Interfaces entre epistolografia e ensaísmo crítico literário em Italo Calvino

Abstract

This research conducts a comparative study between part of Italo Calvino’s correspondence and his essayistic production. Letters were selected and drawn from the epistolary collection Lettere 1940-1985, with particular attention to those exchanged with other intellectuals of his time, whose themes focus on literature and critical practice. The study of the letters contained in Calvino’s epistolary was conducted from the perspective of literary archive and in comparison, with part of his essayistic production, considering that, within this production, certain texts stand out for presenting conceptual formulations that are central to contemporary literary studies. In this sense, the following questions arise: which formulations regarding the literary permeate the writer’s correspondence? How do such formulations corroborate his view as a contemporary writer? Or further, can Calvino’s correspondence, understood as a literary archive, show us how the author reflects on literature, authorship, and readers at the turn of the century? Reflecting on what constitutes the contemporary was a constant concern for Calvino, as exemplified by the essays collected in Una pietra sopra (1980), Collezione di sabbia (1984), Lezioni americane (1988), among others. The comparison between Calvino’s epistolary writing and part of his essays contributes to expanding our understanding of the relationships between literature and society, literature and humanities, and literature and critical thinking. The analytical reading of the research corpus points to interfaces between personal memory, memories of readings, and social memory interwoven in the gesture of Calvinian writing and its multiplicities. In addition to the author’s own essayistic production, we sought theoretical critical support in studies on epistolography and literary archives such as: Geneviève Haroche Bouzinac (2016); Brigitte Diaz (2016); Philippe Artières (2004); Walnice Nogueira Galvão and Nádia Battella Gotlib (2000); Pierre Nora (1993); Cleber Araújo Cabral (2016). Regarding studies on Calvino’s work, we highlight the books by Mario Barenghi (2009), Domenico Scarpa (2023), and Laura Di Nicola (2025), and texts by Luiz Ernani Fritoli (2009) and Tania Mara Moysés (2010). On the subject of writer/author, we draw on texts by Barthes (2003, 2004, 2007) and Derridá (2021, 2024). To reflect on the notion of the contemporary, we cite the studies of Giorgio Agamben (2007, 2009).