holy shit this guy was a genius

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Invisible Cities is really his masterwork in my opinion (although I can't claim to have read all his fiction).

All I know about Italo Calvino is that my dyke ex-gf wanted me to read him and my brain somehow assumes he's like Borges and Eco

>Be me
>First language portuguese
>Decide to learn italian
>Pick up the basics on duolingo
>Can read italian with sparse use of a dictionary
>Too lazy to do that
>Never use italian
I'm a fucking mess senpaitachi.

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>>9320439
>my brain somehow assumes he's like Borges and Eco
The are definitely areas of convergence and divergence between them, but having read a large amount of all three, I too lump them together.

calvino borges and kafka give me a comfy feeling of cosmic awe and peace

I've only read Baron in the Trees by him and didn't really like it that much. Is his other stuff better?

"genius" is an outmoded concept

>>9320472
if you didn't like baron in the trees i can't imagine you liking his other stuff much more. it may not be his best work, but it is well representative of his style.

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an underrated work of his is Collection of Sand. They're essays, and they're amazing.

>>9320475
this post is genius

>>9320434
I'm close to having read all his stuff, and the best are Invisible Cities and If on a Winter's Night a Traveler, which are neck and neck.

>>9321135
Those are my two favorite as well. Numbers in the Dark is pretty darn good too.

>>9320452
kafka is like the opposite of peace

>>9321287
the narratives themselves may not be but they carry a feeling of transcendent beauty, like peering from some god's eye view into the anxieties of the human mind which feels peaceful. one's own troubles look small in the night sky

>>9320434
>>9321135

I'm also an aficionado, but what give Invisible Cities the clear win. I'd also give a shout out to Marcovaldo which if similar to some of his other short stories feels very underrated (also more city, less "abstract concept like space a la cosmicomics/t-zero/Jaguar sun).

>>9321116
Thanks Anon, I'll check it out. I'd personally recommend Six Memos for the Next Millennium which is Calvino lecturing on what he aims for stylistically.

>>9321325
yes, that and The Uses of Literature have really impressed themselves upon me as a writer

>>9321325
Marcovaldo is one of the few I haven't gotten around to reading so I'll definitely check it out soon!

>>9320442
I kow that feel.

>>9321135
this

>>9320472
Try the Cosmicomics, it's something really weird

>>9318646
some anon recced me the thing about dinosaurs

it's shit

>>9323446
it's not shit. it's a brilliant fairy tale about our relationship with ancestors and, in general, relationships between generations. also the finale is great

>>9323454
>it's a brilliant fairy tale about our relationship with ancestors and, in general, relationships between generations.
maybe to an idiot

>>9323464
did you read the rest of the book?

>>9323471
no

>>9320472
Half his stuff is conventional but well written fairy tales like BitT. The other half is Oulipo experiments. Try If On A Winter's Night A Traveler or Invisible Cities.

>>9323479
kek

>>9324754
i don't need to read more than one story from this guy to realise he's a hack

>>9324791
it was kind of funny before but now you just look like an idiot

>>9324791
The other stories are different from that one on disonsaurs. It's more like weird stuff about the universe and metaphysics where you find a dot as protagonist or geometric principles as conditions of existence for the chatacters and so on. It's like he could make a story out of anything, without using those fundamental elements that every writer needs – for example he creates characters that don't have the five senses or can barely think. He goes totally abstract, and still you have a tale. I enjoyed them desu. You can learn a lot about storytelling from the Cosmicomics

>>9320439
Se una notte d'inverno includes a chapter that is basically Calvino writing Borges

>>9320439
>my dyke ex-gf
LONDON

>>9320439
>>9320447
How could a liberal conservative, a communist and a radical republican have so much common ground?

>>9324979
That's the proof that politics and literature have nothing in common