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.