Thread by @DalrympleWill

A fine obituary of Roberto Calasso in New York Times

Renaissance Man of Letters, Dies at 80. A Florentine by birth, he was a polymath as an author and publisher (Kafka, Vedic philosophy, Greek mythology) who reached a wide international readership.

nyti.ms/3j9qDku

I first met  Calasso in Milan through Bruce Chatwin, who he had championed in Italy, and turned into a bestseller; and in due course he did the same for me. If he liked a book, he could be the most powerful ally and would put his full authority and reputation behind it.

Suddenly you found your book being reviewed and taken incredibly seriously across Italy, and sent straight into top of the bestseller list.

When Nine Lives, appeared in its Adelphi edition as Nove Vitae in 2012, he offered himself to a Venice literary festival, Incroci di Civiltà, as dicussant, and the book was instantly promoted from the bottom of the programme to a keynote.

In the end, thanks to his appearance we talked to a capacity audience packed the the massive Council Hall of the Doges Palace as we discussed  asceticism and mysticism under Veronese's murals of the Battle of Lepanto.

If he had a flaw, it was in his uncompromising intellectualism: when I invited him to speak at @JaipurLitFest, to which he came three times,  he could be hugely intimidating in stage, and fiercely and brilliantly outspoken in his defence of his position.

But he when he wanted to be, he could be charm incarnate, and to his authors was always a loyal and uncompromising champion. He will be greatly missed, both personally as a good friend, as a fine writer and as the best publisher in Europe.