Why Read the Classics

by Italo Calvino · 1991

A posthumous collection of Italo Calvino's literary essays, each a personal appreciation of a classic author or work — from Homer, Ovid and Pliny through Defoe, Voltaire, Stendhal, Dickens and Tolstoy to Hemingway, Borges and Queneau. It opens with his famous meditation on what makes a book a 'classic'.

Books mentioned in Why Read the Classics (155)

• Discourse on Method by René Descartes: “Title essay: listed among books worth devoting one's reading time to”
• The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens: “Title essay: 'fondest of all of The Pickwick Papers'”
• The Devils by Fyodor Dostoevsky: “Title essay: 'If I read ... Dostoevsky's The Devils'”
• Fathers and Sons by Ivan Turgenev: “Title essay: 'Turgenev's Fathers and Sons'”
• Les Rougon-Macquart by Émile Zola: “Title essay: 'read the whole cycle of Rougon-Macquart novels'”
• The Odyssey by Homer: “Essay 'The Odysseys Within The Odyssey' (primary subject)”
• Iliad by Homer: “Odyssey essay: 'even before The Odyssey (and also before The Iliad)'”
• Anabasis by Xenophon: “Essay 'Xenophon's Anabasis' (primary subject)”
• The Sergeant in the Snow by Mario Rigoni Stern: “Anabasis essay: 'a little Anabasis in dialect'”
• The War Declared by the Poor by Nuto Revelli: Cited as 'another fine book' (in the essay on the Anabasis)
• I lunghi fucili by Cristoforo M. Negri: “Anabasis essay: 'another fine book, unjustly forgotten'”
• Metamorphoses by Ovid: “Essay 'Ovid and Universal Contiguity' (primary subject)”
• A Thousand and One Nights: “Ovid essay: 'some ancestor of The Arabian Nights'; recurs in Nezami essay”
• Macbeth by William Shakespeare: “Ovid essay: magic-philtres scene 'will resurface almost identically in Macbeth'”
• Natural History by Pliny the Elder: “Essay 'The Sky, Man, the Elephant' (primary subject)”
• Historia Animalium by Aristotle: “Pliny essay: 'the main source here is Aristotle's Historia Animalium'”
• The Seven Princesses by Nizami Ganjavi: “Essay 'Nezami's Seven Princesses' (primary subject; Haft Paykar)”
• Shahnameh by Ferdowsi: “Nezami essay: 'the celebratory epic account in The Book of the Kings by Firdusi'”
• Adonis by Giambattista Marino: “Nezami essay: 'even Marino's Adonis ... are works of laconic sobriety compared to'”
• The Pentamerone by Giambattista Basile: “Nezami essay: 'Basile's Pentameron' / 'one of Basile's cunti'”
• Tirant lo Blanc by Joanot Martorell: “Essay 'Tirant lo Blanc' (primary subject)”
• Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes: Discussed at length in Tirant essay; recurs in Diderot & Charterhouse essays
• Amadís de Gaula by Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo: “Tirant essay: 'the major source texts, Amadís de Gaula and Tirant lo Blanc'”
• Palmerín de Inglaterra by Francisco de Moraes: “Tirant essay: named among chivalric romances”
• Orlandino by Teofilo Folengo: “Tirant essay: 'a brief epic poem in Italian verse by Teofilo Folengo'”
• Baldus by Teofilo Folengo: “Tirant essay: 'a poem in macaronic Latin' by Folengo (as Merlin Cocai)”
• The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri: “Tirant essay (Lancelot/kiss motif); recurs in Borges essay (Ugolino)”
• Lancelot: “Tirant essay: 'In the French romance Lancelot' (Old French Vulgate prose romance)”
• Le Morte d'Arthur by Thomas Malory: “Tirant essay: 'definitive form in 1470 in Thomas Malory's romance'”
• Orlando Furioso by Ludovico Ariosto: “Essays on the structure of / octaves from Orlando Furioso (primary subject)”
• Orlando Innamorato by Matteo Maria Boiardo: “Ariosto essay: 'the continuation of another poem, the Orlando Innamorato'”
• Cinque Canti by Ludovico Ariosto: “Ariosto essay: his unfinished, posthumously published sequel”
• Hamlet by William Shakespeare: “Cardano essay opens on Hamlet's soliloquy / the book he reads”
