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A beautiful hardback edition of Calvino's incomparable,
genre-defying, wondrous masterwork. 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' Guardian VINTAGE QUARTERBOUND CLASSICS:
Beautiful editions of great books to last a lifetime
Introducing 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 Guin
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Last Comes the Raven (Paperback)
Italo Calvino; Translated by Archibald Colquhoun, Peggy Wright, Ann Goldstein, Ben Johnson, …
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R333
R278
Discovery Miles 2 780
Save R55 (17%)
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Ships in 9 - 15 working days
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These 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 Yorker
At the time of his death, Italo Calvino was at work on six lectures
setting forth the qualities in writing he most valued, and which he
believed would define literature in the century to come. Here, in
"Six Memos for the Next Millennium," are the five lectures he
completed, forming not only a stirring defense of literature, but
also an indispensable guide to the writings of Calvino himself. He
devotes one "memo" each to the concepts of "lightness,"
"quickness," "exactitude," "visibility," and "multiplicity,"
drawing examples from his vast knowledge of myth, folklore, and
works both ancient and modern. Readers will be astonished by the
prescience of these lectures, which have only gained in relevance
as Calvino's "next millennium" has dawned.
'When the last fire goes out, time too will be finished' Italo
Calvino was one of the most joyful and imaginative writers of the
twentieth century. Here he muses on what the things we leave behind
- whether waxworks or ancient graffiti, enigmatic maps or a
crumbling Roman column - tell us about the greater truths of the
world, space and time. One of twenty new books in the bestselling
Penguin Great Ideas series. This new selection showcases a diverse
list of thinkers who have helped shape our world today, from
anarchists to stoics, feminists to prophets, satirists to Zen
Buddhists.
Imaginary conversations between Marco Polo and his host, the
Chinese ruler Kublai Khan, conjure up cities of magical times. "Of
all tasks, describing the contents of a book is the most difficult
and in the case of a marvelous invention like Invisible Cities,
perfectly irrelevant" (Gore Vidal). Translated by William Weaver. A
Helen and Kurt Wolff Book
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The Complete Cosmicomics (Paperback)
Italo Calvino; Translated by Martin McLaughlin, Tim Parks, William Weaver
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R319
R262
Discovery Miles 2 620
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Ships in 9 - 15 working days
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Italo 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, Guardian
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Garden Stories (Hardcover)
Diana Secker Tesdell; Various; Contributions by Virginia Woolf, Katherine Mansfield, Doris Lessing, …
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R414
R340
Discovery Miles 3 400
Save R74 (18%)
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Ships in 9 - 15 working days
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Spectacular gardens are viewed from the perspective of a snail in
Virginia Woolf's 'Kew Gardens' and from that of a sheltered teenage
girl in Katherine Mansfield's 'The Garden Party'. The family of
Doris Lessing's 'Flavours of Exile' haul succulent vegetables and
fruits from the rich African soil, and Colette in 'Bygone Spring'
luxuriates in extravagantly blooming flowers. Children discover
their own peculiar paradises in Sandra Cisneros's 'The Monkey
Garden' and Italo Calvino's 'The Enchanted Garden', while adult
gardeners find things that move and haunt them in William Maxwell's
'The French Scarecrow' and Jamaica Kincaid's 'The Garden I Have in
Mind'. Gardens of the mind round out the anthology: the beautiful
but fatal garden of Nathaniel Hawthorne's 'Rappaccini's Daughter',
the crystal buds of J. G. Ballard's 'The Garden of Time', ravenous
orchids in John Collier's 'Green Thoughts', and Aoko Matsuda's
'Planting', in which a young woman plants each day whatever she has
been given - roses and violets, buttons and broken cups, love and
fear and sorrow. An entrancing book for everyone who loves gardens
and the beauty of nature.
Who but Italo Calvino could have selected two hundred of Italy's
traditional folktales and retold them so wondrously? The reader is
lured into a world of clearly Italian stamp, where kings and
peasants, saints and ogres - along with an array of the most
extraordinary plants and animals - disport themselves against the
rich background of regional customs and history. Whether the tone
is humorous and earthy, playful and nonsensical, or noble and
mysterious, the drama unfolds strictly according to the joyous
logic of the imagination.Chosen one of the New York Times's ten
best books in the year of its original publication, Italian
Folktales immediately won a cherished place among lovers of the
tale and vaulted Calvino into the ranks of the great folklorists
like the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen. In this
collection Calvino combines a sensibility attuned to the
fantastical with a singular writerly ability to capture the visions
and dreams of a people.
'An indispensable writer ... Calvino, possesses the power of seeing
into the deepest recesses of human minds and then bringing their
dreams to life' Salman Rushdie The 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 Goldstein
'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' Paul Bailey Times Literary Supplement
'I can think of no finer writer to have beside me while Italy
explodes, Britain burns, while the world ends' Salman Rushdie From
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 Times
Calvino's masterpiece opens with a scene that's reassuringly commonplace: apparently. Indeed, it's taking place now. A reader goes into a bookshop to buy a book: not any book, but the latest Calvino, the book you are holding in your hands. Or is it? Are you the reader? Is this the book? Beware. All assumptions are dangerous on this most bewitching switch-back ride to the heart of storytelling.
'Words connect the visible track to the invisible thing ... like a
fragile makeshift bridge cast across the void' With imagination and
wit, Italo Calvino sought to define the virtues of the great
literature of the past in order to shape the values of the future.
His effervescent last works, left unfinished at his death, were the
Charles Eliot Norton lectures, which he was due to deliver at
Harvard in 1985-86. These surviving drafts explore the literary
concepts closest to his heart: Lightness, Quickness, Multiplicity,
Exactitude and Visibility (Constancy was to be the sixth), in
serious yet playful essays that reveal his debt to the comic strip
and the folktale. This collection, now in a fluent and supple new
translation, is a brilliant precis of a great writer whose legacy
will endure through the millennium he addressed. Translated by
Geoffrey Brock 'The book I give most to people is Six Memos for the
Next Millennium' Ali Smith 'Wonderful . . . full of wit and
erudition' Daily Telegraph
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Marcovaldo (Paperback, New Ed)
Italo Calvino; Translated by William Weaver
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R270
R211
Discovery Miles 2 110
Save R59 (22%)
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Ships in 10 - 15 working days
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'Marcovaldo is an enchanting collection of stories, both melancholy and funny, about an Italian peasant's struggle to reconcile country habits with urban life. Oblivious to the garish attractions of the town, Marcovaldo is the attentive recorder of natural phenomenon. The reader's heart bleeds for Marcovaldo in his tenacious pursuit of lost domains, but the stories are full of mirth and fun. They lie between farce and fantasy, combining comical disasters with a surrealistic view of city life through the eyes of an outsider-Nothing, as always with Calvino, is quite as it seems. Books and Bookmen
Calvino shows that the novel, far from being a dead form, is
capable of endless mutations. If on a winter's night a traveler
turns out to be not one novel but ten, each with a different plot,
style, ambience, and author. Translated by William Weaver. A Helen
and Kurt Wolff Book
Viscount Medardo is bisected by a Turkish cannonball on the plains of Bohemia; Baron Cosimo, at the age of twelve, retires to the trees for the rest of his days; Charlemagne's knight, Agiluf, is an empty suit of armour. These three vivid images are the points of departure for Calvino's classic triptych of moral tales, now published in one volume and all displaying the exuberant talent of a master storyteller.
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