Enchanting stories about the evolution of the universe, with characters that are fashioned from mathematical formulae and cellular structures. “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?” Translated by William Weaver. A Helen and Kurt Wolff Book
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Browse the best books of summer including blockbusters, beach reads, and editors' picks in our Summer Reading Store. |
Book Description
Frequently Bought Together
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
An enchanting series of stories about the evolution of the universe. Calvino makes characters out of mathematical formulae and simple cellular structures. They disport themselves amongst galaxies, experience the solidification of planets, move from aquatic to terrestrial existence, play games with hydrogen atoms -- and have time for a love life.
Review
Metaphysical conceits are a thing of the past. Now with moon shots and interstellar probes, a writer really in tune with his age has to think of scientific conceits, or better yet, treat mathematical formulate, or theories and equations from physics, as if they were "characters" gamboling about the universe, beaming and burping through the void, carrying on the most enlightened (though not necessarily enlightening) conversations:" 'Ahal' I said. 'Why don't we play at flying galaxies?' 'Galaxies?' Pfwfp suddenly brightened with pleasure. 'Suits me. But you. . . you don't have galaxy!' 'Yes, I do. . ." ' Italo Calvino offers many similar exchanges, his tales being extraordinary and brilliant (if you like them; tiresome and thin, if you don't) variations on the whole spectrum of evolutionary transformations, contractions, and expansions that have affected time and space since whatever your version of genesis happens to be. Calvino is a witty and fanciful fellow who enjoys linguistic pirouettes somewhat in the manner of Nabokov, but he lacks the latter's commanding personality, and he relies too heavily on the pathetic fallacy (the illusion that external objects have human feelings), so we find his simple cellular creatures telling us "When I was a kid, the only playthings we had in the whole universe were the hydrogen atoms. . . ." etc. etc. For science fiction devotees, in any case, clearly the most sophisticated item yet from that genre. (Kirkus Reviews )
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images? |
More About the Author
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
66 of 69 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Prepare to read something you are not prepared for. This book will send you into realms of storytelling that seem impossible even as you read them. Cavort with "beings" who are present at the beginning of the universe and the big bang; be present at the moment someone (or something) plays with "a thing" for the first time. A review cannot do this book justice. It is utterly mind-blowing, beautiful, funny, and profound all at the same time. The writing is crystal clear (even in translation), which adds to the book's mystique. One of the best things about this book is the sheer impossibility of making a movie out of it. It exploits the best of what written stories can give us: imagination and the freedom to evoke our own mental imagery. The images floating through my head while I read this defy description. The stories themselves defy description (as I found out when trying to convince others to read it). Why can't more books be like this?
34 of 36 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
In the beginning, there was... Qfwfq? Italo Calvino apparently thought so -- his magical-realist fantasy "Cosmicomics" is one of the two best novels he ever wrote. Enchanting, surreal and whimsical, this is a look at the history of the cosmos that you will never find in any astronomy books.
Qfwfq is an ancient being -- he was a child playing with his family when the matterless void began to produce.... "things." Along with others of his kind, he has lived an immeasurably long lifetime, watching the Big Bang itself -- uniquely described in this case -- and the galaxy form, the earth cool and start to produce life.
And so Qfwfq goes through the ages, with all the rivalries, crushes, lost loves and exciting discoveries that a person experiences in their life (even though his life is uncounted millions long). And behind each of his experiences is a great cosmic event -- the Big Bang itself is caused by a loving aunt-like friend, an adolescent crush follows the moon away from the Earth, a rivalry forms between himself and the nasty Kwgwk, and his first love is doomed by his love of color on Earth's forming surface.
It takes a truly unique imagination to create something like this -- Calvino takes forming planets, whirling galaxies and ultraviolet rays, and gives them a whimsical spin. One moment he is taking your breath away with his descriptions of the Milky Way, the next he's getting smiles for the image of Qfwfq and his pals playing marbles with hydrogen atoms.
It's that mixture of grandeur and innocent whimsy that makes "Cosmicomics" so good. Not to mention, of course, Calvino's talent for poetic prose. In less than a paragraph, he can convey the vastness of the universe; in less than a chapter, he can describe the beauty of primeval Earth. In detail. Now that's really something.
Most striking of all may be the story of a motherly she-particle, whose love for him and the other beings caused "the concept of space and, properly speaking, space itself, and time, and universal gravitation, and the gravitation universe, making possible billions and billions of suns, and of planets, and fields of wheat." It takes a few minutes to sink in that Calvino wrote that the universe was first sparked by love.
Calvino never really explains what Qfwfq is -- I suppose he's an atom or something of the sort, although how atoms have "long silvery arms" or build bamboo bridges. Yet he shows us the lovable, fallible being trying out different forms through the epochs, sometimes lonely and sometimes not. And he gives Qfwfq such life, sweetness and enthusiasm that it's hard not to like him, even if we don't know exactly what he is.
Then again, getting into specifics might wreck the funny, poignant "Cosmicomics" -- it's about love and the universe, and not even the lead character can distract from that.
Qfwfq is an ancient being -- he was a child playing with his family when the matterless void began to produce.... "things." Along with others of his kind, he has lived an immeasurably long lifetime, watching the Big Bang itself -- uniquely described in this case -- and the galaxy form, the earth cool and start to produce life.
And so Qfwfq goes through the ages, with all the rivalries, crushes, lost loves and exciting discoveries that a person experiences in their life (even though his life is uncounted millions long). And behind each of his experiences is a great cosmic event -- the Big Bang itself is caused by a loving aunt-like friend, an adolescent crush follows the moon away from the Earth, a rivalry forms between himself and the nasty Kwgwk, and his first love is doomed by his love of color on Earth's forming surface.
It takes a truly unique imagination to create something like this -- Calvino takes forming planets, whirling galaxies and ultraviolet rays, and gives them a whimsical spin. One moment he is taking your breath away with his descriptions of the Milky Way, the next he's getting smiles for the image of Qfwfq and his pals playing marbles with hydrogen atoms.
It's that mixture of grandeur and innocent whimsy that makes "Cosmicomics" so good. Not to mention, of course, Calvino's talent for poetic prose. In less than a paragraph, he can convey the vastness of the universe; in less than a chapter, he can describe the beauty of primeval Earth. In detail. Now that's really something.
Most striking of all may be the story of a motherly she-particle, whose love for him and the other beings caused "the concept of space and, properly speaking, space itself, and time, and universal gravitation, and the gravitation universe, making possible billions and billions of suns, and of planets, and fields of wheat." It takes a few minutes to sink in that Calvino wrote that the universe was first sparked by love.
Calvino never really explains what Qfwfq is -- I suppose he's an atom or something of the sort, although how atoms have "long silvery arms" or build bamboo bridges. Yet he shows us the lovable, fallible being trying out different forms through the epochs, sometimes lonely and sometimes not. And he gives Qfwfq such life, sweetness and enthusiasm that it's hard not to like him, even if we don't know exactly what he is.
Then again, getting into specifics might wreck the funny, poignant "Cosmicomics" -- it's about love and the universe, and not even the lead character can distract from that.
33 of 37 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I resisted this book at first. Calvino wrote a series of 12 related short stories that work as a novel (but each story stands on its own), each playing with visual images. In his book, The Uses Of Literature, Calvino writes about Cosmicomics, saying, "My aim was to show that writing using images typical of myth can grow from any soil, even from language farthest away from any visual image." He does this with incredible agility, quickness, exactitude, visibility, and multiplicity.
The first tale, for me, was the most mind- boggling. "The Distance Of The Moon" is surreal, absurd, fantastical, and utterly engaging. It is worth the price of the book itself. Four characters cavort on the earth and the moon--this was back in primordial days when the two planetary bodies were fighting to be separate--where they collect moon milk and throw it back to the earth with spoons. It is at once a tale of unrequited love, of absurd fantasy, of visual imagery, and humor that is from one of the best writers of this century.
Read it as a study of narrative; Calvino crafts his tales using symbolism, multiple meanings, all with precise, gifted language, it is worth the price of admission.
I think that any and all Sci Fi Lit classes should include "The Distance Of The Moon," or the entire book itself. I've dog-eared and scratched my copy already, and you're going to have to pry it from me. Now, I swear by it.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Tremendous Little Book
If you saw the short animated movie titled, "La Luna" and were intrigued with the idea of climbing up to the moon, you'll be fascinated to know that the movie is loosely... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Ritaclare C. Streb
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good read
Not for the faint of heart, but rewards the effort you put into it. Highly recommended by a big fan of calvino
Published 10 months ago by TheCuster
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderful concept and execution
A delightful collection of Vignette's. The set up is wonderfully original, the narrator Qwfq is at turns humorous and poignant. Read more
Published 13 months ago by jafrank
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great
Thanks for finding this book which I've been looking for, for a long time. Great service and just what I wanted.
Published 17 months ago by Mr. Richard J. Saward
4.0 out of 5 stars
In the beginning there was Qfwfq
When I read the description for Cavlino's collection of science fiction stories inspired by the origins of the universe, I was immediately intrigued. Read more
Published 18 months ago by Sean Meriwether
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of my "touchstones"
Calvino writes memorable, compact stories, elaborated in all the right places. His turns of phrase are memorable, as are his ideas. Read more
Published 18 months ago by Gimpel of Frampol
5.0 out of 5 stars
AWESOME
I can't write quite like some of the others, but I will say; Calvino is a genius. A book of short stories that will blow your mind. Read more
Published on December 17, 2010 by Chandra L. Alduenda
5.0 out of 5 stars
humbling, dazzling
i am humbled and blessed to have read this. i thank my lucky stars i held on to this book for over a decade before finally getting around to it. Read more
Published on October 6, 2010 by wordtron
5.0 out of 5 stars
For inspiration
Calvino's "Cosmicomics" is nothing less than a daily source of inspiration for anyone interested in the ties between science and art, and the possibility of writing about science... Read more
Published on June 28, 2010 by D. Becker
4.0 out of 5 stars
Uneven but several super stories
Some of these stories were too based on a subjective idea rather than any story itself to be interesting. Read more
Published on April 1, 2010 by Southern Bard
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Listmania!
So You'd Like to...
Look for Similar Items by Category
- Books > Humor & Entertainment > Humor
- Books > Literature & Fiction > Contemporary
- Books > Literature & Fiction > Humor
- Books > Literature & Fiction > Short Stories > Anthologies
- Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction > Anthologies
- Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction > Short Stories
