Italo Calvino, born on 15th October 1923 in Santiago de Las Vegas, Cuba, is considered one of Italy’s most influential 20th-century writers. He died on 19th September 1985.
With a career spanning several decades, he became known for his unique blend of fantasy, fable, and philosophical thought, creating a body of work that continues to captivate readers worldwide. Calvino’s writing reflects his fascination with the complexities of life, reality, and human imagination, making him a literary icon not just in Italy but globally.
Early years
Calvino spent his early childhood in Cuba before moving to Italy with his parents, both of whom were Italian botanists. His mother Eva gave Calvino his unusual first name to remind him of his Italian heritage. However, as he grew up in Italy after all, Calvino thought his name sounded “belligerently nationalist”.
He grew up in the Ligurian town of Sanremo, where he developed an early love for nature and storytelling. His first literary works were deeply influenced by his experiences during World War II, during which he served in the Italian Resistance. These formative years informed his writing, especially in his early novels such as The Path to the Nest of Spiders (1947). This novel, set during the Resistance, earned him critical recognition as a promising young writer of post-war Italy.
Calvino’s works
Although Calvino’s early works were more realist in nature, he gradually transitioned to a more experimental and fantastical style. His trilogy Our Ancestors – consisting of The Cloven Viscount (1952), The Baron in the Trees (1957), and The Nonexistent Knight (1959) – marked a turning point in his career. These novels used allegory and surrealism to explore human nature, identity, and society.
The Baron in the Trees, perhaps the most famous of the three, tells the story of a boy who decides to live in trees for the rest of his life, offering a whimsical yet profound commentary on independence and societal constraints.
Calvino’s ability to navigate between genres set him apart. He was a writer who embraced the complexities of existence, which is evident in his later works such as Invisible Cities (1972). This novel, which consists of imagined conversations between the explorer Marco Polo and the Mongol emperor Kublai Khan, paints a series of dreamlike cities, each representing different aspects of human experience. Invisible Cities remains one of Calvino’s most celebrated works and is often regarded as a masterpiece of modern literature.
In the 1970s, Calvino’s literary interests shifted towards more abstract and theoretical concerns. His 1979 novel If on a winter’s night a traveller is a postmodern exploration of the act of reading itself, presenting a story within a story where the reader becomes an active participant in the narrative. Calvino broke traditional narrative structures, inviting readers to question their understanding of literature and reality.
Outside fiction
Throughout his life, Calvino engaged with Italy’s cultural and intellectual life. He worked as an editor and journalist, contributing essays and literary critiques that further cemented his reputation as a key figure in Italian letters.
Calvino also received numerous accolades for his work, including Italy’s prestigious Viareggio Prize and an honorary degree from Harvard University. Italo Calvino passed away on 19th September 1985 in Siena, Italy, but his literary legacy remains undiminished.
Admired in Britain, Australia and the US, Calvino was the most translated contemporary Italian writer when he died.
Recommended Read
Fifty-five fictional cities, each described in beautiful detail – each with a woman’s name…
In Invisible Cities Marco Polo conjures up cities of magical times for his host, the Chinese ruler Kublai Khan.
As Gore Vidal wrote ‘Of all tasks, describing the contents of a book is the most difficult and in the case of a marvellous invention like Invisible Cities, perfectly irrelevant.’
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