You go into a bookshop and buy If on a Winter's Night a Traveller by Italo Calvino. You like it. But alas there is a printer's error in your copy. You take it back to the shop and get a replacement. But the replacement seems to be a totally different story. You try to track down the original book you were reading but end up with a different narrative again. This remarkable novel leads you through many different books including a detective adventure, a romance, a satire, an erotic story, a diary and a quest. But the real hero is you, the reader.
OFF
RRP means 'Recommended Retail Price' and is the price our supplier recommends to retailers that the product be offered for sale. It does not necessarily mean the product has been offered or sold at the RRP by us or anyone else.
You go into a bookshop and buy If on a Winter's Night a Traveller by Italo Calvino. You like it. But alas there is a printer's error in your copy. You take it back to the shop and get a replacement. But the replacement seems to be a totally different story. You try to track down the original book you were reading but end up with a different narrative again. This remarkable novel leads you through many different books including a detective adventure, a romance, a satire, an erotic story, a diary and a quest. But the real hero is you, the reader.
- ISBN:
- 9780099430896
- 9780099430896
- Category:
- Classic fiction
- Format:
- Paperback
- Publication Date:
- 05-04-2002
- Language:
- English
- Publisher:
- Vintage Publishing
- Country of origin:
- United Kingdom
- Pages:
- 272
- Dimensions (mm):
- 198x129x17mm
- Weight:
- 0.19kg
This item is In Stock in our Sydney warehouse and should be sent from our warehouse within 1-2 working days.
Once sent we will send you a Shipping Notification which includes online tracking.
Please check the estimated delivery times below for your region, for after your order is despatched from our warehouse:
ACT Metro 2 working days
NSW Metro 2 working days
NSW Rural 2 - 3 working days
NSW Remote 2 - 5 working days
NT Metro 3 - 6 working days
NT Remote 4 - 10 working days
QLD Metro 2 - 4 working days
QLD Rural 2 - 5 working days
QLD Remote 2 - 7 working days
SA Metro 2 - 5 working days
SA Rural 3 - 6 working days
SA Remote 3 - 7 working days
TAS Metro 3 - 6 working days
TAS Rural 3 - 6 working days
VIC Metro 2 - 3 working days
VIC Rural 2 - 4 working days
VIC Remote 2 - 5 working days
WA Metro 3 - 6 working days
WA Rural 4 - 8 working days
WA Remote 4 - 12 working days
Express Post is available if ALL items in your Shopping Cart are listed as 'In Stock'.
Click on Save to My Library / Lists
Click on My Library / My Lists and I will take you there
Reviews
1 Review
2.5 stars
If On A Winter’s Night, A Traveller… is the 3rd stand-alone novel by Italian author, Italo Calvino. It is translated from Italian by William Weaver. The format is somewhat unusual: the chapters are addressed to the Reader (=you), written in the second person. These are interspersed with opening chapters from books the Reader is reading, or tries to read. Frustrated by printing errors, the Reader returns to the book shop to complain, where he is joined by the Other Reader (Ludmilla).
The fragments of the various books are vaguely interesting, but not as compelling as they apparently are to the Reader and the Other Reader, intent on finding the original titles and completing their reads. Some pieces are so dense, so tortuous (or is that torturing?) that the reader’s eyes (mine) glaze over. The stories feature espionage, leaving the farm, prison escape, revolutionaries (x2), murder, ringing telephone paranoia, mirrors as means of deceit, Japanese seduction, erasure and a duel.
The chapters featuring the Readers’ quest presents philosophy on the experience of books and reading from different perspectives: the reader, the translator, students of literature, publishers, authors, analysts of books and censors. The Reader is difficult to identify with, and must be starved for literature to be so enthralled by these fragments. It’s a mercifully short read that will at least give the reader an idea if they want more of Italo Calvino, or not.
Share This Book: