{"product_id":"2026770000155-secondhand-marcovaldo-or-the-seasons-in-the-city","title":"Marcovaldo: Or The Seasons In The City","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eCondition remarks:\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBook: Good                          \u003cbr\u003eJacket: Worn\/faded, no tears\u003cbr\u003ePages: Good         ,          price clipped\u003cbr\u003eMarkings: No markings\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA beloved work of Italian literary fiction, Marcovaldo: Or The Seasons in the City chronicles the comic and quietly melancholic misadventures of Marcovaldo, a poor, unskilled laborer living with his large family in a grim industrial city in postwar Italy. Organized around the four seasons, the twenty linked tales follow this wide-eyed dreamer as he searches for traces of nature, beauty, and wonder amid the concrete, smog, and consumerism of modern urban life — only to have his innocent schemes unravel in absurd and often bittersweet ways. Calvino's prose strikes a masterful balance between fable-like simplicity and sharp social satire, using Marcovaldo's perpetual naivety as a lens through which to critique the dehumanizing effects of industrial capitalism and city living. The tone is at once warmly humorous and gently sorrowful, evoking the tradition of the Italian commedia while carrying a distinctly modern, philosophical weight. Widely regarded as one of Calvino's most accessible and charming works, it remains a timeless meditation on the human longing for nature, dignity, and joy in an indifferent world.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Secondhand Stock","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48887915446491,"sku":"2026770000155-SECONDHAND","price":15.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0523\/7646\/9701\/files\/cb3e50bf-2cf9-4aa3-a26b-8470f2ba4f4e.png?v=1781749024","url":"https:\/\/bookgrocer.com\/products\/2026770000155-secondhand-marcovaldo-or-the-seasons-in-the-city","provider":"Book Grocer","version":"1.0","type":"link"}