Chosen as one of the New York Times’s ten best books in the year of its original publication, this collection immediately won a cherished place among lovers of the tale and vaulted Calvino into the ranks of the great folklorists. Introduction by the Author; illustrations. Translated by George Martin. A Helen and Kurt Wolff Book

This title enchants stories about the evolution of the universe, with characters that are fashioned from mathematical formulae and cellular structures. They disport themselves among galaxies, experience the solidification of planets, move from aquatic to terrestrial existence, play games with hydrogen atoms - and have time for a love life. '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?'

In "Invisible Cities" Marco Polo conjures up cities of magical times for his host, the Chinese ruler Kublai Khan, but gradually it becomes clear that he is actually describing one city: Venice. As Gore Vidal wrote 'of all tasks, describing the contents of a book is the most difficult and in the case of a marvelous invention like "Invisible Cities", perfectly irrelevant'.

為了把小說擺在適當的脈絡中，她們要求高利格尼提供一些歷史資料。他說：「我來設法回想一下，組成西馬利亞的省分如何在二次大戰後變成辛伯利人民共和國的一部分。辛伯利人重新整理了那些在戰爭中失落的西馬利亞人的檔案文件，得以重新評估像菲爾然迪那樣人格複雜的作家，他使用辛伯利和西馬利亞兩種語言寫作，然而西馬利亞人只出版他的西馬利亞文作品，所以數量極少。質與量更好的是以辛伯利文撰寫的作品，但被西馬利亞人藏了起來；像這部長篇小說巨著《不怕風吹或暈眩》，其首章的草稿顯然也是用西馬利亞文寫的，並以烏寇．阿迪的筆名簽署。毋庸置疑，這位戶家在明確選擇了辛伯利文以後，才發現了真正的小說靈感……」拉迫不及待地想看到這本書再度從死灰中復生，但卻還得等待讀書小組的女孩和年輕男士們交出他們的作業，閱讀過程中，一定有人強調生產方式的省思，有人強調改造的過程，有人強調壓抑的昇華，有人強調性的語意符碼，有人強調身體的後設語言，有人則強調寫政治及私人生活方面的角色逾越。
羅塔莉亞打開她的書夾開始唸著，帶刺的鐵絲網像蜘蛛網一般開始散開，你們兩人隨著其他人一樣安靜跟隨。
你馬上明白你所聽到的東西，和《從陡坡斜倚下來》、《在馬爾泊克鎮外》、或甚至《如果在冬夜，一個旅人》不可能有任何關係。你和魯德米拉很快地交換了一，或者更正確地說，兩眼，第一眼是疑問，第二眼是同意。無論如何，這是一本一旦開始，就欲罷不能的小說。

The last of Italo Calvino's works to appear during the author's lifetime, Collection of Sand is a group of essays never before published in English, discussing subjects ranging from cuneiform and antique maps to Mexican temples and Japanese gardens.
Italo Calvino’s unbounded curiosity and masterly imagination are displayed in peak form in Collection of Sand, the last of his works published during his lifetime. Here he applies his graceful intellect to the delights of the visual world, in essays on subjects ranging from cuneiform and antique maps to Mexican temples and Japanese gardens. Never before translated into English, Collection of Sand is an incisive and often surprising meditation on observation and knowledge, the difference between the world as we perceive it and the world as it is.

Six Memos for the Millennium is a collection of five lectures Italo Calvino was about to deliver at the time of his death. Here is his legacy to us: the universal values he pinpoints become the watchwords for our appreciation of Calvino himself.
What should be cherished in literature? Calvino devotes one lecture, or memo to the reader, to each of five indispensable qualities: lightness , quickness , exactitude , visibility , and multiplicity . A sixth lecture, on consistency , was never committed to paper, and we are left only to ponder the possibilities. With this book, he gives us the most eloquent defense of literature written in the twentieth century—a fitting gift for the next millennium.

卡尔维诺未竟之作

Italo Calvino imagines a novel capable of endless mutations in this intricately crafted story about writing and readers.
If on a Winter's Night a Traveler turns out to be not one novel but ten, each with a different plot, style, ambience, and author, and each interrupted at a moment of suspense. Together they form a labyrinth of literatures, known and unknown, alive and extinct, through which two readers, a male and a female, pursue both the story lines that intrigue them and one another.

Imaginary conversations between Marco Polo and his host, the Chinese ruler Kublai Khan, conjure up cities of magical times. “Of all tasks, describing the contents of a book is the most difficult and in the case of a marvelous invention like Invisible Cities, perfectly irrelevant” (Gore Vidal). Translated by William Weaver. A Helen and Kurt Wolff Book
One of the world's best storytellers, Italo Calvino (Invisible Cities) pinpoints for future generations the universal values for literature. Here are his works, methods, intentions, and hopes.