Six Memos for the Next Millennium
HarperCollins · Print & ebook · August 2, 2016
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- Who it’s for
- Five lectures explore the literary qualities Calvino valued, with examples from myth, folklore, and literature.
- Themes
- Literary craft, Literary criticism, Myth and folklore
- Genres
- Italian Literary Criticism, Books & Reading, Essay Collections
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For younger readers: Reflections
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Start with this bookAbout this book
Italo Calvino's brilliant reflection on what makes great literature, from the classics to more contemporary works, punctuated with personal details about Calvino's own writing processes. At the time of his death, Italo Calvino was at work on six lectures setting forth the qualities in writing he most valued, and which he believed would define literature in the century to come.
Continue reading
Here, in Six Memos for the Next Millennium, are the five lectures he completed, forming not only a stirring defense of literature, but also an indispensable guide to the writings of Calvino himself. Calvino devotes one “memo” each to the concepts of lightness, quickness, exactitude, visibility, and multiplicity, drawing examples from his vast knowledge of myth, folklore, and works both ancient and modern. Readers will be astonished by the prescience of these lectures, which have only gained in relevance as Calvino’s “next millennium” has dawned.
Reading by Qualities
Five lectures explore the literary qualities Calvino valued, with examples from myth, folklore, and literature.
Come here for
- A defense of literature through five valued qualities
- Connections across myth, folklore, and works ancient and modern
Expect
- Personal details on Calvino’s writing process
- Five ideas: lightness, quickness, exactitude, visibility, and multiplicity
Where it sits
| Italian Literary Criticism | 50% |
|---|---|
| Essay Collections | 24% |
| Books & Reading | 23% |
Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.
Publisher categories
- Essay Collections
- Letters & Correspondence
- Diaries & Journals Collection
- Medieval Collections
Show all 8 publisher categories
- Speeches Collection
- Women Authors Collections
- Themed Literary Collections
- Ancient & Classical Literary Criticism
- Authors
- Italo Calvino
- Publisher
- HarperCollins
- Published
- August 2, 2016
- Format
- Print & ebook
- Theme
- Literary craft · Literary criticism · Myth and folklore
- Reading lane
- Essay Collections