{"product_id":"9780141198323","title":"Letters 1941-1985 by Italo Calvino","description":"The extraordinary letters of Italo Calvino, one of the great writers of the twentieth century, translated into English for the first time by Martin McLaughlin, with an introduction by Michael Wood.   Italo Calvino, novelist, literary critic and editor, was also a  masterful letter writer whose correspondents included Umberto Eco, Primo  Levi, Gore Vidal and Pier Paolo Pasolini. This collection of his  extraordinary letters, the first in English, gives an illuminating  insight into his work and life. They include correspondence with fellow  authors, generous encouragement to young writers, responses to critics,  thoughts on literary criticism and literature in general, as well as  giving glimpses of Calvino's role in the antifascist Resistance, his  disenchantment with Communism and his travels to America and Cuba.  Together they reveal the searching intellect, clarity and passionate  commitment of a great writer at work.   'This  literally marvelous collection of letters shows him to have  been   gregarious, puckish, funny, combative, and, above all, wonderful    company, and opens a new and fascinating perspective on one of the    master writers of the twentieth century. Michael Wood and Martin    McLaughlin have done Calvino, and us, a great and loving service.' John   Banville'A charming addition to the Planet Calvino - a place  cluttered with   sphinxes, chimeras, knights, spaceships and viscounts  both cloven and   whole' GuardianItalo Calvino, one of Italy's finest postwar writers, was born in Cuba in 1923 and grew up in San Remo, Italy. Best known for his experimental masterpieces, Invisible Cities and If on a Winter's Night a Traveller, he was also a brilliant exponent of allegorical fantasy in works such as The Complete Cosmicomics. He died in Siena in 1985.\u003cbr\u003eBinding: Paperback \/ softback","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56224481116533,"sku":"9780141198323","price":20.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780141198323.jpg?v=1762224907","url":"https:\/\/backstory.london\/products\/9780141198323","provider":"Backstory","version":"1.0","type":"link"}