Italo Calvino

Italo Calvino (Santiago de las Vegas (Cuba), October 15, 1923 - Siena (Italy), September 18, 1985) is a contemporary Italian writer. He was author of numerous essays, tales and novels, and his style evolved from early neorealistic tales and novels about the Italian resitance movement to tales as those of Palomar, or Le città invisibili (i.e., "The invisible cities"), where the main theme is the exploration of language and the phylosophical discussion of literature and reality. His literary production was, however, extremely wide and encompasses, among other works, a renowned collection of Italian folk tales accompained by an essay on popular literature, several tales inspired by statements or concepts of science (the Cosmicomiche, or Se una notte d'inverno un viaggiatore), and essays on literature (e.g., Lezioni americane).

Life

Though he was born in Cuba, Italo Calvino must be considered an Italian writer. His family was living in Cuba at the time of his birth, but went back to Italy (precisely, Sanremo, in the Liguria region).