If on a Winter's Night a Traveler
by Italo Calvino
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Book Summary Information
Author: Italo CalvinoTranslator: William Weaver
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1982-10-20
ISBN: 0156439611
Number of pages: 260
Publisher: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780156439619
- Condition: New
- Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
Book Reviews of If on a Winter's Night a Traveler
Book Review: The Anatomy of a book
Summary: 5 Stars
There are books that expound the narrator's personal experience and opinions through the use of first-person narratives. And then there are books written in the third-person narrative, that seem to be described by an invisible power (the author). But, how do you write in a second-person narrative? Instead of using the I pronouns in the first-person narrative, and the he or she pronouns in the third-person, it would entail the use of the you pronoun in a second-person narrative. So, would that mean that the author is referring to the reader? Maybe. If that is the case, then perhaps the story must inherently involve the reader in some way, thereby dictating limits to the kind of stories that can be narrated. In this book, Italo Calvino demonstrates how this can be achieved with utmost creativity.
The book opens with you, the reader, walking into a book store to pick up Italo Calvino's latest book, "If on a Winter's Night, a Traveller". You cosy yourself up in your favorite reading spot, and before long, you are engrossed into the first chapter of the book. However, you find that after the first chapter, the rest of the book repeats the same page over and over again. It must be a publishing error, you decide, and run to the book store to demand a good copy. From this point on, the story (the one I'm reviewing) takes you (the real you), the reader, on a journey through the complications, dilemmas and excitements of creating a story, and reading a story. Does this sound surreal? Well, it is in many ways.
At the heart of it, this book is a philosophical inquisition into the origins of a book, its author and its reader. What makes a good story? Should the author write for his own pleasure or for the pleasure of the readers? Is there such a thing as a stupendous story? If there is one, can it be automatically churned out by a computer by dissecting the anatomy of all stories written so far? These are the kind of questions that Calvino pursues through this most artistic creation. In the process, the inquisition morphs into a story of its own in quest for the perfect story, and to answer the questions regarding the tension of opposites. The second-person narrative is not static all through the story. The story decides what kind of narrative is necessary for the chapter, thus also resorting to first-person and third-person narratives.
And then, perhaps at the heart of this inquisition is the inquiry into personalities of both the reader and the writer. There are primarily two kinds of writers - the productive writer and the tormented writer, who are the opposite of each other in many, if not all, ways. The productive writer cranks out line after line of a growing manuscript that is deemed to be a best-seller. The tormented writer chews his fingernails, scratches his head, crumples up drafts, takes frequent breaks to fix himself a snack, copies an already written page, and ends the day by noting down decisive ideas of where he plans to take the story. The productive writer never liked the ways of the tormented reader, but can't help feeling admiration for the tormented writer, who seems on the verge of finding that obscure but enlightening idea through his struggles. The tormented writer never liked the productive writer; he considers him no more than a clever craftsman who churns out machine-made novels catering to the taste of the public. Yet, he feels envy for the productive writer, who expresses himself with such methodical self-confidence. In the end, the productive writer wants to write like a tormented writer, and the latter like the former. How closer to the truth can Calvino be in digging out these feelings from within us; and this comes not in the form of dense philosophy, but as another story with the most light-hearted, comical characters.
And, then, of course, there's the reader, who is the protagonist of the book. But, there are also other readers, who are also part of the story, and there are uneasy romantic relationships between these readers, and even between the writers and the readers. There is the notion of a perfect reader for whom both types of writers now want to cater to. Through these comical episodes, Calvino captures the essence of our being --- our quest to attain what we don't possess. This is captured most lyrically in a short repartee between the productive writer and one of his visitors. The productive writer says to a visitor:
"With my spyglass I can observe a woman who is reading on a terrace in the valley. I wonder if the books she reads are calming or upsetting.".
"How does the woman seem to you? Calm or upset?", asks the visitor.
"Calm.".
"Then she is reading upsetting books.".
In summary, this is a story about the creation of a story. It is also a story about the life of the story after it has been created. It is also a story about the readers of the story, about the politicians who may censor a story, about the revolutionaries who fight these politicians, and about the counter-revolutionaries who fight the revolutionaries. But, it is also a story that contains a string of short (albeit incomplete) stories. It takes the caliber of a creative genius like Calvino to meld these seemingly unrelated ideas, to produce a work of art that is poetic, lyrical, profound and comical all at the same time. And, without giving anything away, let me add that the story does have a perfect ending; perhaps that is the only ending that would do justice to the rest of the book. So, what is on your mind, O Reader?
Summary of If on a Winter's Night a Traveler
Italo Calvino imagines a novel capable of endless mutations in this intricately crafted story about writing and readers.
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, and each interrupted at a moment of suspense. Together they form a labyrinth of literatures, known and unknown, alive and extinct, through which two readers, a male and a female, pursue both the story lines that intrigue them and one another.
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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