If on a Winter's Night a Traveler (Everyman's Library (Cloth))

Product Description :

Introduction by Peter Washington; Translation by William Weaver

Amazon.com Review :

If on a Winter's Night a Traveler is a marvel of ingenuity, an experimental text that looks longingly back to the great age of narration--"when time no longer seemed stopped and did not yet seem to have exploded." Italo Calvino's novel is in one sense a comedy in which the two protagonists, the Reader and the Other Reader, ultimately end up married, having almost finished If on a Winter's Night a Traveler. In another, it is a tragedy, a reflection on the difficulties of writing and the solitary nature of reading. The Reader buys a fashionable new book, which opens with an exhortation: "Relax. Concentrate. Dispel every other thought. Let the world around you fade." Alas, after 30 or so pages, he discovers that his copy is corrupted, and consists of nothing but the first section, over and over. Returning to the bookshop, he discovers the volume, which he thought was by Calvino, is actually by the Polish writer Bazakbal. Given the choice between the two, he goes for the Pole, as does the Other Reader, Ludmilla. But this copy turns out to be by yet another writer, as does the next, and the next.

The real Calvino intersperses 10 different pastiches--stories of menace, spies, mystery, premonition--with explorations of how and why we read, make meanings, and get our bearings or fail to. Meanwhile the Reader and Ludmilla try to reach, and read, each other. If on a Winter's Night is dazzling, vertiginous, and deeply romantic. "What makes lovemaking and reading resemble each other most is that within both of them times and spaces open, different from measurable time and space."

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Total MyBookLog Reviews: 1

Many Stories Start; Only One Story Ends This book is brilliant -- although probably not everyone will enjoy reading it. Basically, there are two concurrent threads: the one of you, the reader, and your quest to find the endings of the books you have begun; and the other thread is that of the stories you have begun reading but never are able to finish. And so each chapter alternates between you and the stories you are reading. The book maintains a sense of expectancy all the way through. You are almost always at the beginning of a new story and never at the end. Anyway, if you're up for something that's a bit more challenging and entertaining than your average novel, I highly recommend If on a winter's night a traveler by Italo Calvino. Permalink

Ryan's Rating : (Jan 12, 2009)