{"id":203,"date":"2014-12-06T07:45:00","date_gmt":"2014-12-06T07:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/index.php\/2014\/12\/06\/if-on-a-winters-night-a-traveller-by-italo-calvino\/"},"modified":"2019-12-31T08:16:32","modified_gmt":"2019-12-30T21:16:32","slug":"if-on-a-winters-night-a-traveller-by-italo-calvino","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/if-on-a-winters-night-a-traveller-by-italo-calvino\/","title":{"rendered":"If on a winter’s night a traveller by Italo Calvino"},"content":{"rendered":"
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I read this book some years back, and, apart from it being a great book, I thought I would mention it here, directly after Cloud Atlas<\/i>, because David Mitchell, the author of Cloud Atlas<\/i>, was fascinated by Calvino’s book when he first read it as an undergraduate. Even though, many years later, after a second reading, he noted that he \u201cdidn’t find it \u2018breathtakingly inventive\u2019 as he had the first time…\u201d, he goes on to stress that \u201chowever breathtakingly inventive a book is, it is only breathtakingly inventive once \u2013 with once being better than never<\/a>.\u201d <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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The structure of If on a winter’s night a traveller<\/i>, with its broken chapters and its separate stories, obviously had a very positive \u2018once being better than never\u2019 impact on the future author of Cloud Atlas. <\/i>It also had a a very positive impact on me.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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In essence, the book is about reading, and <\/span>you<\/i>are the main character in the book. <\/span>At the beginning of the book, you discover that the pages in the book you are reading are in the wrong order, and you return to the book shop to get a new copy. There is another person having the same problem as yourself, and, eventually, the two of you meet, and you both set out to find a complete version of the book.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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<\/a>The book<\/span> is divided into twenty-two sections or chapters, where every odd-numbered section (in second-person) tells about your quest to read the book you have started<\/span> (a quest that always seems to be thwarted in one way or another)<\/span>, and every other section<\/span> <\/span>is about those books<\/span> – a delightful mix of genres, topics and geographical locations. Forget beginning, body and conclusion, because <\/span>If on a winter’s night a traveller<\/i> <\/i>shows that such structural limitations are not necessary in the telling of a<\/span> suspenseful<\/span>and interesting story (or stories).<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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The photo of Italo Calvino is from www.roncaney.it<\/a> <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I read this book some years back, and, apart from it being a great book, I thought I would mention it here, directly after Cloud Atlas, because David Mitchell, the author of Cloud Atlas, was fascinated by Calvino’s book when he first read it as an undergraduate. Even though, many years later, after a second … <\/p>\n

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