Six Memos for the Next Millennium

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. 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. He 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.

ITALO CALVINO’s (1923-1985) superb storytelling gifts earned him international renown and a reputation as “one of the world’s best fabulists” (New York Times Book Review).?At his death, at age sixty-one, he was the most-translated contemporary Italian writer.?

GEOFFREY BROCK is an award-winning translator and poet whose translations include works of Umberto Eco, Cesare Pavese, and others.