• The Book of My Life by Gerolamo Cardano: “Cardano essay: his autobiography (De Vita Propria), extensively quoted”
• De Consolatione by Gerolamo Cardano: “Cardano essay: the consolation work, quoted on sleep and death”
• Liber de Ludo Aleae by Gerolamo Cardano: “Cardano essay: his treatise on games of chance / probability”
• The Assayer by Galileo Galilei: “Essay 'The Book of Nature in Galileo' (Il Saggiatore, quoted)”
• Letters on Sunspots by Galileo Galilei: “Galileo essay: Istoria e dimostrazioni intorno alle macchie solari”
• Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems by Galileo Galilei: “Galileo essay: quoted extensively”
• The Other World: The States and Empires of the Moon by Cyrano de Bergerac: “Essay 'Cyrano on the Moon' (primary subject)”
• The States and Empires of the Sun by Cyrano de Bergerac: “Cyrano essay: named as the sequel”
• Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe: “Essay 'Robinson Crusoe, Journal of Mercantile Virtues' (primary subject)”
• Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe: “Defoe essay: named directly”
• Colonel Jack by Daniel Defoe: “Defoe essay: named directly”
• The Tempest by William Shakespeare: “Defoe essay (re: Montaigne's cannibals)”
• Candide by Voltaire: “Essay 'Candide, or Concerning Narrative Rapidity' (primary subject)”
• Jacques the Fatalist and His Master by Denis Diderot: “Essay 'Denis Diderot, Jacques le Fataliste' (primary subject)”
• Tristram Shandy by Laurence Sterne: “Diderot essay: extensively compared”
• Yours for the Telling by Raymond Queneau: “Diderot essay: 'Un conte à votre façon', named directly”
• The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera: “Diderot essay: named directly”
• A Calculation of the Pleasures and Pains of Human Life by Giammaria Ortes: “Essay 'Giammaria Ortes' (primary subject), extensively quoted”
• Reflections of an American Philosopher by Giammaria Ortes: “Ortes essay: named directly”
• Reflections on the Musical Theatre by Giammaria Ortes: “Ortes essay: named directly”
• A Calculation of the Truth of History by Giammaria Ortes: “Ortes essay: named directly”
• Discourse on the Nature of Pleasure and Pain by Pietro Verri: “Ortes essay: named with author as comparison”
• On Love by Stendhal: “Essay 'Knowledge as Dust-cloud in Stendhal' (De l'Amour; candidate dictAuthor was wrong)”
• The Life of Henry Brulard by Stendhal: “Stendhal essay: extensively quoted”
• Lucien Leuwen by Stendhal: “Stendhal essay: discussed”
• The Red and the Black by Stendhal: “Stendhal & Charterhouse essays: named directly”
• Rome, Naples and Florence by Stendhal: “Stendhal essay: named directly”
• Memoirs of an Egotist by Stendhal: “Stendhal essay: Souvenirs d'égotisme, named and quoted”
• Julie, or the New Heloise by Jean-Jacques Rousseau: “Stendhal essay: named alongside Manon Lescaut”
• Manon Lescaut by Abbé Prévost: “Stendhal essay: named directly”
• The Charterhouse of Parma by Stendhal: “Essay 'Guide for New Readers of Stendhal's Charterhouse' (primary subject)”
• Italian Chronicles by Stendhal: “Charterhouse essay: Chroniques italiennes, source for the Farnese subplot”
• The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli: “Charterhouse essay: quoted quip 'the new Machiavelli's Prince'”
• Ferragus by Honoré de Balzac: “Essay 'The City as Novel in Balzac' (primary subject)”
• History of the Thirteen by Honoré de Balzac: “Balzac essay: the trilogy Ferragus belongs to”
• La Duchesse de Langeais by Honoré de Balzac: “Balzac essay: named”
• The Girl with the Golden Eyes by Honoré de Balzac: “Balzac essay: La Fille aux yeux d'or, named”
• Splendeurs et misères des courtisanes by Honoré de Balzac: “Balzac essay: named”
• Père Goriot by Honoré de Balzac: “Balzac essay: 'a first draft of Père Goriot'”
• La Comédie humaine by Honoré de Balzac: “Balzac essay: 'the various volumes of the Comédie humaine'”
• Les Fleurs du mal by Charles Baudelaire: “Balzac essay: named within a quoted Walter Benjamin passage”
• Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens: “Essay 'Charles Dickens, Our Mutual Friend' (primary subject)”
• Great Expectations by Charles Dickens: “Dickens essay: 'his masterpiece Great Expectations'”
• The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon: “Dickens essay: Boffin buys 'the eight volumes'”
• Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky: “Dickens essay: composition-date comparison”
• Three Tales by Gustave Flaubert: “Essay 'Gustave Flaubert, Trois Contes' (primary subject)”
• The Legend of St Julian the Hospitaller by Gustave Flaubert: “Flaubert essay: one of the three tales, discussed individually”
• Hérodias by Gustave Flaubert: “Flaubert essay: one of the three tales, discussed individually”
• A Simple Heart by Gustave Flaubert: “Flaubert essay: Un Cœur simple, discussed individually”
• Two Hussars by Leo Tolstoy: “Essay 'Leo Tolstoy, Two Hussars' (primary subject)”
• War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy: “Tolstoy essay: named”
• The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg by Mark Twain: “Essay 'Mark Twain, The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg' (primary subject)”
• Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain: “Twain essay; also cited in Hemingway essay”
• Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain: “Twain essay: named”
• The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County by Mark Twain: “Twain essay: named”
• The $30,000 Bequest by Mark Twain: “Twain essay: named”
• The £1,000,000 Bank-Note by Mark Twain: “Twain essay: named”
• Daisy Miller by Henry James: “Essay 'Henry James, Daisy Miller' (primary subject)”
• The Turn of the Screw by Henry James: “James essay: named”
• The Pavilion on the Links by Robert Louis Stevenson: “Essay 'Robert Louis Stevenson, The Pavilion on the Links' (primary subject)”
• The Master of Ballantrae by Robert Louis Stevenson: “Stevenson essay: named”
• Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson: “Stevenson essay: named”
• New Arabian Nights by Robert Louis Stevenson: “Stevenson essay: the collection containing 'The Pavilion on the Links'”
• The Mirror of the Sea by Joseph Conrad: “Essay 'Conrad's Captains': named”
• 'Twixt Land and Sea by Joseph Conrad: “Conrad essay: named”
• Typhoon by Joseph Conrad: “Conrad essay: named”
• Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad: “Conrad essay: named”
• Victory by Joseph Conrad: “Conrad essay: named”
• Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak: “Essay 'Pasternak and the Revolution' (primary subject)”
• Prima che il gallo canti by Cesare Pavese: “Pasternak essay: 'Before the Cock Crows', named and discussed”
• La casa in collina by Cesare Pavese: “Pasternak essay: 'The House on the Hill', discussed at length”
• The Year 1905 by Boris Pasternak: “Pasternak essay: named narrative poem”
• Lieutenant Schmidt by Boris Pasternak: “Pasternak essay: named narrative poem”
• That Awful Mess on Via Merulana by Carlo Emilio Gadda: “Essay 'Carlo Emilio Gadda, the Pasticciaccio' (primary subject)”
• Acquainted with Grief by Carlo Emilio Gadda: “Essay 'The World is an Artichoke': La cognizione del dolore, discussed”
• Cuttlefish Bones by Eugenio Montale: “Montale essay: Ossi di seppia, collection containing 'Forse un mattino andando'”
• The Occasions by Eugenio Montale: “Montale essay: Le occasioni, named”
• The Storm and Other Things by Eugenio Montale: “Essay 'Montale's Cliff': La bufera e altro, 'finest book to emerge from WWII'”
• In Our Time by Ernest Hemingway: “Essay 'Hemingway and Ourselves': his first book, discussed”
• A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway: “Hemingway essay: 'his best novel'”
• Across the River and Into the Trees by Ernest Hemingway: “Hemingway essay: named”
• The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway: “Hemingway essay: named as 'Fiesta (1926)'”
