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Into the War
Into the War | Italo Calvino
4 posts | 3 read | 2 to read
This book deals both with a transition from adolescence into youth and with a move from peace to war: as for very many other people, for the protagonist of this book entry into life and entry into war coincide. from the Authors Note These three stories, set during the summer of 1940, draw on Italo Calvinos memories of his own adolescence during the Second World War, too young to be forced to fight in Mussolinis army but old enough to be conscripted into the Italian youth brigades. The callow narrator of these tales observes the mounting unease of a city girding itself for war, the looting of an occupied French town, and nighttime revels during a blackout. Appearing here in its first English translation, Into the War is one of Calvinos only works of autobiographical fiction. It offers both a glimpse of this writers extraordinary life and a distilled dram of his wry, ingenious literary voice. All three stories attest to the potentially magical, transformative space of adolescence . . . The seeds of the later Calvino the fabulist who worked profound moral and ethical points into his narratives are all here. Joseph Luzzi, Times Literary Supplement
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Emilymdxn
Into the War | Italo Calvino
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#frideas @SailorMoon & thank you for the tag @jenniferw88

1. All of the above. My bf is a historian so he‘s inspired me to do the non fiction more

2. I just read this recently 👌

3. PE or physics

4. Middle Ages! My degree is in English literature 750-1550 but the long fifteenth century was my main thing

5. I think I‘m quite late to the game here, not sure who‘s already done it but if you haven‘t yet, consider yourself tagged!

SailorMoon Thanks for playing!!! 💕🤟🏻🌙 I hated Physics. Omg how much I hated it... so much I forgot it exists LOL 6y
ReclusiveHermit I love physics its not that bad. 6y
39 likes2 comments
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Emilymdxn
Into the War | Italo Calvino
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10/50 for my owned tbr goal!

Reminded me why Italo Calvino is my favourite novelist, as if I needed reminding! Even tho it wasn‘t as magic realist as my faves by him, his style is just Everything to me. No one does simple and meaningful like him.

My bf bought me this for Christmas, he loves books about war and is always determined to find ones I‘ll read. He managed this time... but I won‘t take it from many ppl other than Calvino!

Leniverse I have only read one Ivo Calvino (the one that's all beginnings) but I plan to read more. As for books about war, that's not my favourite topic either but I have greatly enjoyed "Slaughter-House Five", "Catch-22", "The English Patient" and the complete "Maus". 6y
zsuzsanna_reads Have you seen his collection of Italian folk tales? 6y
zsuzsanna_reads @Leniverse I find war books difficult too! I'm just a natural pacifist. I'm trying to read some from the Guardian's 1000 novels war section, but they always end up at the bottom of the TBR somehow 🤷 I'll have to read this one by Calvino and Maus. 6y
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Emilymdxn @Leniverse @zsuzsanna_reads I‘m exactly the same! I‘ve always been a v committed pacifist and really struggle to process how someone could want to read about battles in their free time. There are some books set in wars that I love, but not many. Maus and the English Patient are two of my favourite books ever 6y
Emilymdxn @zsuzsanna_reads not yet no! I‘ve read it on a winters night a traveller, invisible cities, under jaguar sun and castle of crossed destinies. I want to read all of his books! 6y
Weaponxgirl I can only really do war books when they are about the human side of it and how it affects people. Books like all quiet on the western front and return of the solider novel wise. I don‘t like it being glorified in any way. 6y
Emilymdxn @Weaponxgirl omg I could literally have written that myself, those are my exact thoughts about war in fiction. Marlon James said sth that really made me think in his talk Monday, he said violence that doesn‘t leave you feeling horrified isn‘t literature it‘s pornography, and he aims to never write violence that lets ppl feel numb/neutral/positive about it. 6y
Weaponxgirl @Emilymdxn I think some writers can pull off graphic violence with the right intent behind it. But they have to be skilled, same with films. But mostly I agree with that sentiment, I don‘t want it to feel voyeuristic. It‘s a balance between informing people about horrors but not making it empty entertainment. 6y
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Emilymdxn
Into the War | Italo Calvino
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Taking my mum to see Richard II at the Globe tonight, just waiting for her to arrive in Starbucks with Calvino (my one true love 💖) then we‘ll grab a cheeky Nando‘s before the show. What a girls night!

This production is really exciting and I can‘t wait to see it. It‘s the first all woc production of a Shakespeare play on a major London stage and I am very proud to work for the organisation that made it happen.

youneverarrived Have a great time 😁 6y
Weaponxgirl That sounds like an amazing night out! 6y
55 likes2 comments
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Emilymdxn
Into the War | Italo Calvino
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Calvino is probably my favourite novelist and I‘m excited to be reading another one by him. My boyfriend got me this for Christmas 💖

Severnmeadows I‘ve only read If on a Winters Night a Traveller. This looks good - and I like the cover. 6y
wordzie 🙌🎁 6y
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