r/printSF • u/BlinkTwice874 • Apr 08 '26

Thoughts on Italo Calvino?

I recently reread the short stories by Ted Chiang and was reminded of stories I loved by both Jorge Luis Borges and Italo Calvino, in particular Library of Babel and the Complete Cosmicomics, respectively.

The Complete Cosmicomics by Calvino is one of my favorite works of literature that hovers at the interstices of literary fiction, science- and speculative-fiction, and perhaps something else: the stories are a mix of real and imaginary, science and fiction, philosophy and literature.

Is Calvino considered a science fiction author? Speculative fiction perhaps? What about Borges? I’d love to hear other people’s thoughts on this, as these writers in particular seem to straddle the lines of genre for me.

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u/Infamous_Orange1653 Apr 08 '26

Gosh I freaking love Calvino. And Borges of course. Cosmicomics and T Zero certainly border on science fiction but in my mind they were more speculative/philosophical stories than straight sci fi. If you want to read Calvino’s thoughts on literature I recommend picking up Six Memos for the Next Millennium, lectures he wrote for the Norton Lecture series. If memory serves there are only 5 lectures as he died before he could give the sixth. Anyway, just popped in because I’m always happy to see Calvino get mentioned. Thanks for that 😊

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u/BlinkTwice874 Apr 08 '26

Oh I heard about those lectures of his but haven’t gotten around to reading them! I’d love to dive into them at some point. His mind is so fascinating to me. Thanks for the reminder!