Download or read book Marcovaldo written by Italo Calvino and published by HMH. This book was released on 2012-10-26 with total page 131 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A charming portrait of one man’s dreams and schemes, by “the greatest Italian writer of the twentieth century” (The Guardian). In this enchanting book of linked stories, Italo Calvino charts the disastrous schemes of an Italian peasant, an unskilled worker in a drab northern industrial city in the 1950s and ’60s, struggling to reconcile his old country habits with his current urban life. Marcovaldo has a practiced eye for spotting natural beauty and an unquenchable longing for the unspoiled rural world of his imagination. Much to the continuing puzzlement of his wife, his children, his boss, and his neighbors, he chases his dreams and gives rein to his fantasies, whether it’s sleeping in the great outdoors on a park bench, following a stray cat, or trying to catch wasps. Unfortunately, the results are never quite what he anticipates. Spanning from the 1950s to the 1960s, the twenty stories in Marcovaldo are alternately comic and melancholy, farce and fantasy. Throughout, Calvino’s unassuming masterpiece “conveys the sensuous, tangible qualities of life” (The New York Times).
Download or read book Last Comes the Raven written by Italo Calvino and published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. This book was released on 2021 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Calvino . . . managed effortlessly what no author in English could quite claim: his novels and stories and fables were both classically modernist and giddily postmodern, embracing both experiment and tradition, at once conceptual and humane, intimate and mythic.” — Jonathan Lethem, New York Times Book Review Blending reality and illusion with elegance and precision, the stories in this collection take place in a World War II–era and postwar Italy tinged with the visionary and fablelike qualities. A trio of gluttonous burglars invades a pastry shop; two children trespass upon a forbidden garden; a wealthy family invites a rustic goatherd to lunch, only to mock him. In the title story, a compact masterpiece of shifting perspectives, a panicked soldier tries to keep his wits—and his life—when he faces off against a young partisan with a loaded rifle and miraculous aim. Select stories from Last Comes the Raven have been published in translation, but the collection as a whole has never appeared in English. This volume, including several stories newly translated by Ann Goldstein, is an important addition to Calvino's legacy.
Download or read book Under the Jaguar Sun written by Italo Calvino and published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. This book was released on 1988 with total page 100 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of Italy's greatest and most popular writers offers three witty, fantastical stories, each dominated by one of three senses--taste, hearing, or smell.
Download or read book The Castle of Crossed Destinies written by Italo Calvino and published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. This book was released on 1979 with total page 144 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "A group of travellers chance to meet, first in a castle, then a tavern. Their powers of speech are magically taken from them and instead they have only tarot cards with which to tell their tales. What follows is an exquisite interlinking of narratives, and a fantastic, surreal, and chaotic history of all human consciousness."--Goodreads
Download or read book Why Read the Classics written by Italo Calvino and published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. This book was released on 2014-12-16 with total page 291 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A posthumously published collection of thirty-six essays offering Italo Calvino's invigorating and illuminating analysis of his most treasured literary classics.
Download or read book Collection of Sand written by Italo Calvino and published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. This book was released on 2013 with total page 231 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Published for the first time in English, a final collection of essays by the renowned fabulist writer tours the visual world through explorations of subjects ranging from cuneiform and antique maps to Mexican temples and Japanese gardens.
Download or read book Invisible Cities written by Italo Calvino and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2013-08-12 with total page 179 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Italo Calvino's beloved, intricately crafted novel about an Emperor's travels—a brilliant journey across far-off places and distant memory. “Cities, like dreams, are made of desires and fears, even if the thread of their discourse is secret, their rules are absurd, their perspectives deceitful, and everything conceals something else.” In a garden sit the aged Kublai Khan and the young Marco Polo—Mongol emperor and Venetian traveler. Kublai Khan has sensed the end of his empire coming soon. Marco Polo diverts his host with stories of the cities he has seen in his travels around the empire: cities and memory, cities and desire, cities and designs, cities and the dead, cities and the sky, trading cities, hidden cities. As Marco Polo unspools his tales, the emperor detects these fantastic places are more than they appear.
