The Complete Cosmicomics - Hardcover

Calvino, Italo

4.13

3,975 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0544146441 ISBN 13: 9780544146440

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2014

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The definitive edition of Calvino's cosmicomics, bringing together all of these enchanting stories--including some never before translated--in one volume for the first time

In Italo Calvino's cosmicomics, primordial beings cavort on the nearby surface of the moon, play marbles with atoms, and bear ecstatic witness to Earth's first dawn. Exploring natural phenomena and the origins of the universe, these beloved tales relate complex scientific concepts to our common sensory, emotional, human world.

Now, The Complete Cosmicomics brings together all of the cosmicomic stories for the first time. Containing works previously published in Cosmicomics, t zero, and Numbers in the Dark, this single volume also includes seven previously uncollected stories, four of which have never been published in translation in the United States. This "complete and definitive collection" (Evening Standard) reconfirms the cosmicomics as a crowning literary achievement and makes them available to new generations of readers.

"It's a joy to have all the cosmicomics within one cover . . . A landmark in fiction, the work of a master."--Ursula K. Le Guin, Guardian

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Review:

"A major event in the English language to give even more evidence why the great Italian post-modern master was among the greatest of writers in his sadly truncated lifetime...marvelous, poetic, hilarious, sublime and wholly original tales which could please the brightest and most advanced students of literary post-modernism as well as the brightest and most advanced of pubescent readers...Over the course of years from the time of their invention, the tales first occasioned by 'Cosmicomics' became among the greatest achievements of a writer who couldn't possibly have been more deserving of our era's most fabled literary award." --"Buffalo News"
"Calvino's stories offer us beauty and hilarity while imparting concepts from the hard sciences...This exuberant and humorous collection will appeal to a cross section of readers, including lovers of speculative fiction, fantasy, and literary fiction." -"-Library Journal "
"In story after story, Calvino displays the same singular talent for wresting the profound from the absurd...One of the joys of the collection is the chance to watch his evolution as a writer -- from the purebred fantasy of his early years to the brain-wrinkling experiments of his later, more famous novels...A diverse and entertaining mix...Read this book, please." --NPR.org

"A major event in the English language to give even more evidence why the great Italian post-modern master was among the greatest of writers in his sadly truncated lifetime...marvelous, poetic, hilarious, sublime and wholly original tales which could please the brightest and most advanced students of literary post-modernism as well as the brightest and most advanced of pubescent readers...Over the course of years from the time of their invention, the tales first occasioned by 'Cosmicomics' became among the greatest achievements of a writer who couldn't possibly have been more deserving of our era's most fabled literary award." --Buffalo News

"Calvino's stories offer us beauty and hilarity while imparting concepts from the hard sciences...This exuberant and humorous collection will appeal to a cross section of readers, including lovers of speculative fiction, fantasy, and literary fiction." --Library Journal

From the Back Cover:

We were peering into this darkness, criss-crossed with voices, when the change took place: the only real, great change I ve ever happened to witness, and compared to it the rest is nothing. from The Complete Cosmicomics

Italo Calvino s beloved cosmicomics cross planets and traverse galaxies, speed up time or slow it down to the particles of an instant. Through the eyes of an ageless guide named Qfwfq, Calvino explores natural phenomena and tells the story of the origins of the universe. Poignant, fantastical, and wise, these thirty-four dazzling stories collected here in one definitive anthology relate complex scientific and mathematical concepts to our everyday world. They are an indelible (and unfailingly delightful) literary achievement.

Nimble and often hilarious . . . Trying to describe such a diverse and entertaining mix, I have to admit, just as Calvino does so often, that my words fail here, too. There s no way I or anyone, really can muster enough of them to quite capture the magic of these stories . . . Read this book, please. Colin Dwyer, NPR

Italo Calvino (1923 1985) attained worldwide renown as one of the twentieth century s greatest storytellers. Born in Cuba, he was raised in San Remo, Italy, and later lived in Turin, Paris, Rome, and elsewhere. Among his many works are the novels If on a winter s night a traveler and The Baron in the Trees, as well as numerous collections of fiction, folktales, criticism, and essays. His work has been translated into dozens of languages.
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