Italo Calvino

The Profile

Italo Calvino (1923–1985) was an Italian author whose work ranges from neorealist beginnings to fabulist and postmodern experiments such as Invisible Cities and If on a winter’s night a traveler. Born in Cuba and raised in Italy, he became a central figure of 20th‑century literature and was associated with Oulipo.

From the reviews: The Cloven Viscount was written in 1951; The Path to the Nest of Spiders was published in 1947; The Nonexistent Knight was published in 1959; If on a winter’s night a traveler appeared in 1979; Under the Jaguar Sun was Calvino’s first posthumous book and part of a planned ‘five senses’ series of which three stories were completed.

Six enthusiastic reviews tackle Calvino’s range: partisan neorealism, playful fables, and audacious metafiction. Highlights include moral duality in The Cloven Viscount, the anti-epic brilliance of The Nonexistent Knight, and the reader-centered maze of If on a winter’s night a traveler. Marcovaldo skewers industrial modernity with humor, while Under the Jaguar Sun savors the senses. Overall tone: admiring, lucid, and witty.