Fantastic Tales - by Italo Calvino (Paperback)

About the Book

A collection of short stories compiled, edited, and introduced by Italo Calvino -- including works of E.T.A. Hoffmann, Balzac, Gogol, Poe, and many others -- surveying the phenomenon of the fantastic in 19th-century European literature.

Book Synopsis

"The true theme of the nineteenth-century fantastic tale is the reality of what we see: to believe or not to believe in phantasmagoric apparitions, to glimpse another world, enchanted or infernal, behind everyday appearances." -- from Calvino's introduction to Fantastic Tales

Vampires, ghosts, and other horrors abound in this collection of nineteenth-century fantastic literature, selected and edited by Italo Calvino, a twentieth-century master of the speculative. This posthumously published anthology of enchanting, uncanny, terrifying, and immortally entertaining short stories includes E.T.A. Hoffmann's "The Sandman," Nikolai Gogol's "The Nose," Edgar Allan Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart," Robert Louis Stevenson's "The Bottle Imp," and many more, each with an introduction by Calvino. Fantastic Tales is a delight for the mind and a feast for the senses.

"Impressive and utterly pleasing . . . Each story [Calvino] picks is absorbing, unique, and continually surprising." -- Los Angeles Times

From the Back Cover

The true theme of the nineteenth-century fantastic tale is the reality of what we see: to believe or not to believe in phantasmagoric apparitions, to glimpse another world, enchanted or infernal, behind everyday appearances. from Calvino s introduction to Fantastic Tales

Vampires, ghosts, and other horrors abound in this collection of nineteenth-century fantastic literature, selected and edited by Italo Calvino, a twentieth-century master of the speculative. This posthumously published anthology of enchanting, uncanny, terrifying, and immortally entertaining short stories includes E.T.A. Hoffmann s The Sandman, Nikolai Gogol s The Nose, Edgar Allan Poe s The Tell-Tale Heart, Robert Louis Stevenson s The Bottle Imp, and many more, each with an introduction by Calvino. Fantastic Tales is a delight for the mind and a feast for the senses.

Impressive and utterly pleasing . . . Each story [Calvino] picks is absorbing, unique, and continually surprising. Los Angeles Times

ITALO CALVINO (1923 1985) attained worldwide renown as one of the twentieth century s greatest storytellers. Born in Cuba, he was raised in San Remo, Italy, and later lived in Turin, Paris, Rome, and elsewhere. Among his many works are Invisible Cities, If on a winter s night a traveler, The Baron in the Trees, and other novels, as well as numerous collections of fiction, folktales, criticism, and essays. His works have been translated into dozens of languages.
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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). At the time of his death in 1985, he was the most translated contemporary Italian writer.