Italo Calvino (15 October 1923 – 19 September 1985) was an Italian writer and journalist. His best known works include the Our Ancestors trilogy (1952–1959), the Cosmicomics collection of short stories (1965), and the novels Invisible Cities (1972) and If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler (1979).
In 1975, Calvino was made Honorary Member of the American Academy. Awarded the Austrian State Prize for European Literature in 1976, he visited Mexico, Japan, and the United States, where he gave a series of lectures in several American towns. After his mother died in 1978 at the age of 92, Calvino sold Villa Meridiana, the family home in San Remo. Two years later, he moved to Rome in Piazza Campo Marzio near the Pantheon and began editing the work of Tommaso Landolfi for Rizzoli. Awarded the French Légion d’honneur in 1981, he also accepted the role of jury president for the 38th Venice Film Festival.
Admired in Britain, Australia and the United States, he was the most translated contemporary Italian writer at the time of his death.
(Wikipedia)
Calvino and the Ends of Discourse
You, of course, may take your reading of the novel in some other direction, reach your own conclusions.
- Calvino, Italo. If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler. Trans. William Weaver. New York: Harcourt, 1981.
Calvino Videos
Calvino Bookmark Interview 1985:
Gore Vidal on Italo Calvino 2011:
Merve Emre on Italo Calvino | The Deerfield Public Library Podcast – 58:
If On a Winter’s Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino:
- De Lauretis, Teresa. Technologies of Gender: Essays on Theory, Film, and Fiction. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1987.
- Jöttkandt, Sigi. “The Reader as Fault: Italo Calvino’s If on a Winter’s Night a Traveller.” mETAphor 3 (August 2021): 15-24.
Zombies and Readers
Shaun of the Dead (2/8) Movie CLIP – Oblivious to the Zombies (2004) HD:
Cell phone zombies:
People walking into things whilst texting compilation:
Imagine a World Without Cell Phones vs Cell Phone Zombies:
Campari and soda is a classic Italian aperitif: a drink served in the late afternoon or early afternoon, before eating. (Vermouth is also a popular aperitif, as are pastis or champagne in France.) Kate Hawkings, who has written an entire book on “the drinks, culture, and history of the aperitif”—Campari Soda is her “absolute favourite”—explains that “the word ‘aperitif’ comes from the Latin aperire, meaning ‘to open.’ It is something to open the appetite, to stimulate the taste buds, to mark the start of a meal that’s to come” (6, 7). Lighter than a standard cocktail, legitimated by the notion of the “medicinal” properties of the herbs and other botanicals often infused within it, an aperitif is promise and preparation, a ritual to signal that the day’s work is over and the evening about to begin. Calvino’s novel is of course all aperitif, or a series of aperitifs that frustratingly—or delightfully, depending on your mood—lead to no subsequent consummation.
Lucy Spraggan - Why Don't We Start From Here (Official Lyric Video):
John Lennon Just Like Starting Over 1980 HQ:
Calvino Questions
The following questions are taken from your blog posts…
On Writing
What are your thoughts on Calvino’s writing style, and how does it compare to your own? How did you feel about never knowing the true resolution to the mini books scattered throughout the plot?
Did you find this writing style frustrating to read or was it entertaining?
What affect did the novel being written in 2nd person have on your reading experience?
On Reading
Why do you read? what do you think is important about reading?
I’m curious what your thoughts were on the use of personal pronouns in this novel: how did you tend to interpret them, and did it ever create a sense of feeling a bit lost?
What do you think that the word / title ‘reader’ means in this story? How did you interpret it?
Do you think a reread of this book will impact your experience with it? Perhaps there’s some aspect you now wish to focus on more?
Were you guys able to fully immerse yourselves into the role of “you”? And if so drop your tips and comments down below cause god knows I need it.
Though I do also want to know what your ‘no I didn’t’ moments were throughout this story. What were some things that you disagreed with in the novel? When were your ‘no I didn’t’s?
Do you think the frustration of unfinished stories adds to the meaning of the novel, or does it take away from your connection to it?
Does the narrator make you feel more immersed in the story or more controlled by it?
As you closed the final page, did you find that your relationship with books along with the way you read or interpret books had changed?
Do you find yourself relating more to Ludmilla’s approach of reading for pleasure or Lotarias of reading for academic purposes?
Is the Reader actually powerless here, or is the act of continuing to read a form of control? And what would happen if someone simply refused to play along?
Why do you think Calvino chooses to address the reader directly as “you”? Does it make you feel more connected to the story, or does it make the reading experience feel strange and unsettling?
When reading this book did you feel that you were inside the story (you were the protagonist) or have the clear seperation that you were an outside reader simply reading a story?
Were any of the assumptions the author made about you correct? How did that make you feel if he made an assumption that was right? uneasy? If it was wrong did you feel like it took you out of the story?
How did Calvino’s use of interrupted readings impact your reading experience? Did you find these interruptions frustrating, or did they enhance your engagement with the text? Why or why not?
What are you like as a reader? Do you peek into the ending of the book to give yourself a small view of the novel itself? Do you judge books by their covers? Do you read about the author to know more about what the author was trying to give, or do you prefer to read it as it is, no expectations nor prior knowledge?
On Plot
What did you think about the changing stories but how certain parts of this book stayed the same such as the main characters and the plot them finding out the reason why Morana wanted to create chaos?
What do you think of how it all came together in the end for the book “If on a winter’s night a traveler”? Did you find that captivating?
What do you think makes us want to know/have an end? Why is something leaving off in suspense so suspenseful?
If the novel never gives us a complete story, what does Calvino suggest about why we read and our desire for narrative closure?
What is the importance of an ending?
What story do you want to get a completed version of to read? What makes you interested in that story and not the others?
Why does the novel give a clear ending to the Reader and Ludmilla’s relationship but refuses to resolve any of the stories they try to read?
If the story were written from Ludmilla’s point of view, what differences might it bring?
Comparisons
Which mini-story in “If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler” resonated most with you, and why? Did any particular character or theme stand out to you in this story?
Which story in the book would you consider continuing to read and why?
Are there any other books, or other pieces of work, which remind you of this, and why?
Are there other literary or cinematic works that bring to mind similar themes? If so, which ones?
Is there any connections you guys found between the fragments?
Did you guys enjoy Italo Calvino’s very unique narration style in this book and if you have read any of his other works, are they similar?
Other
What was the point of this book? Like was their an overarching idea?? (because I don’t get it)
Did you see any deeper meaning connecting the new stories and the storyline of the reader?
Does this entire novel somehow give you an overall feeling/sense of completeness?
How was your story so far, and what story down there awaits its end?
Did you have any contradictory feelings about this novel? Was it both enjoyable and frustrating for you? Or did you completely loathe it? How did your reaction make you feel?
How does Calvino make comments about the human search for understanding and purpose in life and storytelling through these pauses?
“In ancient times a story could only end in two ways: having passed all the tests, the hero and the heroine married, or else they died” (Calvino, 1979, p. 259). I personally did not like the fact that You and Ludmilla got married. Considering it is clearly no longer ancient times, how else would you have liked this novel to end? Does it necessarily need an ending?
