From the Bookshelf of On Paths Unknown…

If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler

Italo Calvino,

William Weaver (Translator)

Start date: November 6, 2015

Discussion: POSTMODERNISM ITALIAN STYLE

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Showing 2 of 7 topics — 153 comments total

POSTMODERNISM ITALIAN STYLE

* Calvino: The Castle of Crossed Destinies: Thread 1. The Tale of the Ingrate and His Punishment
By Amy (Other Am… · 24 posts · 29 views

last updated Jan 19, 2016 03:40AM

The Castle of Crossed Destinies. [ENDING SPOILERS]
By Amy (Other Am… · 4 posts · 8 views

last updated Feb 02, 2016 02:51PM

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What Members Thought

Apr 27, 2015 Cecily rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: lit-crit-and-about-lit, postmodern-meta, unreliable-narrators, relationship-betwixt-book-reader

“I rather enjoy that sense of bewilderment a novel gives you when you start reading it.”

[ 1 ]

“You are about to begin reading” Cecily’s review of her first Calvino. “Relax. Concentrate. Dispel every other thought. Let the world around you fade. Best to close the door; the TV is always on… Find the most comfortable position… Adjust the light so you won’t strain your eyes… Try to foresee now everything that might make you interrupt your reading.” A drink within reach? “Do you have to pee? All right ...more

139 likes · Like · see review

Aug 16, 2012 Paul rated it really liked it

Shelves: classic

Very clever and knowing book that invites parody and a clever review in the same vein; however life is too short. Imagine this is not a review and go and read the book. It is worth reading and is very well structured.
Calvino invites the reader into the books in a very self conscious way to participate and reflect on the nature of reading itself. The book is a series of interlinked incomplete stories held together by the participation of the reader. I found the ending a bit of a let down, but ver ...more

70 likes · Like · see review

Jan 24, 2014 Brian rated it it was amazing

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
But, of course, you’ve clicked to reveal the Review, because whether you’ve read If On a Winter’s Night a Traveler isn’t the thing, you’ve been invited here by the Reviewer to discuss his Review, and if you’ve anything to say about it, you’ll of course need to have first read it. You’ve checked your watch again, and he’s now twenty-three minutes late to this dingy pub in a part of town you wouldn’t typically frequent. “Another pint?” the bartender shouts at you from across the pub – a place empt
But, of course, you’ve clicked to reveal the Review, because whether you’ve read If On a Winter’s Night a Traveler isn’t the thing, you’ve been invited here by the Reviewer to discuss his Review, and if you’ve anything to say about it, you’ll of course need to have first read it. You’ve checked your watch again, and he’s now twenty-three minutes late to this dingy pub in a part of town you wouldn’t typically frequent. “Another pint?” the bartender shouts at you from across the pub – a place empty except for you at this corner table, reading from your laptop. You’ve had two, a third might make you hazy, and you’ve decided anyway that if the Reviewer doesn’t show up soonish that you’re leaving. You shake your head to his offer and ask instead to the direction of the toilets. He points without real specificity somewhere to your right. Leaving your belongings, you head down the hall and are confronted with two doors. One says Fixer. The other says (view spoiler)[

And of course you’ve chosen the door that says Spoiler, it seems the most appropriate name for what goes on here. It’s a hopeless place, as most pub toilets are, and there is a man in here that is leaning against the hands air-dryer like he has been there for an age. You’ve not seen him come through the pub, so he’s been here for at least half an hour, and he looks the worse for wear inhaling the fetid air in this room. “There you are,” he says to you as you walk in. “I was about to give up on you.” You ask if he is the Reviewer, mentioning at the same time that suggesting to meet in a pub toilet is much different than suggesting to meet in a pub. “No, I ain’t him,” the man replies gruffly. “I was supposed to come here to take you to him. He couldn’t make it and asked me to come pick you up instead.” It still doesn’t make sense why he’s here in the toilet, but before you can protest further he tells you to do your business and then meet him at his car in front of the pub. So you do your business, collect your things from the pub table, and exit the bar to see a cherry red, street racing vehicle sporting illegal enhancements to its chassis. The Reviewer’s man is leaning against the (view spoiler)[

