The outlandish structure of this book was no doubt inspired by Italo Calvino's involvement with the Oulipo group, a club of sorts that was founded in 1960s France to bring together writers and mathematicians who wanted to discuss new ways of structuring art. In order to tie this all together, the book is divided into twenty-two parts every odd-numbered section describes your worldwide quest to finish the many books you've started reading, and every even-numbered section is the first chapter of one of these fictional books. And then, to make up for this inconvenience, the book just goes ahead and does this to you ten more times, leading you through a plot that involves corrupt dictators, a torturous romance, and a worldwide book conspiracy. Due to a printer's error, the story gets majorly interrupted. Once you've figured out that you're going to be the main character, things get crazy. And you know what? It kind of blows our minds even today. Back when the book was published in 1979, this was a highly experimental style of narration. Written in the second person, the book addresses "you, the Reader" as its main character, just like in those old Choose Your Own Adventure novels. When you sit down to read Italo Calvino's If on a winter's night a traveler, you quickly discover that this book is about, well, you sitting down to read If on a winter's night a traveler. If on a winter's night a traveler Introduction
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |