Italo Calvino’s imagination spanned the cosmos but his concerns were very human, writes John Self

THE FICTIONAL WORLDS CREATED BY THE Italian polymath Italo Calvino, who was born 100 years ago this month, attract adjectives not usually applied to serious literature. Puckish. Playful. Charming. But that is what you get with this author whose extraordinary intelligence never undermined his desire to entertain — to charm and disarm — the reader. Calvino was a writer whom opposites attracted. He was always serious and frequently funny. His mode was specifically Italian and thoroughly international. He was first a realist, then an experimenter. And his interest in his fiction was in looking both inward and outward: as far outward as the furthest reaches of the known universe. But he began at home, and the best way to appreciate Calvino’s peculiar genius is to trace the development of his…

You're reading a preview of

The Critic (Digital) - 1 Issue, November 2023

DiscountMags is a licensed distributor (not a publisher) of the above content and Publication through Zinio LLC. Accordingly, we have no editorial control over the Publications. Any opinions, advice, statements, services, offers or other information or content expressed or made available by third parties, including those made in Publications offered on our website, are those of the respective author(s) or publisher(s) and not of DiscountMags. DiscountMags does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, truthfulness, or usefulness of all or any portion of any publication or any services or offers made by third parties, nor will we be liable for any loss or damage caused by your reliance on information contained in any Publication, or your use of services offered, or your acceptance of any offers made through the Service or the Publications. For content removal requests, please contact Zinio.