Italu Calvinu

'Time is a catastrophe, perpetual and irreversible.' Science and fiction interweave delightfully in these playful Cosmicomic short stories. Penguin Modern: fifty new books celebrating the pioneering spirit of the iconic Penguin Modern Classics series, with each one offering a concentrated hit of its contemporary, …

Meticulously selected and artfully recreated, the selection of stories in Italian is vast and ranges geographically from Corsica and Sicily to Venice and the Alps. Calvino is himself clearly captivated by the folkloric imagination and communicates this in what is a fascinating and rich addition to folk literature.

Set on the Ligurian coast during World War II, The Path to the Spiders' Nests tells the story of Pin, a cobbler's apprentice who lives with his sister, a prostitute, and spend as much time as he can at the local bar. When his friends dare him to steal a pistol from a Nazi soldier, he sets off on a series of picaresque …