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  • Published: 1 September 2011
  • ISBN: 9780141889559
  • Imprint: Penguin eBooks
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 432

The Complete Cosmicomics




First paperback publication of Italo Calvino's phenomenally funny account of the universe as a cosmic joke

Enchanting stories about the evolution of the universe, with characters that are fashioned from mathematical formulae and cellular structures. They disport themselves among galaxies, experience the solidification of planets, move from aquatic to terrestrial existence, play games with hydrogen atoms - and have time for a love life.

'Naturally, we were all there, - old Qfwfq said, - where else could we have been? Nobody knew then that there could be space. Or time either: what use did we have for time, packed in there like sardines?'

  • Published: 1 September 2011
  • ISBN: 9780141889559
  • Imprint: Penguin eBooks
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 432

About the author

Italo Calvino

Italo Calvino was born in Cuba in 1923 and grew up in Italy. He was an essayist and journalist and a member of the editorial staff of Einaudi in Turin. One of the most respected writers of the twentieth century, his best-known works of fiction include Invisible Cities, If on a Winter's Night a Traveller, Marcovaldo and Mr Palomar. In 1973 he won the prestigious Premio Feltrinelli. He died in 1985. A collection of Calvino's posthumous personal writings, The Hermit in Paris, was published in 2003.

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Praise for The Complete Cosmicomics

Calvino was ahead of his time in so many ways that only now is his work widely perceived not as marginal because it is fantasy, but as a landmark in fiction, the work of a master . . . It's a joy to have all the Cosmicomics within one cover, and a handsome cover it is ... Martin McLaughlin's introduction couldn't be better as a guide to these dazzlingly idiosyncratic tales

Ursula K Le Guin, Guardian

If you have never read Cosmicomics, you have before you the most joyful reading experience of your life

Salman Rushdie

This is classic Calvino, making you think and laugh at the same time

John Self