Idem

The centenary of Calvino’s birth is an opportunity for Electa to reissue a valuable text, currently unobtainable: Idem by Giulio Paolini, published in the series “Einaudi Letteratura” in April 1975.
Idem was one of the most successful volumes of the experimental series directed by the art critic and scholar Paolo Fossati. Its success was certainly motivated partly by the illustrious signature of Italo Calvino, who accompanied the first pages with the essay La squadratura, a profound reflection on the relationship between painting and writing.

The exhibition at the Scuderie del Quirinale in Rome Favoloso Calvino. Il mondo come opera d’arte. Carpaccio, de Chirico, Gnoli, Melotti e gli altri (13 October 2023-4 February 2024), in which Paolini is one of the protagonists, becomes the auspicious occasion to reissue the book in a version filled with new ideas. This new edition presents the reprint of the original text together with a fuller and previously unpublished version of Calvino’s text, and two essays by Marco Belpoliti and Andrea Cortellessa, respectively devoted to the relationship between Calvino and Paolini and the vicissitudes of the series “Einaudi Letteratura”.
Idem is part of the official programme of celebrations of the centenary of Calvino’s birth. In addition to the exhibition in Rome, the publisher is organising the exhibition at Palazzo Ducale in Genoa Calvino Cantafavole, curated by Eloisa Morra and Luca Scarlini (15 October 2023-7 April 2024) and publishing the catalogues of both projects.

To these works is added the volume Calvino A-Z, edited by Marco Belpoliti, for the “Enciclopedie” series, containing 146 entries by 56 authors. In a concise form, but very fully, it provides a map to enter Calvino’s world, his books and the themes, ideas and events of his life as a writer.