women without even a wink or a nod.
I loved his prose. The sections about the South were mesmerizing.
I loved his prose. The sections about the South were mesmerizing.
Leggere Calvino, leggere Calvino che parla di Torino, leggere Calvino che parla di Torino in inglese è una strana ma piacevole sensazione, come se le sue parole giungessero filtrate dalla mia nostalgia per casa...
Come anche gli altri libri di Calvino che ho riletto in inglese, ottimo lavoro del traduttore Martin McLaughlin
Come anche gli altri libri di Calvino che ho riletto in inglese, ottimo lavoro del traduttore Martin McLaughlin
A collection of essays relating to the life of Calvino, with his opinions about cities, not only Paris, which trigger other artistic and political subjects. Very interesting.
First book by this author I have read. This is 12 items published in different books. All were interesting, witty and entertaining.
I love him even more after reading his biography. Great observations about USA, and oh man, totally on the same page about NYC.
Hit or miss collection of essays from one of my favourite authors. Feelings range from insightful to blasé.
Pieces of autobiographical writings, useful for those who are interested in life and writings of Italo Calvino, otherwise, not an essential read.
This was fascinating and surprising in so many ways.
those about politics conflicts and ideological ideas' formation and transformation and delusion especially interest me
By revisiting various interviews and diary entries this collection of biographical flotsam and jetsam builds through repetition and the gradual accretion of detail a not wholly unexpected but appropriately postmodern portrait of the Italian author, Italo Cavino, as a writer who was simultaneously both playful and deeply sincere.
I've never read any of Calvino's other writing, so for me this was not very fun. Some essays about writing books I've never read, and a few fun travel journals in which Calvino goes to the US. Otherwise, nothing I got much out of, but then, I know very little about Calvino outside of this book.
I think I'd find time to resume reading this book (p. 221 onwards) since I first knew him by reading his "If On a Winter's Night a Traveler
" a few years ago. If I knew Italian, I definitely would enjoy reading this fantastic novel more.
" a few years ago. If I knew Italian, I definitely would enjoy reading this fantastic novel more.
I'm amazed by his detailed description and unique observation on his life in the states. He must had an extraordinary way to remember everything. I enjoy reading those details, but some of them might be too much.
A large chunk of this book is a travelogue of Calvino's first trip to NYC in 1959-60. A product of Facsit Italy meeting the Beats in a Madison Avenue apt. is always good for a laugh...
eh. not so good.
May 18, 2013
Justine Paradis
marked it as to-read
May 18, 2013
Khaled Mohamed
marked it as to-read
May 17, 2013
kasia
is currently reading it
May 16, 2013
Susan
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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...more
More about Italo Calvino...
His style is not easily classified; much of his writing has an air of the fantastic...more
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“New York is perhaps the only place in America where you feel at the centre and not at the margins, in the provinces, so for that reason I prefer its horror to this privileged beauty, its enslavement to the freedoms which remain local and privileged and very particularized, and which do not represent a genuine antithesis.”
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5 people liked it
“My mother delayed my enrollment in the Fascist scouts, the Balilla, as long as possible, firstly because she did not want me to learn how to handle weapons, but also because the meetings that were then held on Sunday mornings (before the Fascist Saturday was instituted) consisted mostly of a Mass in the scouts' chapel. When I had to be enrolled as part of my school duties, she asked that I be excused from the Mass; this was impossible for disciplinary reasons, but my mother saw to it that the chaplain and the commander were aware that I was not a Catholic and that I should not be asked to perform any external acts of devotion in church.
In short, I often found myself in situations different from others, looked on as if I were some strange animal. I do not think this harmed me: one gets used to persisting in one's habits, to finding oneself isolated for good reasons, to putting up with the discomfort that this causes, to finding the right way to hold on to positions which are not shared by the majority.
But above all I grew up tolerant of others' opinions, particularly in the field of religion, remembering how irksome it was to hear myself mocked because I did not follow the majority's beliefs. And at the same time I have remained totally devoid of that taste for anticlericalism which is so common in those who are educated surrounded by religion.
I have insisted on setting down these memories because I see that many non-believing friends let their children have a religious education 'so as not to give them complexes', 'so that they don't feel different from the others.' I believe that this behavior displays a lack of courage which is totally damaging pedagogically. Why should a young child not begin to understand that you can face a small amount of discomfort in order to stay faithful to an idea?
And in any case, who said that young people should not have complexes? Complexes arise through a natural attrition with the reality that surrounds us, and when you have complexes you try to overcome them. Life is in fact nothing but this triumphing over one's own complexes, without which the formation of a character and personality does not happen.”
—
3 people liked it
More quotes…
In short, I often found myself in situations different from others, looked on as if I were some strange animal. I do not think this harmed me: one gets used to persisting in one's habits, to finding oneself isolated for good reasons, to putting up with the discomfort that this causes, to finding the right way to hold on to positions which are not shared by the majority.
But above all I grew up tolerant of others' opinions, particularly in the field of religion, remembering how irksome it was to hear myself mocked because I did not follow the majority's beliefs. And at the same time I have remained totally devoid of that taste for anticlericalism which is so common in those who are educated surrounded by religion.
I have insisted on setting down these memories because I see that many non-believing friends let their children have a religious education 'so as not to give them complexes', 'so that they don't feel different from the others.' I believe that this behavior displays a lack of courage which is totally damaging pedagogically. Why should a young child not begin to understand that you can face a small amount of discomfort in order to stay faithful to an idea?
And in any case, who said that young people should not have complexes? Complexes arise through a natural attrition with the reality that surrounds us, and when you have complexes you try to overcome them. Life is in fact nothing but this triumphing over one's own complexes, without which the formation of a character and personality does not happen.”
