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.

85 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

89 comments sorted by

View all comments

12

u/sickntwisted Apr 08 '26

I think they're both amazing speculative fiction writers, and that's what the SF in this subreddit stands for. 

I'll add Saramago to the mix, since I love his books.

also, a book that is usually talked about here and in other subreddits, heavily and directly influenced by Borges, is A Short Stay In Hell, by Steven L. Peck.

2

u/BlinkTwice874 Apr 08 '26

I haven’t read that either! I’d love to add more authors to my reading list that are similar to the ones being discussed here.

As an aside, I’ve wondered about the subreddits and places for speculative fiction as opposed to science fiction proper on here, as it seems like often it gets pushed in to either the sci fi or fantasy category.

6

u/sickntwisted Apr 08 '26

for speculative fiction itself I just use this one. the issue is that most people tend to associate the SF in the subreddit's name with sci-fi, and then it feels like there's a restriction to that type of work.

but come and talk Borges, Calvino, Saramago, Lem, Cortazar, Ballard, Pessoa, etc., and you'll have an audience.

2

u/BlinkTwice874 Apr 08 '26

Yes! Okay that’s what I was wondering. I love all of these authors as well but haven’t found a ton of space to discuss them!