Cosmicomics

Cosmicomics
First edition (Einaudi, 1965)[1]
AuthorItalo Calvino
Original titleLe Cosmicomiche
TranslatorWilliam Weaver
Cover artistM. C. Escher (depicted)
A. Simi (first paper)[a]
LanguageItalian (first)
GenreScience fiction short stories
PublisherGiulio Einaudi (Italian)
Harcourt Brace (US)
Publication date
1965
Publication placeItaly (first)
Published in English
1968 (US, UK)
Media typePrint (hardback & paperback (1970))[1]
Pages188 (first)
153 (US, UK)
185 (first paper)
ISBN0-15-622600-6 (1976 US)[1]
OCLC2521577
853/.9/14
LC ClassPZ3.C13956 Co8 PQ4809.A45

Cosmicomics (Italian: Le cosmicomiche) is a collection of twelve short stories by Italo Calvino first published in Italian in 1965 and in English in 1968. The stories were originally published between 1964 and 1965 in the Italian periodicals Il Caffè and Il Giorno. Each story takes a scientific theory (though sometimes a falsehood by today's understanding), and builds an imaginative story around it. An always-extant being called Qfwfq explicitly narrates all of the stories save two. Every story is a memory of an event in the history of the universe.

All of the stories in Cosmicomics, together with more of Qfwfq stories from t zero and other sources, are now available in a single volume collection, The Complete Cosmicomics (Penguin UK, 2009).

The first U.S. edition, translated by William Weaver, won the National Book Award in the Translation category.[2]

  1. ^ a b c Le Cosmicomiche title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database (ISFDB). Retrieved 11 March 2012.
  2. ^ "National Book Awards – 1969". National Book Foundation. Retrieved 2012-03-11. There was a "Translation" award from 1967 to 1983.


Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).