Download or read book The Complete Cosmicomics written by Italo Calvino and published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. This book was released on 2014-09-16 with total page 367 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The complete collection of “nimble and often hilarious” short stories exploring the cosmos by the acclaimed author of Invisible Cities (Colin Dwyer, NPR). 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 a “cosmic know-it-all” with the unpronounceable name of Qfwfq, Calvino explores natural phenomena and tells the story of the origins of the universe. Relating complex scientific and mathematical concepts to our everyday world, they are an indelible and delightful literary achievement. Originally published in Italian in three separate volumes—including the Asti d’Appello Prize-winning first volume, Cosmicomics—these thirty-four dazzling stories are collected here in one definitive English-language anthology. “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
Download or read book Into the War written by Italo Calvino and published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. This book was released on 2014 with total page 121 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "These three stories, set during the summer of 1940, draw on Italo Calvino's memories of his own adolescence during the Second World War, too young to be forced to fight in Mussolini's army but old enough to be conscripted into the Italian youth brigades. The callow narrator of these tales observes the mounting unease of a city girding itself for war, the looting of an occupied French town, and nighttime revels during a blackout. Appearing here in its first English translation, Into the War is one of Calvino's only works of autobiographical fiction. It offers both a glimpse of this writer's extraordinary life and a distilled dram of his wry, ingenious literary voice."--from cover, page [4].
Download or read book Hard to Be Human written by Ted Cadsby and published by Dundurn. This book was released on 2021-10-12 with total page 255 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Powerful strategies to combat the design flaws of the human brain that make life in the twenty-first century unreasonably difficult. If other animals could study us the way we study them, they would be puzzled by our unique ability to inflict misery on ourselves. We expend a lot of energy replaying past anguish, anticipating future distress, and stewing in self-righteous anger. Other animals would call us out for being oddly paradoxical creatures who long to be happy but who are the source of their own suffering, We worry about things we have no control over. We complain about not being understood while casting a critical eye on others. We stubbornly defend our beliefs despite contradictory evidence. Complicating all of this is our struggle to adapt to a complex world that we created. who struggle to adapt to a confusing world that we ourselves created. In our defence, we haven’t yet mastered our neuron-packed brains, whose incredible complexity evolved over millennia in a very different world than today’s. The result of this evolutionary journey? Five design features that often morph into design flaws in need of fixing. Hard to Be Human corrals the best insights from psychology, neuroscience, physics, and philosophy to reveal powerful strategies for the five big battles we each face in the war with our misguided, misbehaving selves. Tapping into deeply personal stories to ground the concepts in real life, Cadsby reveals how we can overcome our design flaws to be smarter, happier, and better adapted to the complexities of life in the twenty-first century.
Download or read book Deathbird Stories written by Harlan Ellison and published by Open Road Media. This book was released on 2014-04-29 with total page 366 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Masterpieces of myth and terror about modern gods from technology to drugs to materialism—“fantasy at its most bizarre and unsettling” (The New York Times). As Earth approaches Armageddon, a man embarks on a quest to confront God in the Hugo Award–winning novelette, “The Deathbird.” In New York City, a brutal act of violence summons a malevolent spirit and a growing congregation of desensitized worshippers in “The Whimper of Whipped Dogs,” an Edgar Award winner influenced by the real-life murder of Queens resident Kitty Genovese in 1964. In “Paingod,” the deity tasked with inflicting pain and suffering on every living being in the universe questions the purpose of its cruel existence. Deathbird Stories collects these and sixteen more provocative tales exploring the futility of faith in a faithless world. A legendary author of speculative fiction whose best-known works include A Boy and His Dog and I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream—and whose major awards and nominations number in the dozens, Harlan Ellison strips away convention and hypocrisy and lays bare the human condition in modern society as ancient gods fade and new deities rise to appease the masses—gods of technology, drugs, gambling, materialism—that are as insubstantial as the beliefs of those who venerate them. In addition to his Nebula, Hugo, World Fantasy, Bram Stoker, Edgar, and other awards, Ellison was called “one of the great living American short story writers” by the Washington Post—and this collection makes it clear why he has earned such an extraordinary assortment of accolades. Stories include: “Introduction: Oblations at Alien Altars” “The Whimper of Whipped Dogs” “Along the Scenic Route” “On the Downhill Side” “O Ye of Little Faith” “Neon” “Basilisk” “Pretty Maggie Moneyeyes” “Corpse” “Shattered Like a Glass Goblin” “Delusion for a Dragon Slayer” “The Face of Helene Bournouw” “Bleeding Stones” “At the Mouse Circus” “The Place with No Name” “Paingod” “Ernest and the Machine God” “Rock God” “Adrift Just Off the Islets of Langerhans: Latitude 38° 54' N, Longitude 77° 00' 13" W” “The Deathbird”
Download or read book Italo Calvino s Animals written by Serenella Iovino and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2021-09-23 with total page 136 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The words 'Anthropocene animals' conjure pictures of dead albatrosses' bodies filled with plastic fragments, polar bears adrift on melting ice sheets, solitary elephants in the savannah. Suspended between the impersonal nature of the Great Extinction and the singularity of exotic individuals, these creatures appear remote, disconnected from us. But animals in the Anthropocene are not simply 'out there.' Threatening and threatened, they populate cities and countryside, often trapped in industrial farms, zoos, labs. Among them, there are humans, too. Italo Calvino's Animals explores Anthropocene animals through the visionary eyes of a classic modern author. In Calvino's stories, ants, cats, chickens, rabbits, gorillas, and other critters emerge as complex subjects and inhabitants of a world under siege. Beside them, another figure appears in the mirror: that of an anthropos without a capital A, epitome of subaltern humans with their challenges and inequalities, a companion species on the difficult path of co-evolution.
