[HN Gopher] Italo Calvino, The Art of Fiction No. 130 (1992) ___________________________________________________________________ Italo Calvino, The Art of Fiction No. 130 (1992) Author : benbreen Score : 58 points Date : 2021-03-09 06:01 UTC (17 hours ago) (HTM) web link (theparisreview.org) (TXT) w3m dump (theparisreview.org) | Ftuuky wrote: | "If on a winter's night, a traveler" and "Invisible Cities" are | probably his most known works but I highly recommend "Mr. | Palomar", it's very small and easy to read but truly a | mindbender. | ineedasername wrote: | If you enjoy Calvino then Jorge Luis Borges will likely also | entertain you. _The Library of Babel_ , for example, is an | excellent story. | eatonphil wrote: | Makes sense. I read Invisible Cities and really didn't care for | it. It seemed decently written but was just terribly | uninteresting. I'm trying to work through Borges' Ficciones at | the moment and I like it even less. | | I wish I could enjoy them! | molbioguy wrote: | My favorite Calvino book is _Cosmicomics_. It 's a collection of | his stories that deal with a scientific principle that he weaves | into a beautiful fantasy story! | johncave wrote: | Italo Calvino is a sublime writer. One of my favourites is his | short story Love Far From Home -- it's funny, poignant and | strangely reassuring. Salman Rushdie does an excellent reading in | the New Yorker's fiction podcast: | | https://www.newyorker.com/podcast/fiction/salman-rushdie-rea... | seanhunter wrote: | Love Italo Calvino. For people interested in getting into it, "If | on a winter's night, a traveller" is probably the best place to | start and isn't a tough read. | bshimmin wrote: | I would attach a note of caution to this - having loved the | book myself, I gave my mother (a lady not terribly well-versed | in postmodern literature) a copy of _Se una notte d 'inverno un | viaggiatore_ and it took her quite some time to forgive me; she | used the words "pointless" and "stupid" several times in her | summary of it! | johncave wrote: | I also would hesitate to recommend IOAWNAT to your average | reader, despite thoroughly enjoying it myself. You have to | have a certain patience for literary tricks to really enjoy | it. | brianjunyinchan wrote: | I feel the different vignettes also provide something relatable | to more people than one story would | whitepoplar wrote: | Agreed, though I'm partial to _Invisible Cities_. ;) | ghotli wrote: | Came to this thread to also plug Invisible Cities. I love | picking up that book, reading a short prose poem and getting | the feels of the imagery he evokes. | | It's my stranded on a desert island pick, and for good | reason. | rsync wrote: | I, also, love Invisible Cities and would recommend it ... | whitepoplar wrote: | I find it oddly comforting that the storage provider I plan | to use at some point in the future (just getting the hang | of ZFS now) loves Calvino. :-D | ericol wrote: | I understood that reference. | losvedir wrote: | I recently listened to the audiobook of Invisible Cities, | narrated by John Lee, and it was phenomenal. The strange | thing is, I actually don't think I would have cared for the | novel, had I read it myself, but Lee captured the sort of | surreal mood exquisitely, and it was very pleasant to just | lay back and listen to, or to have on while walking through a | park. | riffraff wrote: | I also believe Invisible Cities to be way more approachable | than "if on a winter's night..". | | I absolutely loved both, but I think the latter might out off | some folks. | | But given the HN audience, I feel that "Cosmicomiche" might | be a very good choice too! | adyavanapalli wrote: | My favorite short story from Italo Calvino is _The Distance of | the Moon_. RadioLab did an episode with it being read by Liev | Schreiber [1] and it 's wonderful! I believe it partly inspired a | Disney Pixar short by the name La Luna [2]. | | [1]: | https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/28257... | | [2]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbuq7w3ZDUQ | ycombinete wrote: | My favourite thing about Calvino are his letters. Such great | observations, and writing. They are up there with Evelyn Waugh's | letters. | jbullock35 wrote: | Can you say more about the Calvino and Waugh letters? Do you | like them for beautiful prose, for lively gossip, for | introspection -- or what? ___________________________________________________________________ (page generated 2021-03-09 23:01 UTC)