The novels that attract me most are those that create an illusion of transparency around a knot of human relationships as obscure, cruel, and perverse as possible.
Italo CalvinoRead
A classic is the term given to any book which comes to represent the whole universe, a book on a par with ancient talismans.
Interpretation
What this quote means
A classic book is one that embodies universal themes and resonates deeply with the human experience.
Italo Calvino suggests that a classic is not just a book that is widely respected or read, but rather one that captures the essence of the human experience and transcends time and culture. Such books act as talismans, holding significant meaning and power, representing broader truths and insights about the universe.
Themes
ClassicUniverseBookTimelessLiterature
In practice
Example use cases
In a book club discussion about timeless literature, you might say, 'As Italo Calvino puts it, a classic book represents the whole universe.'
More from Italo Calvino
All quotes βYour first book is the only one that matters. Perhaps a writer should write only that one. That is the one moment when you make the big leap; the opportunity to express yourself is offered that once, and you untie the knot within you then or never again.
Italo CalvinoRead
...and every Wednesday the perfumed young lady slips me a hundred-crown note to leave her alone with the convict. And by Thursday the hundred crowns are already gone in so much beer. And when the visiting hour is over, the young lady comes out with the stink of jail in her elegant clothes; and the prisoner goes back to his cell with the lady's perfume in his jailbird's suit. And I'm left with the smell of beer. Life is nothing but trading smells.
Italo CalvinoRead
Nobody these days holds the written word in such high esteem as police states do.
Italo CalvinoRead
The struggle of literature is in fact a struggle to escape from the confines of language; it stretches out from the utmost limits of what can be said; what stirs literature is the call and attraction of what is not in the dictionary.
Italo CalvinoRead
Fantasy is like jam. . . . You have to spread it on a solid piece of bread. If not, it remains a shapeless thing . . . out of which you canβt make anything.
Italo CalvinoRead
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It is better to imitate ancient than modern work.
Leonardo Da VinciRead