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If on a Winter's Night a Traveler
by Italo Calvino

If on a Winter's Night a Traveler Cover

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Powells.com Staff Pick

For those with an amorous affair with books, this may, perhaps, be the ultimate love letter to the reader. Calvino's novel, or more precisely, his book of ten interrelated stories, is both masterfully created and startlingly unique. Told alternately in second and third persons, the book is a fascinating exploration of the relationship between the author and the reader. Flawlessly composed, the novel weaves together seemingly unrelated tales, all of which relate directly to you, the reader. At its core is an ingenious concept the likes of which could have only come from the unparalleled imagination of Calvino. By the time you reach its dazzling conclusion, you'll be wishing you could somehow read it again for the very first time.
Recommended by Jeremy, Powells.com

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

Calvino's anti-novel is about the efforts of his two characters — a man called only The Reader, and the Other Reader, a woman named Ludmilla — to read ten very different novels. They are never able to get to the second chapter of any of them; nor are the actual readers of this novel, who share their puzzlement and frustration — as well as their delight in the situation. Finally, the two marry and settle down to read in bed — a novel called If on a Winter's Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino. Among other things, Calvino insists that novels cannot be a form of "escape" from the world, because reading and life are inseparable. The text provides an examination of the different ways of reading and of the expectations of different kinds of readers; it is also an exploration of the relationship between the writer and the reader.

Synopsis:

Calvino shows that the novel, far from being a dead form, is capable of endless mutations. If on a winter's night a traveler turns out to be not one novel but ten, each with a different plot, style, ambience, and author. Translated by William Weaver. A Helen and Kurt Wolff Book

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What Our Readers Are Saying

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Average customer rating based on 1 comment:
fiorediloto, June 20, 2007 (view all comments by fiorediloto)
Calvino's style is always clear and powerful, but in this novel it reaches its highest level, depicting a surreal world in which readers, writers and stories live together on the same plan of existence.
In the Reader's desperate search for the ending, any ending, of the story, we can find a metaphor of the neverending quest that is life.
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Product Details

ISBN:
9780156439619
Author:
Calvino, Italo
Publisher:
Harvest/HBJ Book
Translator:
Weaver, William
Author:
Weaver, William
Location:
San Diego
Subject:
General
Subject:
General Fiction
Subject:
General Fiction
Copyright:
c198
Edition Number:
1st Harvest/HBJ ed.
Series Volume:
v. 4.
Publication Date:
October 1982
Binding:
Paperback
Language:
English
Illustrations:
Y
Pages:
276
Dimensions:
8.18x5.32x.69 in. .59 lbs.
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