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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Guidebook for Artists of Every Discipline,
By A Customer
This review is from: Six Memos for the Next Millennium/the Charles Eliot Norton Lectures 1985-86 (Vintage International) (Paperback)
Calvino offers us a bag of jewels with these five essays on the principle qualities that will carry great writing into the next century. The lessons learned from "Lightness," "Quickness," "Exactitude," "Visibility," and "Multiplicity" can be applied in any creative situation. They add strength to my own compositional efforts, but even more, the multi-faceted richness of Calvino's prose and Creagh's translation is something to savor and rejoice in. Even in his essays, Calvino is a storyteller, and as always his characters are the moods and motives of the people at large, as well as simply people themselves. Whether this is your first or fiftieth time reading this little book, the rush of inspiration that will sweep over you is not to be stemmed. Buy it, read it, write in it, draw lines and circle your favorite words and sentences. This is a book to imprint into your mind.
16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Five Stars for Six Memos,
By
This review is from: Six Memos for the Next Millennium (Hardcover)
My interest in reading this collection of essays stems from a curiousity about narrative structure. I found that, while Calvino writes candid insertions about his own works, and while he writes with great fluency of ancient, medieval, contemporary world writers, the power of this short book lies in his erudite observations and keen, bits of wisdom. Here's a sample: "Saving time is a good thing because the more time we save, the more we can afford to lose" (p. 46), and this one, "Were I to choose an auspicious image for the new millennium, I would choose this one: The sudden agile leap of the poet-philosopher who raises himself above the weight of the world, showing that with all his gravity he has the secret of lightness, and that what many consider to be the vitality of the times--noisy, aggressive, revving and roaring--belongs to the realm of death, like a cemetary for rusty, old cars" (p. 12).Calvino writes about five different qualities of literature: Lightness, Quickness, Exactitude, Visibility, and Multiplicity (he had intended to write a sixth chapter on Consistency, before his untimely death). He examines these qualities closely, using his own facile language as the medium. Read it, by all means.
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Masterful thought provoking and inspiring essays,
By Lee (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Six Memos for the Next Millennium (Hardcover)
This is truly one of the greatest books I have ever read. Inspires and helps generate new thoughts and ideas. Calvino was truly a master. This could be read over and over for a lifetime.
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