At the time of his death, Italo Calvino was internationally regarded as one of Italy’s greatest twentieth century writers. His approach to literature was remarkably adventurous, and he produced a thought-provoking oeuvre. It invited readers to engage themselves with radical thoughts and philosophies, an approach lamentably scarce in contemporary global culture.
This book examines Calvino’s works of fiction in the context of the philosophical ideas he advanced in his theoretical and critical works. His was an extraordinarily versatile mind, keen on experimenting with a dazzling variety of both fiction and nonfiction forms.

Dani Cavallaro has written widely about literature, cultural theory, and anime. She lives in London.

Dani Cavallaro
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 210
Bibliographic Info: bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2010
pISBN: 978-0-7864-4766-4
eISBN: 978-0-7864-5656-7
Imprint: McFarland

Preface      1

1. The World of Italo Calvino      3

2. Reimagining History: Our Ancestors      17

3. Eccentric Cosmologies: Cosmicomics and Time and the Hunter      41

4. The Endless Journey: Invisible Cities      66

5. Structures and Their Explosion: The Castle of Crossed Destinies      90

6. Science and Play: Mr. Palomar and Numbers in the Dark      126

7. The Universal Library: If on a winter’s night a traveler      146

8. Empire of the Senses: Under the Jaguar Sun      174

Bibliography      197

Index      201