Italo Calvino

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Italo Calvino


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

Died
September 19, 1985

Genre

Influences


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 easy to classify; much of his writing has an air reminiscent to that of fantastical 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 simpl
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Average rating: 3.98 · 441,231 ratings · 34,136 reviews · 512 distinct worksSimilar authors
If on a Winter’s Night a Tr...

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4.03 avg rating — 100,896 ratings — published 1979 — 60 editions
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Invisible Cities

4.11 avg rating — 86,598 ratings — published 1972 — 126 editions
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The Baron in the Trees

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4.02 avg rating — 46,840 ratings — published 1957 — 112 editions
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Il visconte dimezzato

3.82 avg rating — 27,544 ratings — published 1952 — 146 editions
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Il cavaliere inesistente

3.83 avg rating — 22,388 ratings — published 1959 — 144 editions
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Il sentiero dei nidi di ragno

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3.77 avg rating — 22,067 ratings — published 1947 — 114 editions
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Cosmicomics

4.16 avg rating — 19,424 ratings — published 1965 — 76 editions
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Marcovaldo

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3.84 avg rating — 14,657 ratings — published 1963 — 116 editions
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Difficult Loves

3.91 avg rating — 11,162 ratings — published 1958 — 64 editions
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Six Memos for the Next Mill...

4.18 avg rating — 9,708 ratings — published 1988 — 110 editions
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More books by Italo Calvino…
Il visconte dimezzato The Baron in the Trees Il cavaliere inesistente
(3 books)
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3.93 avg rating — 100,471 ratings

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Quotes by Italo Calvino  (?)
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“A classic is a book that has never finished saying what it has to say.”
Italo Calvino, The Uses of Literature

“Sections in the bookstore

- Books You Haven't Read
- Books You Needn't Read
- Books Made for Purposes Other Than Reading
- Books Read Even Before You Open Them Since They Belong to the Category of Books Read Before Being Written
- Books That If You Had More Than One Life You Would Certainly Also Read But Unfortunately Your Days Are Numbered
- Books You Mean to Read But There Are Others You Must Read First
- Books Too Expensive Now and You'll Wait 'Til They're Remaindered
- 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
- Books You've Been Planning to Read for Ages
- Books You've Been Hunting for Years Without Success
- Books Dealing with Something You're Working on at the Moment
- Books You Want to Own So They'll Be Handy Just in Case
- Books You Could Put Aside Maybe to Read This Summer
- Books You Need to Go with Other Books on Your Shelves
- Books That Fill You with Sudden, Inexplicable Curiosity, Not Easily Justified
- Books Read Long Ago Which It's Now Time to Re-read
- Books You've Always Pretended to Have Read and Now It's Time to Sit Down and Really Read Them”
Italo Calvino, If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler

“Melancholy is sadness that has taken on lightness.”
Italo Calvino

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