Volume 21, Number 9 · May 30, 1974
Fabulous Calvino
By Gore Vidal
AMERICAN EDITIONS OF WORKS BY ITALO CALVINO DISCUSSED IN THIS ESSAY
The Path to the Nest of Spiders
by Italo Calvino, translated by Archibald Colquhoun
Beacon
The Baron in the Trees
by Italo Calvino, translated by Archibald Colquhoun
Random House
The Nonexistent Knight and the Cloven Viscount
by Italo Calvino, translated by Archibald Colquhoun
Random House
Cosmicomics
by Italo Calvino, translated by William Weaver
Harcourt, Brace and World
t zero
by Italo Calvino, translated by William Weaver
Harcourt, Brace and World (published in England as Time and the Hunter)
The Watcher and Other Stories
by Italo Calvino, translated by William Weaver, Archibald Colquhoun, and Peggy Wright
Harcourt Brace Jovanovich
Invisible Cities
by Italo Calvino, translated by William Weaver
Harcourt Brace Jovanovich
Between the end of the Second World War in 1945 and the beginning of the Korean War in 1950, there was a burst of creative activity throughout the American empire as well as in our client states of Western Europe. From Auden's Age of Anxiety to Carson McCullers's Reflections in a Golden Eye to Paul Bowles's The Sheltering Sky to Tennessee Williams's A Streetcar Named Desire to Tudor's ballets and to Bernstein's enthusiasms, it was an exciting time. The cold war was no more than a nip in the air while the junior senator from Wisconsin was just another genial pol with a drinking problem and an eye for the boys. In that happy time the young American writer was able to reel in triumph through the old cities of Europe—the exchange rate entirely in his favor.
Review, 8725 words
To read the full text of this piece, please choose one of the following options:
|
If you are already a subscriber to the Review's electronic edition, please sign in: |
To subscribe to the electronic edition, please press the button below. |
To purchase access to this article for $3, please press the button below. |