Review: The Written World and the Unwritten World

By Italo Calvino

This collection of diverse essays by the noted Italian writer and journalist Italo Calvino contains a wealth of notes and commentary on translation, reading, writing and correspondence, making it a de facto masterclass in writing for a range of audiences.

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Calvino’s writing itself tends to stand out more for how he goes about expressing his ideas in a very elegant and straightforward way, rather than for any stylistic flourishes.

Some of the essay topics may be a little dated – the failure of the Italian novel being one – but such is the clarity and variety of his work that the actual subject matter starts to feel immaterial.

In one of the book’s highlights, he sets out his reasons for writing, which include the memorable observation that it helps him learn something he doesn’t yet know, or replace something he has written already.

This book was first reviewed in Teach Secondary magazine.