• The Snows of Kilimanjaro by Ernest Hemingway: “Hemingway essay: 'for me his worst work'”
• A Clean, Well-Lighted Place by Ernest Hemingway: “Hemingway essay: named story, quoted”
• The Gambler, the Nun and the Radio by Ernest Hemingway: “Hemingway essay: named story (candidate 'The Gambler' mis-attributed to Dostoevsky)”
• Big Two-Hearted River by Ernest Hemingway: “Hemingway essay: named Nick Adams story, discussed”
• Il taglio del bosco by Carlo Cassola: “Hemingway essay: 'The Cutting of the Woods', discussed as comparison”
• Sevastopol Sketches by Leo Tolstoy: “Hemingway essay: compared to Hemingway's war writing”
• Le Parti pris des choses by Francis Ponge: “Essay 'Francis Ponge' (primary subject; 'The Voice of Things')”
• La Fabrique du pré by Francis Ponge: “Ponge essay: 'Making a Meadow', named”
• Nausea by Jean-Paul Sartre: “Ponge essay: La Nausée, compared”
• Phenomenology of Perception by Maurice Merleau-Ponty: “Ponge essay: named and discussed”
• Ficciones by Jorge Luis Borges: “Essay 'Jorge Luis Borges' (primary subject)”
• The Aleph by Jorge Luis Borges: “Borges essay: one of the two foundational books”
• The Garden of Forking Paths by Jorge Luis Borges: “Borges essay: 'his most famous story', discussed at length”
• The Approach to Al-Mu'tasim by Jorge Luis Borges: “Borges essay: named story, anecdote discussed”
• Poema conjectural by Jorge Luis Borges: “Borges essay: 'Conjectural Poem', discussed at length”
• Ariosto and the Arabs by Jorge Luis Borges: “Borges essay: named poem, discussed at length”
• Nueve ensayos dantescos by Jorge Luis Borges: “Borges essay: 'Further Essays on Dante', named directly”
• Book of Imaginary Beings by Jorge Luis Borges: “Borges essay: 'Borges in his Fantastic Zoology'”
• Zazie in the Metro by Raymond Queneau: “Essay 'The Philosophy of Raymond Queneau': named”
• Exercises in Style by Raymond Queneau: “Queneau essay: 'called his masterpiece'”
• A Hundred Thousand Billion Poems by Raymond Queneau: “Queneau essay: Cent mille milliards de poèmes, discussed at length”
• Petite Cosmogonie portative by Raymond Queneau: “Queneau essay: named and discussed”
• The Bark-Tree by Raymond Queneau: “Queneau essay: Le Chiendent, his first novel, discussed”
• The Blue Flowers by Raymond Queneau: “Queneau essay: Les Fleurs bleues, discussed at length”
• The Skin of Dreams by Raymond Queneau: “Queneau essay: Loin de Rueil, named (candidate author was blank)”
• The Sunday of Life by Raymond Queneau: “Queneau essay: Le Dimanche de la vie, named”
• Pierrot mon ami by Raymond Queneau: “Queneau essay: named”
• Odile by Raymond Queneau: “Queneau essay: autobiographical novel, named”
• The Children of Clay by Raymond Queneau: “Queneau essay: Les Enfants du limon, named”
• A Model History by Raymond Queneau: “Queneau essay: Une histoire modèle, discussed”
• Signs, Figures and Letters by Raymond Queneau: “Queneau essay: Bâtons, chiffres et lettres, essay collection”
• Chêne et chien by Raymond Queneau: “Queneau essay: versified autobiography, named”
• Saint Glinglin by Raymond Queneau: “Queneau essay: named as a trilogy”
• Ulysses by James Joyce: “Queneau essay: named (candidate dictAuthor 'Tennyson' was wrong)”
• Bouvard and Pécuchet by Gustave Flaubert: “Queneau essay: discussed at length via Queneau's preface”
• Le Lutrin by Nicolas Boileau: “Queneau essay: named and discussed”
• Art poétique by Nicolas Boileau: “Queneau essay: 'one of the greatest masterpieces in French literature'”
• In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust: “Queneau essay: named”
• Phenomenology of Spirit by G.W.F. Hegel: “Queneau essay: 'Kojève's lectures on The Phenomenology of the Spirit'”
• Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: “Lucretius, Lucian, Montaigne, Erasmus, Quevedo, Marlowe, the Discourse on Method, Goethe’s Wilhelm Meister, Coleridge, Ruskin, Proust and Valéry”