Numbers in the Dark

&;Everybody telephones everybody at every possible moment and nobody can speak to anybody . . . Distance has been the warp that supports the weft of every love story.&; &; from Numbers in the Dark Written between 1943 and 1984 the stories in Numbers in the Dark span the career of one of fiction&;s modern masters: from Italo Calvino&;s earliest fables to tales informed by life in World War II&;era Italy to the delightful experimentation that would define his later work. Here are speculativestories on life in the digital age genre-bending wonders and &;impossible interviews&; with the likes of Montezuma and a Neanderthal. Deftly translated by Tim Parks Numbers in the Dark shows off Calvino&;s lifelong gift for subtle humor and shimmering philosophical insight. &;Numbers in the Dark is a glorious grab-bag . . . [with] enough gems from every phase in Calvino&;s career to make it feel indispensable.&; &; Seattle Times