Numbers in the Dark: And Other Stories
Italo Calvino. Vintage Books USA, $15 (288pp) ISBN 978-0-679-74353-8
A collection of previously uncollected stories from the late Italian fabulist. (Oct.)
Details
Reviewed on: 10/02/1996
Genre: Fiction
- Amazon
- Apple Books
- Barnes & Noble
- Bookshop
- Share
- Tweet
- Copy Link
More By and About this Authorchevron_right
- LITERATURE AND THE GODSRoberto Calasso"One way or another, the world will go on being the place of epiphanies," says literary theorist Calasso (Ka; The Marriage of Continue reading »
- Sweet Days of DisciplineFleur JaeggyJaeggy, a Swiss-born writer living in Italy, gives her narrator an abundance of memorable lines describing a boarding school set in idyllic Switzerland. Recalling the constant machinations and Continue reading »
- The Voyeuronversationcisco BayAlberto Moravia, Alberto NoraviaRestricted in scale and with a limited cast, Moravia's old preserve of sexual obsession is occupied in this latest novel by a 35-year-old intellectual, a professor of French literature locked in Continue reading »
- The Edge of the HorizonAntonio TabucchiTabucchi's fourth work to be translated into English functions as both a surrealistic mystery novel and a philosophical inquiry into the nature of existence. But muddy writing and a badly Continue reading »
- Erotic TalesAlberto MoraviaThough it opens with ""The Thing,'' an extremely explicit chronicle of lesbianism and bestiality, this short story collection isn't so much concerned with sex per se as with the ways in which Continue reading »
- The Marriage of Cadmus and HarmonyRoberto CalassoThat Greco-Roman mythology should shape a contemporary novel is hardly unusual, but the way this breath-takingly ambitious work shapes--and reshapes--classical mythology is remarkable indeed. Continue reading »
- The Road to San GiovanniItalo CalvinoIn five elegant ``memory exercises'' written between 1962 and 1977, Italian fiction writer Calvino (1923-85) presents an affecting self-portrait and offers indirect insights into how he conjured up Continue reading »
- Numbers in the Dark: And Other StoriesItalo CalvinoItalian novelist and short-story writer Calvino (1923-1985) is well-represented in this continually surprising collection of more than three dozen fables, tales, fragments and dialogues--a third of Continue reading »
- Ka: Stories of the Mind and Gods of IndiaRoberto CalassoAuthor of the imaginative retelling of the Greek myths in The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony, Calasso takes on a more daunting task here: making the complex and less familiar myths of India tangible Continue reading »
- The Complete CosmicomicsItalo CalvinoReviewed by Seth Satterlee. Nearly 50 years after the publication of the original Cosmicomics, Calvino's 34 connected tales%E2%80%94spanning three separate collections%E2%80%94are finally Continue reading »
- HERMIT IN PARIS: Autobiographical WritingsItalo CalvinoThis new volume of autobiographical writings (never before translated into English) by Calvino, whose short stories and novels gave him international acclaim as one of the 20th century's most Continue reading »
- Six Memos for the Next MillenniumItalo CalvinoThis collection of five elegant essays by the Italian fiction writer offers an affecting self-portrait. Continue reading »
- Under the Jaguar SunItalo CalvinoA sumptuous small gem of a book, this volume contains three of the tales on the five senses planned by Calvino, who died last year. Taste, hearing, and smell receive arch and imaginative treatment in Continue reading »
- Why Read the Classics?Italo CalvinoAlthough the title suggests that this posthumous collection was cobbled together to capitalize on the latest culture wars, the great Italian novelist who died in 1985 had himself planned to compile Continue reading »
- The Uses of Literature: EssaysItalo CalvinoItalian novelist and short story writer Calvino has been accused of making protons, quarks and living cells talk as if they were people, but here he defends his approach as a kind of animism attuned Continue reading »
- Italo Calvino: Letters, 1941–1985Italo CalvinoAcclaimed Italian author Calvino (1923–1985) is best known for his fables, stories, and novels, including If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler. Yet he was also a book editor, journalist, and WWII Continue reading »
- Invisible CitiesItalo CalvinoAt its most basic level, Calvino’s novel is a conversation between Marco Polo and Kublai Khan, as the former describes the fantastical cities and landscapes he’s visited during his explorations. Of Continue reading »
- Collection of Sand: EssaysItalo CalvinoCalvino’s diverse interests are on full display in this collection of delightful and erudite essays by the author of Invisible Cities. Originally published in Italian in 1984, it was the Continue reading »
- Into the WarItalo CalvinoSixty years after its original publication in Italy, Calvino’s trio of war stories has been translated for the first time into English. The line between fiction and autobiography is decidedly blurred Continue reading »
- Six Memos for the Next MillenniumItalo CalvinoWhen Calvino (If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler) died unexpectedly in 1985, he was an internationally known storyteller and arguably Italy’s most celebrated author. These five erudite Continue reading »
- The Written World and the Unwritten World: EssaysItalo CalvinoEssays, reviews, and a few letters come together in this wonderful collection from novelist Calvino (1923–1985) that surveys his varied interests and discerning style. The first section, on reading, Continue reading »
![]()
On November 13, the Society of Illustrators in New York City hosted a panel and reception in honor of its current exhibit “Italian Excellence: Illustrations for Italo Continue reading »
PW EDITORS’ PICKS FOR
THE BEST NEW BOOKS
PW EDITORS’ PICKS FOR THE BEST NEW BOOKS
Featured Fiction Reviews
Blob: A Love Story
Maggie Su
In Su’s marvelous debut, a Taiwanese American woman sculpts a seemingly perfect partner out of a sentient blob. Two years after failing out of college, Vi works as a hotel Continue reading »
Harriet Tubman: Live in Concert
Bob the Drag Queen
Bob the Drag Queen, a former winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race, debuts with a vivacious narrative that sees Harriet Tubman magically brought back to life. Revived in the present day Continue reading »
Death Takes Me
Cristina Rivera Garza
A poetry-obsessed serial killer mutilates men in this unforgettable literary puzzle from Rivera Garza, who won the Pulitzer for her memoir, Liliana’s Invincible Summer. After a Continue reading »
The City and Its Uncertain Walls
Haruki Murakami
Bestseller Murakami (Killing Commendatore) unspools an intoxicating fantasy of a parallel world. The unnamed middle-aged narrator recounts how, at 17, he fell in love with a Continue reading »
chevron_right
