THE WRITTEN WORLD AND THE UNWRITTEN WORLD Essays

The protean Ballerini brings his fine voice, masterful tempo, and impeccable Italian to this audiobook. His voice, delivery, and simpatico sensibilities for the late Italo Calvino give this collection a sense of a celebration of the novelist/essayist/folklorist's reviews, essays, and other literary offerings. Calvino, who died in the 1980s, lives in these nonfiction works. Ballerini gets Calvino's rhythms and the workings of his fascinating mind. He appreciates the author's enthusiasm for folk tales and for Rabelais, Boccaccio, and Cervantes. Also, he captures the critical frame of mind in his evaluations of twentieth-century writers and thinkers ranging from George Santayana and José Ortega Y Gasset to William Faulkner and many, many Italian writers. Some, like Alberto Moravia and Primo Levi, are known outside of Italy, and others are not. A.D.M. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine [Published: AUGUST 2023]