A series of lectures which Italo Calvino wrote in the final year of his life. Drawing on the works of Lucretius, Ovid, Boccaccio, Flaubert, Kundera, Perec and many more, he pinpoints the universal laws and literary values: lightness, quickness, exactitude, visibility and multiplicity.
Six Memos for the Next Millennium (Penguin Modern Classics)
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‘A rather wonderful little book, full of wit and erudition' -- Daily Telegraph
‘As commentary on fiction's strategies and possibilities, the book is alive with stimulating suggestivity…exhilarating and poignant' -- Peter Kemp, Sunday Times
‘Calvino will continue to glitter... well into the next millennium and after, a master in the empire of the imagination' -- Ian Thomson, Independent on Sunday
‘As commentary on fiction's strategies and possibilities, the book is alive with stimulating suggestivity…exhilarating and poignant' -- Peter Kemp, Sunday Times
‘Calvino will continue to glitter... well into the next millennium and after, a master in the empire of the imagination' -- Ian Thomson, Independent on Sunday
About the Author
Italo Calvino, one of Italy's finest postwar writers, has delighted readers around the world with his deceptively simple, fable-like stories. He was born in Cuba in 1923 and raised in San Remo, Italy; he fought for the Italian Resistance from 1943-45. His major works include Cosmicomics (1968), Invisible Cities (1972), and If on a winter's night a traveler (1979). He died in Siena in 1985.
Patrick Creagh won the John Florio Prize in 1972 for his translation of the Selected Poems of Giuseppe Ungaretti, and again in 1990 for Danube by Claudio Magris and Blind Argus by Gesualdo Bufalino.
--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
By theTramp
VINE™ VOICE
Format:Paperback
It isn't often that you find a writer whose literature you enjoy and whose non-fiction writing is even more enjoyable. Calvino is one such writer for me. His Memos for the next millenium are his collection of musings on what makes great literature great and the skills that he aspired to holding as a writer, as well as those skills that he admired in other writers. For the student of literature and for would be writers everywhere this is an intelligent, witty, compelling and persuasive collection of lectures. Would be that all criticism were so balanced, informative and instructive as Calvino's.
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
Calvino offers us a bag of jewels with these five essays on the principle qualities that will carry great writing into the next century. The lessons learned from "Lightness," "Quickness," "Exactitude," "Visibility," and "Multiplicity" can be applied in any creative situation. They add strength to my own compositional efforts, but even more, the multi-faceted richness of Calvino's prose and Creagh's translation is something to savor and rejoice in. Even in his essays, Calvino is a storyteller, and as always his characters are the moods and motives of the people at large, as well as simply people themselves. Whether this is your first or fiftieth time reading this little book, the rush of inspiration that will sweep over you is not to be stemmed. Buy it, read it, write in it, draw lines and circle your favorite words and sentences. This is a book to imprint into your mind.
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
Calvino was of the last generation before the so-called 'information revolution', and the Six Memos came at the end of his life, just at the exact moment that the effects of this revolution were beginning to be felt. In this book he sets out an agenda for the importance of specific qualities of literature in the future. As we run around in circles in a society obsessed with globalism (the Internet and all its trappings, economics, and general short-termism) this agenda takes on a great deal of importance. This is not a 'fun read' as such, but if you believe in literature, then ignore this at your peril!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Final balance
Calvino never ceases to surprise and these 'memos', written more than twenty years ago, are testimony of his insight of the world and are never really dated. Read more
Published 4 months ago by lovereading
5.0 out of 5 stars
more comfortable then drive to a uni-library for approximately the...
there is provided perfect and fast service; the book was delivered in perfect condition. this purchase was more comfortable action then drive to a uni-library and for... Read more
Published 5 months ago by Robert Czerniawski
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fluent as a novel
Sure you never read an essay written in such a fluent style. It is like a friendly conversation on a sofa, with one of the best Italian writer and critic af the century.
Published on 7 May 1999
4.0 out of 5 stars
Everyone who writes or reads fiction should have this book.
There are only five memos, unfortunately. Calvino died before completing the sixth. But the five we do have are treasures of insight and intellect, giving shape to qualities of... Read more
Published on 14 July 1998
5.0 out of 5 stars
Language - the reader and the writer
If you savour language, I recommend the pleasures of this slender tome. I return to it whenever I want to contemplate standards for good writing.
Published on 31 Dec 1997
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