BASC70262 - Calvino's Worlds
Course Description
Shortly before his death, Italo Calvino (1923-1985) wrote: “The grand challenge for literature is to be capable of weaving together the various branches of knowledge, their various ‘codes’ into a manifold and multifaceted vision of the world” (Six Memos for the Next Millennium). As a young writer, Calvino had accepted the challenge, left behind neorealism and, intrepidly, like a modern Marco Polo, set out to discover new worlds. Inspired by the “codes” of myth, history, literature, art, architecture, philosophy, astronomy, physics, mathematics, semiotics, and biology, his imagination and masterful storytelling wove an enchanting, uniquely Calvinian universe. We will discuss Invisible Cities (1972), If on a Winter Night a Traveler (1979), and Mr. Palomar (1983) as well as a selection of Calvino’s essays and short stories from Cosmicomics (1965), Difficult Loves (1970), and The Castle of Crossed Destinies (1973). Expect weekly reading assignments of about 70-90 pages.Course Outline
REQURED BOOKS
Difficult Loves. Mariner. ISBN 978-0544959125
The Complete Cosmicomics. Mariner. ISBN 978-0544577879
Invisible Cities. Mariner. ISBN 978-0156453806
If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. ISBN 978-0156439619
Mr. Palomar, Mariner. ISBN 978-0156627801
STORIES FOR SUMMER READING
The Baron in the Trees, Mariner. ISBN 978-0544959118. (Even better, the whole trilogy, Our Ancestors. Vintage. ISBN 978-0099430865.)
The Castle of Crossed Destinies. Mariner. ISBN 978-0156154550
Notes
Online registration closes September 24 at 5 pm CT.
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