Book Review: If on a Winter's Night a Traveller

If on a Winter's Night a Traveller (Se una notte d'inverno un viaggiatore), by Italo Calvino

"You are about to begin reading Italo Calvino's new novel, If on a winter's night a traveler [sic]. Relax. Concentrate. Dispel every other thought. Let the world around you fade. Best to close the door; the TV is always on in the next room. Tell the others right away, "No, I don't want to watch TV!" Raise your voice - they won't hear you otherwise - "I'm reading! I don't want to be disturbed!" Maybe they haven't heard you, with all that racket; speak louder, yell: "I'm beginning to read Italo Calvino's new novel!" Or if you prefer, don't say anything; just hope they'll leave you alone." And so begins Italo Calvino's novel If on a Winter's Night a Traveller.

From that point on, I was hooked. This book is primarily about the processes which occur when engaging in reading and writing, as well as the relationship between author and text, text and reader, and the supposed relationship between the author and reader. Basically, it is about everything to do with literature, aside from thematic debates and secondary "issues" which arise from the text. Immediately, the reader of the text merges with the reader in the text, and the plot progresses from there.

Apart from this meta-literary ingenuity, Calvino's greatest strength is his sense of humour. Because the plots - yes, there are more than one; each concerning a different narrative encountered by the reader in the text - vary radically from the parodic to the satirical to the downright nonsensical, the author cannot take himself or anything else concerning the book too seriously, allowing for it to be an engaging and surprisingly easy reading experience. Despite this ease, the continual debate about what constitutes literature, and how to identify it as differing from commentary, journalism, philosophy and/or pornography - or, indeed, if it encompasses all and any other forms of writing - is the very basis of the entire work. As I said, the book deals with literature as both a recreational and an academic pursuit, and therefore all possible arguments concerning the activity of reading and writing are presented.

I don't want to turn this review into an essay, since I had to read the novel for my next term at university and I'll be writing 3000 words in December; and the fact that this is the place for value judgements, so I can get all of my initial joy out of the way. In my meagre "research" (a brief glance at his Wikipedia page), I discovered that Calvino was the most widely translated italian writer of his time, and I can see why. If more of his work is like If on a Winter's Night a Traveller, it isn't hard to understand his popularity.

If you're at all interested in books beyond the simple pleasure of reading them, buy yourself a copy of this novel. In fact, scratch that. If you even enjoy the simple pleasure of reading, then buy a copy. It really is worth it.

Italo Calvino: He's very, very good...