Difficult Loves: Classic Italian Short Stories Exploring the Illusions of Love and Self-Discovery

"The quirkiness and the grace of the writing, the originality of the imagination at work, the incandescence of vision, make this collection well worth reading." —Margaret Atwood

A dazzling early story collection from Italo Calvino about love and the difficulty of communication

In Difficult Loves, Italy’s master storyteller weaves tales in which cherished deceptions and illusions of love—including self-love—are swept away in magical instants of recognition. A soldier is reduced to quivering fear by the presence of a full-figured woman in his train compartment; a young clerk leaves a lady’s bed at dawn; a young woman is isolated from bathers on a beach by the loss of her bikini bottom. Each of them discovers hidden truths beneath the surface of everyday life. Translated by the acclaimed Ann Goldstein (translator of Elena Ferrante's The Neapolitan Quartet) this collection displays Calvino at the start of his prolific career, the groundwork for the [Description cut off by publisher]

Contents:
Difficult Loves
The Adventure of a Soldier
The Adventure of a Crook
The Adventure of a Bather
The Adventure of a Clerk
The Adventure of a Photographer
The Adventure of a Traveler
The Adventure of a Reader
The Adventure of a Nearsighted Man
The Adventure of a Wife
The Adventure of the Married Couple
The Adventure of a Poet
The Adventure of a Skier
The Adventure of a Motorist
Difficult Lives
The Argentine Ant
Smog