In 1956, Italo Calvino, one of Italy's most popular post-war writers, published "Italian Folk Tales", a collection of 200 tales, drawing on a rich folklore tradition. The source of each tale is noted, the edition is provided with extensive notes. The abundant set of stories, themes, motifs and characters outlines a vivid, full-blooded image of Italy, reflecting the worldview, beliefs and values of its inhabitants.
"I believe that fairy tales are true," said Italo Calvino, called "the Italian Grimm".
The New York Times declared the collection a book of the year, and more than half a century later it continues to be reprinted. At the beginning of the century, the American actor, director and screenwriter of Italian origin John Turturro staged a theatrical adaptation of Calvino's fairy tales, which was performed with great interest.
The Bulgarian edition contains 11 fairy tales - a small sample of Calvino's collection, including texts originating from different regions of Italy and not so well known to Bulgarian readers. The wonderful translation by the prominent translators and compilers Svetozar Zlatarov and Nikola Ivanov and the expressive drawings by the artist Tonya Goranova, who ranks among the most talented Bulgarian illustrators of children's literature, convey Calvino's messages in the best possible way and enhance the impact of these timeless tales.
Italo Calvino (October 15, 1923 – September 19, 1985) (pronounced [ˈiːtalo kalˈviːno]) was an Italian journalist and writer of short stories and novels, born in Cuba and brought up in San Remo, Italy. He is renowned for his short stories and novels. His best known works include the "Our Ancestors" trilogy (1952-1959), the "Cosmicomics" collection of short stories (1965), and the novels "Invisible Cities" (1972) and "If on a Winter's Night a Traveler" (1979). During the summer of 1985, Calvino prepared a series of lectures to be delivered at Harvard University in the fall. His lecture notes were published posthumously in Italian in 1988 and in English as "Six Memos for the Next Millenium" in 1993.
Lionised in Britain and America, he was, at the time of his death, the most translated contemporary Italian writer, one of the most influential intellectuals in Europe, a contender for the Nobel Prize for Literature. Italo Calvino's works are absolutely essential for the comprehension of past century. The Cuba-born author has a formal academic education in fine arts and literature, which would greatly affect his later career as a journalist, social activist and literary researcher, forever questioning and provoking the limits of writing and of literature itself. As a member of the experimental French group Oulipo, Calvino wrote one of the cornerstones of XXth century literature – “If on a winter’s night a traveler” (1979) – a collection of unfinished novels that still remains as one of the most genuine explanations in love to the world of literature.
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