SIX MEMOS FOR THE NEXT MILLENNIUM is the text to a series of lectures which became an obsession for Italo Calvino in the last year of his life. Drawing on the works of Lucretius, Ovid, Boccaccio, Falubert, Kundera, Perec and many more, he pinpoints the universal laws and indispensable literary values future generations might cherish -lightness, quickness, exactitude, visibility and multiplicity. It is an eloquent and lively 'defence' of literature - a fitting gift for the next millennium.
"The year is 1327. Franciscans in a wealthy Italian abbey are suspected of heresy, and Brother William of Baskerville arrives to investigate. His delicate mission is suddenly overshadowed by seven bizarre deaths that take place in seven days and nights of apocalyptic terror. The body of one monk is found in a cask of pigs' blood, another is floating in a bathhouse, still another is crushed at the foot of a cliff. Brother William turns detective, and a uniquely deft one at that. His tools are the logic of Aristotle, the theology of Aquinas, the empirical insights of Roger Bacon - all sharpened to a glistening edge by his wry humor and ferocious curiosity. He collects evidence, deciphers secret symbols and coded manuscripts, and digs into the eerie labyrinth of the abbey, where "the most interesting things happen at night." As Brother William goes about unraveling the mystery of what happens at the abbey by day and by night, readers step into a brilliant re-creation of the fourteenth century, with its herbal smells and dazzling architectural sights, its dark superstitions and wild prejudices, its hidden passions and sordid intrigues... A gloriously rich blending of thriller and Gothic novel, intellectual fireworks and storytelling virtuosity"-- Provided by publisher
"Querido Francesco: Kann man einen Brief in Form eines Buches schreiben, um ein Vergnügen zu erklären, das der Literatur gilt? Die Antwort liegt in der Existenz dieses Buches." So lassen Vater und Sohn die Bücher miteinander sprechen und zeichnen ein literarisches Universum, in dem Holden Caulfield, John Silver, Peter Pan oder Captain Hook sich verfolgen, bis sie sich in einem Schloss mit Jorge Luis Borges versammeln, der ihnen das Geheimnis der Literatur enthüllt. Dieses Buch besteht aus Büchern: Bücher, die unsere Kindheit geprägt haben. "Wenn ein Kind an einem Sommermorgen" ist die Erzählung eines Vaters an seinen Sohn über die Leidenschaft für die Literatur.
Una sottile strategia di paura e mistero avvolge i preparativi del Palio. Ma quale Palio? Quello delle 17 contrade vive presenti nella piazza tra squilli di trombe e volteggiar di bandiere... o quello delle 6 contrade morte che oscuramente, beffardamente continuano a correre e vincere?
Holography, wax museums, the secret meaning of spectator sports, Superman and
the intellectual effects of over-tight jeans are just a few of the subjects
covered in this collection of witty, entertaining and thought-provoking
delights from Umberto Eco, celebrated author of The Name of the Rose.
