Italo Calvino Quotes about Literature

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A classic is a book that has never finished saying what it has to say.

A classic is a book that has never finished saying what it has to say.

Italo Calvino

Art, Book, Literature

Italo Calvino (2017). “The Uses of Literature”, p.134, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

The struggle of literature is in fact a struggle to escape from the confines of language; it stretches out from the utmost limits of what can be said; what stirs literature is the call and attraction of what is not in the dictionary.

Italo Calvino

Struggle, Literature, Limits

Italo Calvino (2017). “The Uses of Literature”, p.24, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Whether there is such a thing as Reality, of which the various levels are only partial aspects, or whether there are only levels, is something that literature cannot decide. Literature recognizes rather the *reality of the levels.*

Italo Calvino

Reality, Literature, Levels

When politicians and politically minded people pay too much attention to literature, it is a bad sign - a bad sign mostly for literature. But it is also a bad sign when they don't want to hear the word mentioned.

Italo Calvino

People, Attention, Literature

Italo Calvino (2017). “The Uses of Literature”, p.99, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt