If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler: Introduction by Peter Washington

Introduction by Peter Washington; Translation by William Weaver

Italo Calvino’s masterpiece combines a love story and a detective story into an exhilarating allegory of reading, in which the reader of the book becomes the book’s central character.

Based on a witty analogy between the reader’s desire to finish the story and the lover’s desire to consummate his or her passion, IF ON A WINTER’S NIGHT A TRAVELER is the tale of two bemused readers whose attempts to reach the end of the same book–IF ON A WINTER’S NIGHT A TRAVELER, by Italo Calvino, of course–are constantly and comically frustrated. In between chasing missing chapters of the book, the hapless readers tangle with an international conspiracy, a rogue translator, an elusive novelist, a disintegrating publishing house, and several oppressive governments. The result is a literary labyrinth of storylines that interrupt one another–an Arabian Nights of the postmodern age.

Author: Italo Calvino
Binding Type: Hardcover
Publisher: Everyman’s Library
Published: 06/01/1993
Series: Everyman’s Library Contemporary Classics
Pages: 304
Weight: 0.93lbs
Size: 8.30h x 5.22w x 0.90d
ISBN: 9780679420255
Language: English