Calvino, Italo

If on a winter's night a traveler / Italo Calvino ; translated from the Italian by William Weaver ; with an introduction by Peter Washington - 1st ed - xli, 254 pages ; 22 cm - Everyman's library ; 138 . - Everyman's library ; 138 .

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.

Includes bibliographical references (pages xxvi-xxvii)

If on a winter's night a traveler -- Outside the town of Malbork -- Leaning from the steep slope -- Without fear of wind or vertigo -- Looks down in the gathering shadow -- In a network of lines that enlace -- In a network of lines that intersect -- On the carpet of leaves illuminated by the moon -- Around an empty grave -- What story down there awaits its end?

Based on a analogy between the reader's desire to finish the story and the lover's desire to consummate his or her passion, this book is the tale of two bemused readers whose attempts to reach the end of the same book are constantly and comically frustrated

0679420258 9780679420255


Italian fiction

PQ4809.A45 / S3713 1993

813.4