Hermit in Paris: Autobiographical Writings

Never before published in English, these essayistic writings enlarge our understanding of one of the twentieth centrury's most beloved authors.

In evocations of Italo Calvino's tumultuous teenage years--his life during Mussolini's rule, at the time of the liberation, and during the Cold War--we learn the story of the author's generation as it confronted moral, civil, and artistic dilemmas. In writings from the extended periods during which Calvino lived alone in Paris and New York, we wit…