Editing Italo Calvino (section)

===After communism===
In 1957, disillusioned by the 1956 [[Soviet invasion of Hungary]], Calvino left the Italian Communist Party. In his letter of resignation published in {{lang|it|[[l'Unità]]}} on 7 August, he explained the reason for his dissent (the violent suppression of the Hungarian uprising and the revelation of [[Joseph Stalin]]'s crimes) while confirming his "confidence in the democratic perspectives" of world Communism.<ref>Cf. Barenghi and Bruno, "Cronologia" in {{lang|it|Romanzi e racconti di Italo Calvino}}, LXXIV; and Calvino, "The Summer of '56" in ''Hermit in Paris'', 200</ref> He withdrew from taking an active role in politics and never joined another party.<ref>"For some years now I have stopped being a member of the Communist party, and I have not joined any other party." "Political Autobiography of a Young Man" in ''Hermit in Paris'', 154</ref> Ostracized by the PCI party leader [[Palmiro Togliatti]] and his supporters on publication of ''Becalmed in the Antilles'' ({{lang|it|La gran bonaccia delle Antille}}), a satirical allegory of the party's immobilism, Calvino began writing ''[[The Baron in the Trees]]''. Completed in three months and published in 1957, the fantasy is based on the "problem of the intellectual's political commitment at a time of shattered illusions".<ref>Calvino, "Introduction" in ''Our Ancestors'', x</ref> He found new outlets for his periodic writings in the journals {{lang|it|Città aperta}} and {{lang|it|Tempo presente}}, the magazine {{lang|it|Passato e presente}}, and the weekly {{lang|it|Italia Domani}}. With Vittorini in 1959, he became co-editor of {{lang|it|[[Il Menabò di letteratura|'Il Menabò]]}}, a cultural journal devoted to literature in the modern industrial age, a position he held until 1966.<ref>McLaughlin, ''Italo Calvino'', 51</ref>

Despite severe restrictions in the US against foreigners holding communist views, Calvino was allowed to visit the United States, where he stayed six months from 1959 to 1960 (four of which he spent in New York), after an invitation by the [[Ford Foundation]]. Calvino was particularly impressed by the "New World": "Naturally I visited the South and also California, but I always felt a New Yorker. My city is New York."  The letters he wrote to Einaudi describing this visit to the United States were first published as  "American Diary 1959–1960" in ''[[Hermit in Paris]]'' in 2003.

In 1962 Calvino met Argentinian translator Esther Judith Singer ("Chichita") and married her in 1964 in [[Havana]], during a trip in which he visited his birthplace and was introduced to [[Ernesto "Che" Guevara]]. On 15 October 1967, a few days after Guevara's death, Calvino wrote a tribute to him that was published in Cuba in 1968, and in Italy thirty years later.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://fullmoonfever.wordpress.com/category/che-guevara/|title=Che Guevara|website=Full Moon Fever|access-date=6 September 2020|archive-date=23 September 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200923181541/https://fullmoonfever.wordpress.com/category/che-guevara/|url-status=live}}</ref> He and his wife settled in Rome in via Monte Brianzo where their daughter, Giovanna, was born in 1965. Once again working for Einaudi, Calvino began publishing some of his "[[Cosmicomics]]" in {{lang|it|Il Caffè}}, a literary magazine.