The Path to the Spiders' Nests: Italo Calvino

Pin is a bawdy, adolescent cobbler`s assistant, both arrogant and insecure who - while the Second World War rages - sings songs and tells jokes to endear himself to the grown-ups of his town - particularly jokes about his sister, who they all know as the town`s `mattress`. Among those his sister sleeps with is a German sailor, and Pin dares to steal his pistol, hiding it among the spiders` nests in an act of rebellion that entangles him in the adults` war.

Italo Calvino, one of Italy`s finest postwar writers, has delighted readers around the world with his deceptively simple, fable-like stories. He was born in Cuba in 1923 and raised in San Remo, Italy; he fought for the Italian Resistance from 1943-45. His major works include Cosmicomics (1968), Invisible Cities (1972), and If on a winter`s night a traveler (1979). He died in Siena in 1985.