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Literary Criticism Italian

Painting with Words, Writing with Pictures

Word and Image Relations in the Work of Italo Calvino

by (author) Franco Ricci

Publisher
University of Toronto Press, Scholarly Publishing Division
Initial publish date
Jan 2002
Category
Italian
  • Hardback

    ISBN
    9780802035073
    Publish Date
    Dec 2001
    List Price
    $81
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9781442678231
    Publish Date
    Jan 2002
    List Price
    $94.00

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Where to buy it

Description

Ricci's book ranges widely over Calvino's oeuvre to illustrate the accuracy of the idea articulated by Calvino himself that a visual image lies at the origin of all his narrative. The book's main theme is the difficult interface between word and image that Calvino struggled with throughout his career, the act of perception that rendered visible that which was invisible and transformed what was seen into what is read. Ricci holds that Calvino's narrative has an 'imagocentric' program and that his literary strategy is 'ekphrastic' i.e. it is characterized by literary description of visual representation, real or imaginary. The book is interdisciplinary in nature and will interest not only scholars of literature but also those who work with the visual arts and with information technology.

About the author

Franco Ricci teaches in the Department of Modern Languages and Literature at the University of Ottawa. Specializing in contemporary Italian literature, he has published numerous articles on Italo Calvino. He is the editor of the book Calvino Revisited.

Franco Ricci's profile page

Awards

  • Winner, Howard R Marraro Prize, Modern Language Association