The Complete Cosmicomics - Hardcover

Calvino, Italo

4.13

3,975 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1846141656 ISBN 13: 9781846141652

Publisher: Penguin Classics, 2009

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Before the universe began to expand, when all of everything existed in a single point in space, Qfwfq was there. And afterwards - through the millennia, across galaxies and in different, shifting forms - he persisted.

He has some stories to tell.

A collection of enchanting stories, in revised translation, about the evolution of the universe. The characters, fashioned from mathematical formulae and cellular structures, disport themselves amongst galaxies, experience the solidification of planets, move from aquatic to terrestrial existence, play games with hydrogen atoms, and have time for a love life too.

'Naturally, we were all there, - old Qfwfq said, - where else could we have been? Nobody knew then that there could be space. Or time either: what use did we have for time, packed in there like sardines?'

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Review:

It's a joy to have all the Cosmicomics within one cover - and a handsome cover it is, and a well-made book...and Martin McLaughlin's introduction couldn't be better as a guide to these dazzlingly idiosyncratic tales...Calvino was ahead of his time in so many ways that only now, 25 years after his death, is his work widely perceived not as marginal because it is fantasy, but as a landmark in fiction, the work of a master. -- Ursula K Le Guin, The Guardian, Saturday 13 June 2009

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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