on the rear of the car in a pose of impatience as if he’s been there for hours. He must be one of the world’s great leaners. “Get in,” he says as he enters the car himself. You race through the streets like you’re on the lam, and to distract yourself from the fear of this car ride ending in metallic violence you ask the man if he’s ever read the Reviewer’s Review of If On a Winter’s Night a Traveler. “Not much of a reader myself,” he replies as he makes a hairpin turn around a corner, narrowly missing a group of businessmen crossing the street – who now hurl insults at your retreating form. “We’re nearly to his flat and you can speak to him about his Review yourself.” Seconds later you screech to a seatbelt groaning halt in front of a nondescript apartment building and emerge from the car as one disgorged from a rollercoaster seat the moment before the ride collapses. “Second floor, flat number seven, key is under the mat,” the leaner shouts from the interior of the car and then accelerates away from the curb in an acrid blue cloud of laid rubber. The flat looks like no one has been here for months. You open your laptop and connect to Goodreads to hopefully read the Review before meeting the Reviewer when your stomach begins to growl in earnest. You go to the kitchen, thinking the Reviewer wouldn’t mind if you were to nosh on a morsel here, given all that you’ve been put through today. You open the refrigerator and are assaulted by a wave of putrefaction. At some point during the Reviewer’s absence the electricity to the flat must have gone out because the appliance has gone from a device of cold storage to one of warm decay; the Meat Drawer smells of a Meat Wagon, its Crisper now a (view spoiler)[

and as you’re attempting to settle your rising gorge the front door to the flat opens. At last, you think, now we can get on with it, this Review, but before you can say anything a surly burly man bursts in and shouts, “Right, where is he then?” You explain that you just got here, that you aren’t his friend, that you let yourself in with the key under the mat and as you speak the words you realize how ridiculous they all sound. “He hasn’t been here in months,” the surly burly man interrupts you. “If he doesn’t pay all the rent he owes by Friday, he’s out. You tell him that when you see him!” He exits as suddenly as he entered, returning you to the empty apartment. This is too much, really, and you’ve decided it’s time to ditch this Review and its Reviewer. You leave the flat, not even bothering to lock it, and head down the street to a pastry shop you remember passing in a vehicular blur some few minutes ago. A croissant and black coffee in hand - you haven’t even had the first sip or the first bite, when a man smiling like a cat with all the cream takes an uninvited seat at your table, extends his hand in greeting, and says “At last we meet.” You limply shake his hand and let him know all that you have suffered over the last hour just to discuss this ridiculous Review. “Well, what did you think?” the Reviewer asks excitedly. You are so irritated at the entire situation that you say that frankly, you haven’t even finished reading it. The Reviewer doesn’t look shocked or annoyed. He’s waived over to the table the little man behind the counter that served you your croissant and coffee. As he puts in an order for a bun and a tea; without a pause he returns to his conversation with you and encourages you to take out your laptop and finish reading the Review, that he doesn’t want to accidentally reveal any (view spoiler) (hide spoiler)] (hide spoiler)] (hide spoiler)]
...more

39 likes · Like · see review

May 07, 2012 Hend rated it it was ok

Shelves: 1001-books-to-read-before-you-die, novels, italian-literature, italo-calvino, 50-novels-for-romance-haters

"every thinking activity implies mirrors for me. According to Plotinus, the soul is a mirror that creates material things reflecting the ideas of the higher reason. Maybe this is why I need mirrors to think: I cannot concentrate except in the presence of reflected images, as if my soul needed a model to imitate every time it wanted to employ its speculative capacity."

This isn't a review ,only my thoughts.my friends have written amazing ones.

first it is a brilliant work of the imagination,a group ...more

37 likes · Like · see review

Oct 15, 2012 David rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, crime-time, post-modernism, italy

If on a winter's night
a traveller picks this book,
prepare for a bit of sleight,
for this book's a hook.

A series of just starts,
and no ends in sight,
Divid'd in many parts,
But no parts-whole, not quite.

This, advent'rous reader
is a book compendium,
of oulipo muse, ('ll need her)
and threatens of novels to end 'em.

