A couple on an epicurean journey across Mexico are excited by the idea of a particular ingredient, suggested by ancient rituals of human sacrifice. Precariously balanced on his throne, a king is able only to listen to the sounds around him - sure that any deviation from their normal progression would mean the uprising of the conspirators that surround him. And three different men search desperately for the beguiling scents of lost women, from a Count visiting Madame Odile's perfumery, to a London drummer stepping over spent, naked bodies.

Under the Jaguar Sun (Vintage Classics)

Literature & Fiction

italo-calvino

Contemporary

Vintage

In this collection of thirty-six essays, Calvino explores several original definitions of what makes a Classic, and surveys works that range in time from antiquity and early modern Europe, to the masters of the nineteenth-century novel and his early American mentors, through to his contemporaries.

Why Read the Classics?

Classics

Italo Calvino once said that he preferred to give false details about his biography since he felt that even the genuine data of a writer's life shed no light on the creative work. But this volume of posthumously collected personal writings is the closest we will ever come to the autobiography of this most private of writers. The pieces collected here from the early 1950s to his last interview, completed just before his sudden death in 1985. Apart from shedding light on his own formative experiences and evolution as an author, Calvino's autobiographical writings also examine the major events of twentieth century history from a very personal viewpoint. This volume is, as ever, full of ideas on literature and other writers, all conveyed with the author's distinctive lightness and intelligence.

The Hermit in Paris

Biographies & Memoirs

Arts & Literature

Vintage/Ebury (a Division of Random

This collection of playful, deadly fables is populated with waifs and strays, a gluttonous thief and a mischievous gardener. The grimly comic story "The Argentine Ant" moved Gore Vidal to declare 'if this is not a masterpiece of twentieth-century prose writing, I cannot think of anything better'.

Adam@@ One Afternoon

Random House]

Translated from the Italian by Tim Parks, "The Road to San Giovanni" is a posthumously published collection of five autobiographical essays by one of the masters of Italian literature, ranging from a lyrical portrait of the author's relationship with his father to a perceptive essay on his own youthful obsession with the cinema.

The Road to San Giovanni

Random House: Vintage Classics

Marcovaldo is an enchanting collection of twenty stories that are both melancholy and funny, farce and fantasy. Calvino charts the struggles of an Italian peasant to reconcile country habits with urban life, combining comical disasters with a surrealistic view of city life through the eyes of an outsider. As always with Calvino, nothing is quite as it seems.

Marcovaldo : Or the Seasons in the City

Vintage/Ebury (a Division of R

This is a collection of essays by the Cuban essayist and journalist. His work often seeks to confront the role of reader, author and character and question the form of each in order to explore new literary possibilities.

The Literature Machine : Essays

Viscount Medardo is bisected by a Turkish cannonball on the plains of Bohemia; Baron Cosimo, at the age of twelve, retires to the trees for the rest of his days; Charlemagne's knight, Agiluf, is an empty suit of armour. These three vivid images are the points of departure for Calvino's classic triptych of moral tales, now published in one volume and all displaying the exuberant talent of a master storyteller.

Our Ancestors

Vintage Books

Mr.Palomar

Mr. Palomar is a delightful eccentric whose chief activity is looking at things. He is seeking knowledge; 'it is only after you have come to know the surface of things that you can venture to seek what is underneath'. Whether contemplating a fine cheese, a hungry gecko, a woman sunbathing topless or a flight of migrant starlings, Mr. Palomar's observations render the world afresh.

This dazzling collection of stories follows the individual adventures of a varied cast of characters and masterfully illustrates Calvino's unique perspective and narrative gifts. As well as the eleven tales from his "Difficult Loves" collection this volume also includes "Smog" and "A Plunge into Real Estate".

Difficult Loves

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