Writings of the best-known leader of the Surrealist movement in literature and the arts. Includes a facsimile reproduction of the 1942 Surrealist Album by André Breton. Index, Glossary, Annotation Should you take a business call on your cellular phone during a dinner date? How do you act at a funeral? What is the best way to accept a compliment? When do you say, "I'm sorry"? John Bridges answers these questions and more in a book for men that combines Emily Post and Miss Manners without being snobbish, boring, or intimidating. This book is an indispensable guide for men of all ages who aspire to become gentlemen. Byron’s exuberant masterpiece tells of the adventures of Don Juan, beginning with his illicit love affair at the age of sixteen in his native Spain and his subsequent exile to Italy. Following a dramatic shipwreck, his exploits take him to Greece, where he is sold as a slave, and to Russia, where he becomes a favorite of the Empress Catherine who sends him on to England. Written in ottava rima stanza form, Byron’s Don Juan blends high drama with earthy humor, outrageous satire of his contemporaries, and sharp mockery of Western societies, with England coming under particular attack. The three long stories in this volume show the range and virtuosity of Italy’s most imaginative writer. “Like Jorge Luis Borges and Gabriel García Márquez, Italo Calvino dreams perfect dreams for us” (John Updike, New Yorker).Translated by William Weaver and Archibald Colquhoun. A Helen and Kurt Wolff Book A collection of stories about time, space, and the evolution of the universe in which the author blends mathematics with poetic imagination. “Calvino does what very few writers can do: he describes imaginary worlds with the most extraordinary precision and beauty” (Gore Vidal, New York Review of Books). Translated by William Weaver. A Helen and Kurt Wolff Book Two novellas: the first, a parody of medieval knighthood told by a nun; the second, a fantasy about a nobleman bisected into his good and evil halves. “Bravura pieces... executed with brilliance and brio”(Chicago Tribune). Translated by Archibald Colquhoun. A Helen and Kurt Wolff Book In these widely praised essays, Calvino reflects on literature as process, the great narrative game in the course of which writer and reader are challenged to understand the world. Calvino himself made the selection of pieces to be included in this volume. Translated by Patrick Creagh. A Helen and Kurt Wolff Book |
This collection of playful, deadly fables is populated with waifs and strays, a gluttonous thief and a mischievous gardener. The grimly comic story "The Argentine Ant" moved Gore Vidal to declare 'if this is not a masterpiece of twentieth-century prose writing, I cannot think of anything better'. Mr. Palomar is a delightful eccentric whose chief activity is looking at things. He is seeking knowledge; 'it is only after you have come to know the surface of things that you can venture to seek what is underneath'. Whether contemplating a fine cheese, a hungry gecko, a woman sunbathing topless or a flight of migrant starlings, Mr. Palomar's observations render the world afresh. This is a stunning collection of fables and stories written between 1943 and 1958, excellently translated by Tim Parks. 'These are glittering fragments, pendants to Calvino's main opus, whose disturbing beauty they both share and help to interpret' - "Sunday Telegraph". 'The author's command of detail and his fine, inventive imagination, his ability to turn ideas upside down ad inside out, his awareness of the comic capacity of everyday life, are always ready to surprise and delight' - "Literary Review". Set on the Ligurian coast during World War II, this is the story of Pin, a cobbler's apprentice who lives with his sister, a prostitute, and spends as much time as he can at the local bar. But when he steals a pistol from a Nazi soldier, he sets off on a series of adventures with some partisans. 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. |