More about the book
Italo Calvino's masterpiece combines a love story and a detective story into an exhilarating allegory of reading, in which the reader of the book becomes the book's central character. Based on a witty analogy between the reader's desire to finish the story and the lover's desire to consummate his or her passion, If On A Winter's Night A Traveller is the tale of two bemused readers whose attempts to reach the end of the same book, If On A Winter's Night A Traveller by Italo Calvino, of course, are constantly and comically frustrated. In between chasing missing chapters of the book, the hapless readers tangle with an international conspiracy, a rogue translator, an elusive novelist, a disintegrating publishing house, and several oppressive governments. The result is a literary labyrinth of storylines that interrupt one another - an Arabian Nights of the postmodern age.
Book purchase
If on a Winter's Night a Traveler: Introduction by Peter Washington, Italo Calvino
- Language
- Released
- 1993
- product-detail.submit-box.info.binding
- (Hardcover)
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- Language
- English
- Authors
- Italo Calvino
- Publisher
- EVERYMANS LIB
- Released
- 1993
- Format
- Hardcover
- Pages
- 254
- ISBN10
- 0679420258
- ISBN13
- 9780679420255
- Series
- Tags
- Fiction, Historical Fiction, Classics, Fun, Stories, Italy, Southern Europe, Italian Literature, Magical Realism, About Books, Reading, Metafiction
- First published
- 1979
- Original title
- Se una notte d'inverno un viaggiatore
- Rating
- 3.85 out of 5
- Description
- Italo Calvino's masterpiece combines a love story and a detective story into an exhilarating allegory of reading, in which the reader of the book becomes the book's central character. Based on a witty analogy between the reader's desire to finish the story and the lover's desire to consummate his or her passion, If On A Winter's Night A Traveller is the tale of two bemused readers whose attempts to reach the end of the same book, If On A Winter's Night A Traveller by Italo Calvino, of course, are constantly and comically frustrated. In between chasing missing chapters of the book, the hapless readers tangle with an international conspiracy, a rogue translator, an elusive novelist, a disintegrating publishing house, and several oppressive governments. The result is a literary labyrinth of storylines that interrupt one another - an Arabian Nights of the postmodern age.