Letters of a hermit in Paris: the correspondence of Italo Calvino with French writers

Abstract

Aiming to extend the ongoing research project on the correspondence of Italo Calvino with Italian and foreign artists, intellectuals and writers, this project is primarily engaged in the location of his unpublished letters in French archives. The aim is to develop a critical essay that discusses hypotheses about the limited inclusion of Calvino's letters to French intellectuals in the lastest edition of his complete works for the collection "I Meridiani" Mondadori [cf. CALVINO, I. "Lettere 1940-1985". A cura di Luca Baranelli. Introd. Claudio Milanini. Milano: Arnoldo Mondadori, 2000], despite the fact that the writer had lived in Paris between 1967 and 1980, during which he intensely acted as publisher for Einaudi. Finally, our intention is, as a result of an effort to open Calvino's manuscripts which are present in French institutions, to write a critical essay in order to analyze and to publish some of his unknown materials, as well as to forward a proposal for a critical edition of a selection of his letters sent to some of his French fellows.