The Path To the Nest of Spiders

Calvino, Italo

Published by Beacon Press, 1957

About this Item

Boston. 1957. Beacon Press. 1st American Edition. Small Bump On Top Rear Boards & Some Slight Corner Wear, Otherwise Very Good. No Dustjacket. Translated from the Italian by Archibald Colquhoun. 145 pages. hardcover. keywords: Europe Italy Literature Translated World Literature. DESCRIPTION - This is the story of Pin, the cobbler's apprentice, who grows up in one of the ancient fortress-towns of the Ligurian coast in the period of World War II when the partisans are fighting back from the hills, and German soldiers are quartered in the town. Pin is a skinny kid who must keep his wits sharp in order to live. With the other boys who have families, he is an outcast: he has no family except a prostitute sister. Pin therefore is forced to take refuge in the world of grown-ups' in the smoky violet air of the tavern,' where he hears talk which he can imitate - to get obscene laughter - but cannot understand. He sings sentimental songs and learns how to insult and to curse - but all the while he yearns to be one of the gang, to go off with a band of young companions to whom he could show the place where spiders make their nests, or with whom he could have battles among the bam- boos in the river-bed.' How he joins the partisans and makes common cause with another outcast - one of the strangest combinations since OF MICE AND MEN - is part of the story; but chiefly this is a tender-tough portrait of a boy living in a world he never made, and never would have made; and it is told with absolutely no sentimentalism. In fact, Sean O'Faolain finds that the author has something of the subjective response to nature of Pavese, and the hardness and innocence of Vittorini.' If this story does not grip American hearts in a way that no reader will soon forget, we are going out of the prophesying business. inventory #16488 Small Bump On Top Rear Boards & Some Slight Corner Wear, Otherwise Very Good. No Dustjacket.

Seller Inventory # z16488

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Path To the Nest of Spiders
• Publisher: Beacon Press
• Publication Date: 1957
• Binding: hardcover
• Edition: First Edition.
• Dust Jacket Condition: No Jacket