Book description
From fabulous enchantments and supernatural horrors to subtler, more
psychological terrors, the best of nineteenth-century fantastic
literature is collected here by Italo Calvino. These mysterious and
macabre tales include Hoffmann's nightmarish 'The Sandman', Poe's
terrifying 'The Tell-Tale Heart' and Dickens's chilling ghost story 'The
Signal-Man', and relatively unknown works from celebrated writers
including Honor de Balzac, Henry James, Sir Walter Scott, Guy de
Maupassant and Robert Louis Stevenson, alongside lesser-known
contributors. Each story comes with a fascinating introduction by
Calvino.
Italo Calvino
, one of Italy's finest postwar writers, has delighted readers around
the world with his deceptively simple, fable-like stories. He was born
in Cuba in 1923 and raised in San Remo, Italy; he fought for the Italian
Resistance from 1943-45. His major works include Cosmicomics
(1968), Invisible Cities
(1972), and If on a winter's night a traveler
(1979). He died in Siena in 1985.
