El mundo poético de Italo Calvinoliteratura, lengua y crítica

Abstract

This research draws a profile of the manifold literary personality of Italo Calvino, taking Calvino’s critical production as the main focus of the analysis in order to reflect on his work as a reader and commentator. His thought is presented in relation to literature, in which Calvino deeply trusts as a means of knowledge of reality, able to make its contribution to build a world governed by rationality. This idea evolves especially during his stay in Paris, which allowed him to benefit from the positive exchanges with members of the Ou.li.po. circle, to become impassioned with the work of Raymond Queneau and to approach modern literary theories, such as semiotics and structuralism, by experimenting with new ways of composition that the application of combinatorial method gives to his writing. It is an idea that the last part of Calvino’s production problematised increasingly, facing a world that was seemingly dominated by insoluble contradictions. Parallel and complementary way to his literary conception, this research develops the linguistic conception of Calvino, making a comparison with Pier Paolo Pasolini. Moreover, it presents the comparison of his work with Jorge Luis Borges, showing the contact points and the differences between two views of literature and the importance that the work of the Argentine writer had for Calvino’s writing work.