Fantastic Tales: Visionary and Everyday [Anglais] [Broché]

The brilliant Italian writer Italo Calvino (1923-1985) compiled Fantastic Tales: Visionary and Everyday, a historical overview of great fantastic literature of the 19th century. Many of his 26 selections are from well-known authors (Sir Walter Scott, Honoré de Balzac, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Edgar Allan Poe, Charles Dickens, Ivan Turgenev, Guy de Maupassant, Robert Louis Stevenson, Henry James, Rudyard Kipling, and H.G. Wells), but Calvino largely avoided their best-known stories; the only inclusions likely to be familiar to many Americans are Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown," Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart," and H.G. Wells's "The Country of the Blind." The remaining contributors range from moderately well-known to obscure. So the reader who purchases Fantastic Tales gains not only an intelligently annotated anthology of superb fiction, but, in one pleasant sense, a collection of mostly new stories.

Interestingly, some of the finest stories are by authors least known in America. Théophile Gautier's beautifully written, wrenchingly ironic "The Beautiful Vampire" establishes the traditions for romantic vampire fiction. Mérimée's "The Venus of Ille," a tale of culture clashes (Parisian and rural, ancient classical, and contemporary Christian), is sharp, well-written, and uncommonly horrific. With the gorgeous "A Lasting Love," the sole woman contributor, Vernon Lee, paints the most vivid portrait of obsessive, transcendent, destructive love.

Caveat: Calvino's introductions sometimes reveal more of the plot than readers will like. --Cynthia Ward

The famed Italian novelist and folk literature scholar Calvino (1923-85) assembled a rich and wide-ranging anthology of 26 fantastic tales from the 19th century, first published in Italian in 1983. The collection includes imaginative selections from the pen of famed writers such as Nathaniel Hawthorne, Nikolai Gogol, Edgar Allan Poe, Charles Dickens, H.G. Wells, and Ivan Turgenev. The illuminating introduction traces the fantastic story from the beginning of 19th-century German Romanticism, with special attention to E.T.A. Hoffman (1766-1822), proclaimed the greatest author of the genre. Each of the stories, carefully selected, leaps immediately into intrigue and engages the reader with macabre descriptions and challenging juxtapositions. Concise, informative headnotes precede each story, identifying the author and the story's significance. These fascinating tales, along with Calvino's thoughtful comments, will be enjoyed by mature readers from the high school level and beyond.?Richard K. Burns, MSLS, Hatboro, Pa.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --Ce texte fait référence à une édition épuisée ou non disponible de ce titre.

Mr. Calvino's introduction to this anthology is an acutely thoughtful discussion of what makes a fantastic tale, how the genre developed during the nineteenth century, and the reasons for its abiding popularity. Some of the tales are well known, some not. Most are by European authors. One Russian specimen hardly qualifies as fantasy--but the editor could not resist it. One can see why. It is a wicked charmer. --Ce texte fait référence à une édition épuisée ou non disponible de ce titre.

An attractive compendium of 26 American and European 19th- century tales that was originally published in Italy in 1983, shortly before Calvino's death. Altogether, it's a curious mix, prefaced by a charmingly learned Introduction that elucidates the distinction the subtitle proclaims, and enhanced by disarmingly personal headnotes to each story. English-language readers will note overfamiliar contributions from several masters, including Scott, Hawthorne, Gogol, Stevenson, and Poe, among others. But there are also several fortuitous, little-known choices, including PhilacrŠte Chasles's strange blend of folklore and surrealism, ``The Eye with No Lid''; Henry James's underrated ``The Friends of the Friends'' (a partial precursor of his masterly ``The Turn of the Screw''); and the pseudonymous Vernon Lee's magnificent tale (``A Lasting Love'') about a dead beauty who reaches from beyond the grave to destroy men seduced by her painted image. Several flourishing literary traditions are un- or under-represented: For example, the sole Scandinavian choice is Hans Christian Andersen's wispy ``The Shadow'' (one wonders if Calvino knew the infinitely superior storytelling of Selma Lagerl”f and Jonas Lie). Other omissions are equally puzzling, making this an entertaining selection, though hardly a comprehensive or authoritative one. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --Ce texte fait référence à une édition épuisée ou non disponible de ce titre.

"Calvino possesses the power of seeing into the deepest recesses of human minds and then bringing their dreams back to life."--Salman Rushdie

"Provides a grand entrance to the stange logic of the tale-like form, its obsession with the coexistence of multiple realities."--Bookforum

With this posthumously published anthology--a successor to his bestselling Italian Folktales--Italo Calvino, a contemporary surveyor of the otherwordly, pays homage to twenty-six of his nineteenth-century precursors. The resulting volume is both an education in the history of fantastic literature and a rollercoaster ride of wonder and terror, vampires, ghosts, and the rebellious creatures of our own psyches.

Selections include:

E.T.A. Hoffmann--"The Sandman"
Gérard de Nerval--"the Enchanted Hand"
Nikolai Gogol--"The Nose"
Edgar Allan Poe--"The Tell-Tale Heart"
Hans Christian Andersen--"The Shadow"
Ambrose Bierce--"Chickamauga"
Robert Louis Stevenson--"The Bottle Imp"
Henry James--"The Friends of the Friends"
H.G. Wells--"The Country of the Blind"

Comprising stories of the supernatural and narratives of the everyday uncanny, Fantastic Tales is a gallery of enchantments, deliciously entertaining yet more disturbing than our most persistent nightmares.

A collection of twelve tales of the nineteenth century features the writing of Jan Potocki, Joseph von Eichendorff, E.T.A. Hoffmann, Sir Walter Scott, and Nathaniel Hawthorne and an introduction by Calvino, published in English for the first time. 15,000 first printing. --Ce texte fait référence à une édition épuisée ou non disponible de ce titre.

"Calvino possesses the power of seeing into the deepest recesses of human minds and then bringing their dreams back to life."--Salman Rushdie

"Provides a grand entrance to the stange logic of the tale-like form, its obsession with the coexistence of multiple realities."--Bookforum

Italo Calvino's works include The Road to San Giovanni, Numbers in the Dark, , The Baron in the Tress, If on a Winter's Night a Traveler, Invisible Cities, and Mr. Palomar. Calvino died in 1985.