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

by Italo Calvino

William Weaver (Translator) and Peter Washington (Introduction)

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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.

  • ISBN10 0679420258
  • ISBN13 9780679420255
  • Publish Date 1 June 1993 (first published 1 January 1981)
  • Publish Status Active
  • Publish Country US
  • Publisher Random House USA Inc
  • Imprint Everyman's Library USA