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During the summer of 1985, Calvino prepared a series of texts on literature for the Charles Eliot Norton Lectures to be delivered at Harvard University in the fall. On September 6, 1985, Calvino suffered a stroke in his villa in Roccamare, where he was preparing for a lecture tour of the United States.
The "memos" are lectures on certain literary qualities whose virtues Calvino wished to recommend to the then-approaching millennium. He intended to devote one lecture to each of six qualities: lightness, quickness, exactitude, visibility, multiplicity, and consistency. Though he completed the first five, he died before writing the last. [2]
Invisible Cities is an example of Calvino's use of combinatory literature, and shows influences of semiotics and structuralism. In the novel, the reader finds themselves playing a game with the author, wherein they must find the patterns hidden in the book.
In a 1985 interview with Gregory Lucente, Calvino stated If on a winter's night a traveler was "clearly" influenced by the writings of Vladimir Nabokov. [4] The book was also influenced by the author's membership in the literary group Oulipo. [5] The structure of the text is said to be an adaptation of the structural semiology of A. J. Greimas. [5]
Combinatory literature is a type of fiction writing in which the author relies and draws on concepts outside of general writing practices and applies them to the creative process. This method of writing challenges conventional structuralist processes and approaches.
The novel is an exploration of how meaning is created, whether that be written via words (by the author, via the book, since the characters in the book cannot speak to each other), or by images (the tarot cards—considered prophetic by some, and themselves open to many symbolic interpretations). [3]
William Fense Weaver (24 July 1923 – 12 November 2013) [1] was an English language translator of modern Italian literature. [2]Weaver was best known for his translations of the work of Umberto Eco, Primo Levi, and Italo Calvino, [3] but translated many other Italian authors over the course of a career that spanned more than fifty years.
Elio Vittorini and Italo Calvino edited the magazine until 1966. [4] [5] The magazine, published by Giulio Einaudi, [6] had its headquarters in Torino. [7] It covered monographic topics and included writings of novice Italian authors. [2] It also featured writings on newly developed critical literary theories, including Roland Barthes' theory. [2]