If on a Winters Night a Traveler

Posted on 04 November 2017 by Italo Calvino

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 nextThe 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 Free Read If on a Winters Night a Traveler [ Author ] Italo Calvino [ Kindle ePUB or eBook ] – kino-fada.fr You are about to read Mark Nicholls s review of Italo Calvino s postmodern classic If on a Winter s Night a Traveller You might want to position yourself in a comfortable chair before you begin, or place a cushion behind your back, as we know how arduous it can be to read things off the internet You might also care to prepare a coffee, a light snack, or to switch a light on before beginning.You might be thinking that this review is not going to interest you, since book reviews on books you hav You are about to read Mark Nicholls s review of Italo Calvino s postmodern classic If on a Winter s Night a Traveller You might want to position yourself in a comfortable chair before you begin, or place a cushion behind your back, as we know how arduous it can be to read things off the inte...YO DAWG, I HEARD YOU LIKE READING, SO I PUT A BOOK IN YO BOOK, SO YOU CAN READ WHILE YO READ.I say this is what happened Italo Calvino was suffering from a writer s block He would start a novel, get it to its first curve and abandon it before the resolution A few months later he would start another with a similar result Finally, his publishers got impatient because it had been years since the last novel and they said Italo, get your shit together We need a new book Now Italo panicked and did the only thing he could think of He glued all his failed attempts together and delivered I say this is what happened Italo Calvino was suffering from a writer s block He would start a novel, get it to its first curve and abandon it before the resolution A few months later h...I arrived at the library with my two books in hand As I plunked them down on the check in counter, a thin matronly woman approached Would you like to check these books in Yes I would but I would also like to Oh, I see you read If on a Winter s Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino Yes I did Have you read it too On starting the first few pages, you were put off by what appears to be a artistic gimmick Why yes a little but you soon realized that the author was trying to involve you I arrived at the library with my two books in hand As I plunked them down on the check in counter, a thin matronly woman approached Would you like to check these books in Yes I would but I would also like to Oh, I see you read If on a Winter s Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino Yes I did Have you read it too On starting the first few pages, you were put off by what appears to be a artistic gimmick Why yes a little but you soon realized that the author was trying to involve you in his dadaist alternate reality by connecting to the only reality the author and reader have in common The world of words and symbolism Well, I m not sure I saw it that way But now that you mention it The book caused you to not only suspend disbelief but examine your own concepts of what is means to immerse yourself in litera...Original review November 2011Imagine that it is winter and there is snow everywhere and you can t go out and all you do for days is read book after book, story after story, gorging yourself on fiction until your subconscious is saturated with characters and plots Imagine that you fall asleep late one night while reading and you have the cleverest dream ever That is what reading this book by Calvino is like I forgot to mention that if you re a woman, in your strange Calvino dream, you will m Original review November 2011Imagine that it is winter and there is snow everywhere and you can t go out and all you do for days is read book after book, story after story, gorging yourself on fiction until your subconscious is saturated with characters and plots Imagine that you fall asleep late one night while reading and you have the cleverest dream ever That is what reading this book by Calvino is like I forgot to mention that if you re a woman, ...It s one of those books which stands alone and shine like sun There is nothing quite like it It s one of its kind Unique There are a few books which you come across where the writing, the prose so lyrical, and beautiful , makes such an impact that it leaves you completely dazzled, and for a while you are stunned that, wow what just happened and then you are spellbound, speechless And it is one of those books The Writing is magical, hypnotizing It snares you in its magical net It ca It s one of those books which stands alone and shine like sun There is nothing quite like it It s one of its kind Unique There are a few books which you come across where the writing, the prose so lyrical, and beautiful , makes such an impact that it leaves you completely dazzled, and for a while you are stunned that, wow what just happened and then you are spellbound, speechless And it is one of those books The Writing is magical, hypnotizing It snares you in its magical net It casts a spell and you can feel nothing but in awe Each word, sentence, paragraph, page, takes you in the subtlest places of your mind, and make you feel in a dreamland, a world of twists and turns and which is never ending, and abrupt in its beginnings and endings It goes very deep into the psyche of the readers which happens to be human though , and always astonishes y...If on a Winter s Night a TravellerItalo CalvinoJust one word AWESOMEYou are about to begin reading Italo Calvino s new novel, If on a winter s night a traveller Relax Let the world around you fade The opening line of this unusual book really fades the world around you and immerses you in a mystical, eccentric, surreal world where you are energised right from the scratch to encounter the world which refers to its own existence something which is unprecedented The book is a genius i If on a Winter s Night a TravellerItalo CalvinoJust one word AWESOMEYou are about to begin reading Italo Calvino s new novel, If on a winter s night a travel...Why do you read Maybe you want to impress somebody Libraries are cool, or so they say Or you expect to learn something from the books you so carefully select Or you merely have a preference for intellectual entertainment and books are considered a smart option to fulfill that purpose Or maybe you read to remember all the lives you haven t lived, or that important person who left a permanent track on you, whom you don t expect to see again, or to delight again in the innocent thrill of being Why do you read Maybe you want to impress somebody Libraries are cool, or so they say Or you expect to learn something from the books you so carefully select Or you merely have a preference for intellectual entertainment and books...An experimental novel The main character is a reader who can t finish a book because the print copies are mixed up and he ends up reading first chapters of various novels over and over again He meets up with a woman who has the same problem and he goes on a search to find the rest of the book for both of them Actually there are two women, sisters, who have different ideas about books and what the purpose of reading is They appear in different guises throughout the story The narrative is lab An experimental novel The main character is a reader who can t finish a book because the print copies are mixed up and he ends up reading first chapters of various novels over and over again He meets up with a woman who has the same problem and he goes on a search to find the rest of the book for both of them Actually there are two women, sisters, who have different ideas about books and what the purpose of reading is They appear in different guises throughout the story The narrative is labyrinth like, as if Borges had written it But it s not fair to really focus on the plot Like many of Calvino s works, this isa work of philosophy than a novel And, like all of Calvino s work, there s a heavy dose of fantasy and absurdity There s a professor of Cimmerian literature and Bothno Ugaric languages which sounded so realistic I looked them up to be sure they weren t real The book is made up of ten stories think...Previously Unpublished Manuscript 1Who am I Who is I Who is the I Unlike my friends and colleagues, Professors Calvino and Galligani, I intend to tell you my name and perhaps to reveal something of my modus operandi soon, too.This one sentence might already have supplied enough information or implication to let you work out or infer who I am Have you guessed yet No Well, my name is Professor Uzzi Tuzii, though my friends call me Julian Not only is that my name, but that is who I am Yes Previously Unpublished Manuscript 1Who am I Who is I Who is the I Unlike my friends and colleagues, Professors Calvino and Galligani, I intend to tell you my name and perhaps to reveal something of my modus operandi soon, too.This one sentence might already have supplied enough information or implication to let you work out or infer who I am Have you guessed yet No Well, my name is Professor Uzzi Tuzii, though my friends call me Julian Not only is that my name, but that is who I am Yes It s true I am Professor Uzzi Tuzii.See how m...

English
04 November 2017

Italo Calvino