Download or read book Emmett and Caleb written by Karen Hottois and published by Book Island. This book was released on 2018-09-06 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This beautiful picture book is about the many forms of friendships there are between creatures, and the many ways of expressing this friendship. Join two friends as they journey through the seasons together, through birthdays and dark patches, daily chores and spontaneous treats. Although they are both quite different, Emmet and Caleb are very close friends - next door neighbours, in fact! Unsurprisingly, they spend most of the year together. Emmet wakes up bright and early, but Caleb likes to watch the stars and sleep all morning. This doesn't stop them doing plenty together. But when friends are so close, there can often be problems with communication.
Download or read book Short Stories in Italian for Beginners written by Olly Richards and published by Hachette UK. This book was released on 2018-10-04 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An unmissable collection of eight unconventional and captivating short stories for young and adult learners. "I love Olly's work - and you will too!" - Barbara Oakley, PhD, Author of New York Times bestseller A Mind for Numbers Short Stories in Italian for Beginners has been written especially for students from beginner to intermediate level, designed to give a sense of achievement, and most importantly - enjoyment! Mapped to A2-B1 on the Common European Framework of Reference, these eight captivating stories will both entertain you, and give you a feeling of progress when reading. What does this book give you? · Eight stories in a variety of exciting genres, from science fiction and crime to history and thriller - making reading fun, while you learn a wide range of new vocabulary · Controlled language at your level, including the 1000 most frequent words, to help you progress confidently · Authentic spoken dialogues, to help you learn conversational expressions and improve your speaking ability · Pleasure! It's much easier to learn a new language when you're having fun, and research shows that if you're enjoying reading in a foreign language, you won't experience the usual feelings of frustration - 'It's too hard!' 'I don't understand!' · Accessible grammar so you learn new structures naturally, in a stress-free way Carefully curated to make learning a new language easy, these stories include key features that will support and consolidate your progress, including · A glossary for bolded words in each text · A bilingual word list · Full plot summary · Comprehension questions after each chapter. As a result, you will be able to focus on enjoying reading, delighting in your improved range of vocabulary and grasp of the language, without ever feeling overwhelmed or frustrated. From science fiction to fantasy, to crime and thrillers, Short Stories in Italian for Beginners will make learning Italian easy and enjoyable.
Download or read book You are Stardust written by Elin Kelsey and published by Owlkids. This book was released on 2012 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Introduces readers to the extensive and surprising ways in which they are connected to the natural world around them.
Download or read book Angels and Demons in Art written by Rosa Giorgi and published by Getty Publications. This book was released on 2005 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This sumptuously illustrated volume analyzes artists' representations of angels and demons and heaven and hell from the Judeo-Christian tradition and describes how these artistic portrayals evolved over time. As with other books in the Guide to Imagery series, the goal of this volume is to help contemporary art enthusiasts decode the symbolic meanings in the great masterworks of Western Art. The first chapter traces the development of images of the Creation and the Afterworld from descriptions of them in the Scriptures through their evolution in later literary and philosophical works. The following two chapters examine artists' depictions of the two paths that humans may take, the path of evil or the path of salvation, and the punishments or rewards found on each. A chapter on the Judgment Day and the end of the world explores portrayals of the mysterious worlds between life and death and in the afterlife. Finally, the author looks at images of angelic and demonic beings themselves and how they came to be portrayed with the physical attributes--wings, halos, horns, and cloven hooves--with which we are now so familiar. Thoroughly researched by and expert in the field of iconography, Angels and Demons in Art will delight readers with an interest in art or religious symbolism.
Download or read book Our Ancestors written by Italo Calvino and published by Random House. This book was released on 2010-12-23 with total page 402 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Viscount Medardo is bisected by a Turkish cannonball on the plains of Bohemia; Baron Cosimo, at the age of twelve, retires to the trees for the rest of his days; Charlemagne's knight, Agiluf, is an empty suit of armour. These three vivid images are the points of departure for Calvino's classic triptych of moral tales, now published in one volume and all displaying the exuberant talent of a master storyteller. 'The most magically ingenious of the contemporary Italian novelists' The Times
