Numbers in the Dark: And Other Stories [Paperback]

Italo Calvino (Author), Tim Parks (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 1996

For the first time in paperback--a volume of thirty-seven diabolically inventive stories, fables, and "impossible interviews" from one of the great fantasists of the 20th century, displaying the full breadth of his vision and wit.  Written between 1943 and 1984 and masterfully translated by Tim Parks, the fictions in Numbers in the Dark display all of Calvino's dazzling gifts: whimsy and horror, exuberance of style, and a cheerful grasp of the absurdities of the human condition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A collection of previously uncollected stories from the late Italian fabulist.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

YA?This fine collection contains an interesting variety of selections, from parable to polemic, with complex and challenging characters, situations, and themes. Some of the older stories have allusions that may not be apparent to YAs, but the universal ideas are expressed in a new and clever way. Calvino presents a different world view, expressed with wit, humor, irony, and wicked perception. Students who discover this book will be rewarded and tempted to read other works by this master storyteller.?Margaret Hecklinger, R. E. Lee High School, Springfield, VA
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Vintage (October 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0679743537
• ISBN-13: 978-0679743538
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.6 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #426,867 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars product of a brilliant mind, July 1, 1999

By 

vic spicer - See all my reviews

This review is from: Numbers in the Dark: And Other Stories (Paperback)

this engaging collection of stories shows calvino's versatility.playfully absurd fables, mind-bending exercises in combinatorics, "interviews" with somewhat deranged historical figures, glaciation interrupting a romantic encounter, an encylopedia of all human knowledge... these ideas and more are all expressed with humor, economy and wonderful style.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great book, mediocre kindle iPad edition, July 6, 2010

By 

Ferrari Quest (Miami FL) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Numbers in the Dark: And Other Stories (Kindle Edition)

This is a wonderful collection of little gems.
Unfortunately the Kindle to iPad edition is filled with "typos"--- I suppose representing failure of the OCR used to create the file?

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not a great intro to Calvino, May 18, 2010

By 

Kurt Conner (South Hadley, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Numbers in the Dark: And Other Stories (Paperback)

Although this collection of short stories had some really nice moments, I was ultimately unimpressed. I had heard great things about Italo Calvino, how he's an Italian version of Borges, and I can certainly see the similarities to the great Argentine author, but Calvino does not benefit from the comparison.

The collection is organized chronologically, as far as I can tell, and it begins with promise. There are a few pedestrian extended jokes and adolescent musings on love, but there are some fascinating fantasy/fables (in one story, a military regiment takes over a library to read every book and determine which ones should be censored, but their involuntary education changes their lives, and in another, a military parade takes a wrong turn and sheds pieces of itself as it winds through a town) and allegories that are impressive when I know the context (I didn't comprehend Becalmed in the Antilles at all until I read the note at the end that reminded me that it was written in, essentially, a Cold War period). No story is "leave you gasping for breath" good, but they're the kind of thing you might read in a high school or college literary magazine from an exceptionally talented student.

As he aged, though, Calvino didn't really live up to the promise of his early stories, as far as I can tell in this collection. His later work is twisted around intellectually complicated but unengaging musings on the romantic journey of water on its way to a shower head or the path a long-distance call takes or a series of "interviews" that made me feel like I was trapped in college in an intro-level philosophy class again. There is a retelling of the Eurydice myth that hints at spectacular imagery but creates such a distance with its inhuman tone that I couldn't even finish it.

I may just not get Calvino. Maybe I need to read If on a Winter's Night a Traveler (Everyman's Library (Cloth)), his best-known work (in the States), and re-evaluate. But if the rest of his work is fairly characterized by this collection, then I don't understand his appeal.