Book Review: If on a winter's night a traveler, by Italo Calvino (1979)

Image result for if on a winter's night a traveler

I read this fairly short novel in a single day, but that does not mean it's an easy read. Far from it. This classic work of post-modernist fiction will challenge your abilities as a reader, alternating between being playful and fun at times, to a downright chore. Having said that, I'd probably go back and read it again simply because Italo Calvino has dropped into this book enough profoundly deep observations on the nature of time, story-telling, and the act of reading (to say nothing about life in general) that it would be worth going back to see if there was anything I missed. Also, the book is compact enough that it would not take a Talumdic scholar or a lifetime to go back and do it.

Using a structure I've never before encountered in any book I've ever read, If on a winter's night a traveler consists of 12 "numbered" chapters that tell the story of two people (one of them is the second person, "you") who have bought the book If on a winter's night a traveler from the bookstore, only to discover the publishers have made some kind of mistake and put the text of a different book inside it's cover. "You" and the other main character meet at a bookstore, in an attempt to exchange the book. Confused yet? No?...just wait...

Interspersed between each of the numbered chapters are the beginnings of 10 different novels, the first of which is the novel the publishers accidentally printed inside the copy of If on a winter's night a traveler. The beginning of each of the novels ties-in somehow to what's going on in the over-arching narrative. For example, the title of the novel that appears in place of If on a winter's night a traveler is Outside the town of Malbork, which -- in the over-arching narrative -- the characters discover has been re-translated into a different form, and printed as Leaning from the steep slope, which "you" then obtain a copy of and begin to read, leading "you" to the next fictitious novel, etc. etc.

This is definitely not for everyone. So if it already does not appeal to you, just content with yourself with the fact you're never going to read If on a winters's night a traveler. If, however, you have an interest in post-modernist fiction and a book that feels way, way ahead of its time and includes some deep, philosophical observations -- albeit, those which you'll have to work for and pay close attention to uncover -- then this might be for you. But approach cautiously and don't say I didn't warn you.

Comments

Popular Posts