The Complete Cosmicomics - Tapa dura

“It’s a joy to have all the cosmicomics within one cover . . . Their topics are exhilaratingly immense, the uttermost reaches of space and time, into which warmth and humor enter through all kinds of gaps, quirks, and tricks. Calvino's light, dry, clear prose dances over the light years . . . A landmark in fiction, the work of a master.” — Ursula K. Le Guin, Guardian

In Italo Calvino’s cosmicomics, primordial beings cavort on the nearby surface of the moon, play marbles with atoms, and bear ecstatic witness to Earth’s first dawn. These dazzling stories cross planets and traverse galaxies, speed up time or slow it down to the particles of an instant. Through the eyes of an ageless guide named Qfwfq, Calvino explores natural phenomena and tells the story of the origins of the universe. Poignant, fantastical, and wise, these beloved tales relate complex scientific and mathematical concepts to our everyday world.

Written between the 1960s and the 1980s, the cosmicomics were pivotal in the development of Calvino’s experimental style. The Complete Cosmicomics brings together in one volume all thirty-four of these deft, enchanting stories for the first time in English— including seven never before published in this country. This definitive collection reconfirms the cosmicomics as an enduring literary achievement.