HERMIT IN PARIS

Italo Calvino once said that he preferred to give false details about hisbiography since he felt that even the genuine data of a writer's life shedno light on the creative work. But this volume of posthumously collectedpersonal writings is the closest we will ever come to the autobiography ofthis most private of writers. The pieces collected here range from theearly 1950s to his last interview, completed just before his sudden deathin 1985. Apart from shedding light on his own formative experiences andevolution as an author, Calvino's autobiographical writings also examinethe major events of twentieth-century history from a very personalviewpoint. This volume is, as ever, full of ideas on literature and otherwriters, all conveyed with the author's distinctive lightness andintelligence.