born Oct. 15, 1923, Santiago de las Vegas, Cuba
died Sept. 19, 1985, Siena, Italy
Cuban-born Italian writer.
After early works inspired by his involvement with the Italian Resistance in World War II, he turned decisively to fantasy and allegory in the 1950s. Cosmicomics (1965) is a collection of whimsical narratives about the creation and evolution of the universe. The novels Invisible Cities (1972), The Castle of Crossed Destinies (1973), and If on a Winter's Night a Traveler (1979) use playfully innovative structures and shifting viewpoints. The Uses of Literature (1980) is a collection of essays he wrote for a left-wing journal he edited from 1959 to 1966.