Italo Calvino: Letters, 1941–1985

Calvino (1923–1985) is recognized as one of the most inventive storytellers of the 20th century. His celebrated fiction includes Invisible Cities; If On a Winter's Night a Traveler; Marcovaldo; and Mr. Palomar. This collection, the first in English, gives voice and witness to a vibrant mind intensely engaged in the literary and political future of postwar Italy and the history of ideas. Selected and translated from the Italian edition, the letters date from Calvino's late adolescence to months before his death. His prodigious reading and intellectual vigilance is evident in his correspondence with fellow writers, e.g., Cesare Pavese, Elio Vittorini, Primo Levi, Leonardo Sciascia, Umberto Eco, Pier Paolo Pasolini, and a host of Italian and foreign commentators. Highlights include Calvino's lengthy meditations on the role of the author in Italy's political and cultural sphere, which were often published in newspapers and magazines; his letter relinquishing membership in the Italian Communist Party is compelling. McLaughlin's (Italian studies, Univ. of Oxford) translation is award-winning; the extensive notes provide a model of masterful research.