Synopses & Reviews
“In each other’s presence we became mute, would walk in silence side by side along the road to San Giovanni. To my father’s mind, words must serve as confirmations of things, and as signs of possession; to mine, they were foretastes of things barely glimpsed, not possessed, presumed.” —from
The Road to San Giovanni
In these autobiographical essays, published after Italo Calvino’s death, the intellectually vibrant writer not only reflects on his own past, but also inquires into the very workings of memory itself. From the title essay’s lyrical evocation of the author’s relationship with his father, and a charming account of teenage years spent in the glow of the cinema screen, to Calvino’s reminiscences of his experiences in the Italian Resistance during World War II and of his years in Paris, to his declaration of purpose as a writer in the final essay’s visionary fragments, these five “memory exercises” are heartfelt, affecting, and wise.
“Brimming with Calvino’s beautifully crafted prose, dry humor, and continual questioning . . . Calvino has been very well served by his translator, Tim Parks.” —Observer
Review
PRAISE FOR PEELING THE ONION "Grass has written a memoir of rare literary beauty . . . Peeling the Onion, like Grasss best novels, is filled with striking poetic imagery."Ian Buruma, The New Yorker "Peeling the Onion is wakeful, twitchy, suspicious, shambling, and yet alsoif we are still permitted to use this word as a complimentsincere."John Leonard, Harper's Magazine
Synopsis
Heartfelt, affecting, and wise, the essay collection The Road to San Giovanni offers Italo Calvinos reflections on his own life and work in five elegant "memory exercises."
Synopsis
Assembled and published posthumously, The Road to San Giovanni offers Calvinos reflections on his own life and work. These five elegant “memory exercises” provide a varied and revealing portrait of a writer who was deeply wary of autobiography: from the title essays moving evocation of the authors relationship with his father — couched in a lyrical sketch of Calvinos childhood home — to a charming account of teenage years spent in the glow of the cinema screen, to Calvinos declaration of purpose as a writer in the final essays visionary fragments. Heartfelt, affecting, and wise, The Road to San Giovanni will appeal to Calvinos existing fans and win new ones.
Synopsis
In this extraordinary memoir, Nobel Prizewinning author Günter Grass remembers his early life, from his boyhood in a cramped two-room apartment in Danzig through the late 1950s, when The Tin Drum was published.During the Second World War, Grass volunteered for the submarine corps at the age of fifteen but was rejected; two years later, in 1944, he was instead drafted into the Waffen-SS. Taken prisoner by American forces as he was recovering from shrapnel wounds, he spent the final weeks of the war in an American POW camp. After the war, Grass resolved to become an artist and moved with his first wife to Paris, where he began to write the novel that would make him famous.Full of the bravado of youth, the rubble of postwar Germany, the thrill of wild love affairs, and the exhilaration of Paris in the early fifties, Peeling the Onionwhich caused great controversy when it was published in Germanyreveals Grass at his most intimate.
About the Author
ITALO CALVINO’s superb storytelling gifts earned him international renown and a reputation as “one of the world's best fabulists” (New York Times Book Review). He is the author of numerous works of fiction, as well as essays, criticism, and literary anthologies. Born in Cuba in 1923, Calvino was raised in Italy, where he lived most of his life. At the time of his death, in Siena in 1985, he was the most translated contemporary Italian writer.
Table of Contents
Contents
Skins Beneath the Skin 1
Encapsulations 28
His Name Was Wedontdothat 64
How I Learned Fear 105
Guests at Table 160
At and Below the Surface 202
The Third Hunger 248
How I Became a Smoker 292 Berlin Air 344
While Cancer, Soundless 367
The Wedding Gifts I Received 395