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/lit/ - Literature

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5535069 No.5535069 [Reply] [Original]

Thoughts on Calvino? Is he worth reading? Which books specifically and with which to start?

>> No.5535072

>>5535069
Read the cloven viscount, if you like it read the rest of the trilogy.
It's decent.

>> No.5535079

>>5535072
>decent

>> No.5535120

>>5535079
problem?

>> No.5535169

>>5535069
He's great, definitely worth reading. My favorites of his are Invisible Cities and If on a Winter's Night a Traveler, which I'd recommend reading in that order. There's also a flow chart on the wiki, but it's not necessary to follow it closely.

>> No.5535178

>>5535120
Yeah

>> No.5535240

>>5535169
Yeah I would say If on a winter's night a traveler. It's one of my favorites and a lot of people say it's very "cozy" in such threads. Invisible Cities is more like a poetry book but it's still excellent.
>>5535072
I got The Baron in the Trees without knowing it was part of the "trilogy", but The Cloven Viscount and The Nonexistant Knight are sold as one volume so I'm not concerned about reading anything out of order. I didn't really like the second half of the book but the first half was very nice, a great fairy tale.

Also he looks sort of like Mr. Bean

>> No.5535299

>>5535169
I can't find the flow chart, would you mind linking it?

>> No.5535313
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5535313

>>5535069

He comes up with brilliant ideas and premises. And creates surprisingly dull stories out of them

>> No.5535329

>>5535313
>dull

yeah well that's just like your opinion man

>> No.5535334

I started if on winter's night a traveler because I thought it was a cool concept, but I found it really boring and uninteresting

>> No.5535343

>>5535334
I thought it came together after about 2-3 "books", but the gimmick he uses for plot progression does get old.

>> No.5535356
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5535356

>>5535334
>I thought it was a cool concept
>but I found it really boring and uninteresting

FYI, every Calvino book ever.

>> No.5535381

>>5535069
read into the war, they're about his time with the young fascists in Italy. Like an Italian Catcher in the Rye

>> No.5535856

>>5535334

I became board as soon as "you" because a character instead of just 'me'.

>> No.5536057

>>5535069

Definitely, particularly if you like Borges. Not same tier, but very good indeed.

>> No.5536080

>>5535069
I'm reading the Nonexistent Knight. I already read the Cosmicomics and the Baron in the trees in its original language because i'm Italian. Absolutely worth it.

>> No.5536104

Just finished Invisible Cities. Was very good- I can see myself going back to it often.

>> No.5536110

I always get Calvino and Coelho mixed up. Calvino is the one that we're supposed to like, right?

>> No.5536114

>>5536110
Yes, assuming 'we' is 'people who have a reasonable amount of experience reading and reasonably developed critical faculties'.

>> No.5536352

>>5535240
They're not connected stories anyways so you can read them in any order without particular harm.
>I didn't really like the second half of the book but the first half was very nice, a great fairy tale.
Yeah agreed, I thought it dragged a bit too long.

>> No.5536474

I particularly liked t zero ("Time and the Hunter"). Though, generally speaking, I wasn't a huge fan of the more humorous cosmicomics.

Winter's Night requires a certain mindset to really like, I think; it's a somewhat polarizing book. I very much liked it.