Why are you still here?
Get going! Go read it!
It's so sure to endear
and addict, you'll re-read it. ...more

27 likes · Like · see review

Jul 20, 2015 Xandra rated it really liked it

Shelves: 1001-books, z-m, three-and-a-half-stars, 1950-1999, european, italian-roman

In every chapter, Reader starts a new novel but is interrupted when it becomes most engrossing. So chapters are split between the tribulations Reader comes across while trying to finish what he’s reading and a couple of stories that end in cliff-hangers.

And now sorry, I have to rant, you’re better off skipping this review.

Reader (Lettore) and Other Reader (Lettrice) are characters in the book and neither of them is you!

The sections about Reader are told in second person which, for a short while In every chapter, Reader starts a new novel but is interrupted when it becomes most engrossing. So chapters are split between the tribulations Reader comes across while trying to finish what he’s reading and a couple of stories that end in cliff-hangers.

And now sorry, I have to rant, you’re better off skipping this review.

Reader (Lettore) and Other Reader (Lettrice) are characters in the book and neither of them is you!

The sections about Reader are told in second person which, for a short while, makes you feel like you’re part of the book or an indispensable extension of it. As you go along though, you realize that Calvino isn’t talking to you. His “Reader” is simply a character whose idiosyncrasies uniquely identify him. You’re a little disappointed but learn to accept it. Then he waves that bone in your face again: he leaves Reader for a bit and addresses a female Other Reader. And you think oh cool, half the book is adressed to Lettore, half to Lettrice. However, this only lasts for about ten pages then the focus is back on the male Reader. At this point you resent him and his silly game is not fun anymore.

It’s like in the beginning Calvino is talking to YOU, then he measures you up, pulls out a costume, wiggles his brows and says “come on, get into character, it will be fun”. You go along with it, but the whole thing slowly morphs into something similar to a school play you’re in against your will and you’re like “no, I don’t want to be a jealous Italian man with obsessive tendencies anymore” only it’s too late, the show must go on. He then assigns you a female role only to quickly change his mind with a “ha! just kidding, here’s an international literary conspiracy to distract you”.

I guess the reason for my annoyance is an unfulfilled expectation. When the spotlight switched from Reader to Other Reader in the middle of the book I thought that’s how it’s going to be until the end. It gave me hope. I wanted a change of costume, things didn’t go my way, I got annoyed.

At the very least, I wanted Calvino to leave a tiny space in Reader for me and for you. This is my disappointment. Reader doesn’t have anything vague about him, he’s not emblematic of readers everywhere, he’s not the proud face of a collectivity. He’s an individual. I’m not bothered that he’s a man, a genderless reader would be difficult to create in Italian, a language where adjectives betray you at every corner. But he’s too idiosyncratic for my liking. And the fact that his female counterpart HAS A NAME and exists only to allow the author to play matchmaker adds insult to the injury.

“For a second-person discourse to become a novel, at least two you’s are required, distinct and concomitant, which stand out from the crowd of he’s, she’s and they’s.”

I disagree. And in any case, you didn’t really follow your own rule, did you?

Okay, rant over. The book is actually brilliant in what it has to say about the nature of reading. I recommend it, ugh. ...more

7 likes · Like · see review

Aug 11, 2012 Karl-O rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: literary-fiction, mitchell

I finished reading this book a couple of days ago. Reading the last pages while being unsure about what it is exactly. It was really enjoyable, I don't deny that. But what if after one year someone or something reminds me of the book, what would I think of it? What's the label that I would use to describe it? Life is unthinkable without labels.

I had several pages of notes taken while reading the book. I started reading these to formulate a review, but couldn't finish them. Then I started writin ...more

6 likes · Like · see review

Oct 07, 2015 Stephen Bruce rated it it was amazing

Shelves: italy, 20th-century, metafiction

Very clever, with a mix of metaliterary playfulness, academic disputes, revolutionary drama, scientific discussion, and solitary philosophizing. I wanted the frame story to be developed more, but the open ending fits perfectly with the nature of the book.

1 like · Like · see review