Reading Order
If on a winter's night a traveler Reading Order
Italo Calvino's If on a winter's night a traveler (1979) is a standalone postmodern novel in which 'You,' the reader, buy a new Calvino novel and discover that it is misbound — and are then drawn into a labyrinth of incomplete narrative openings, each one a different novel by a different fictional author, as you search for the continuation that never comes. One of the most celebrated experimental novels of the twentieth century.
Where to start
If on a winter's night a traveler
Complete If on a winter's night a traveler Book List
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If on a winter's night a traveler
Italo Calvino·1979·The complete novel — 'You,' the Reader, the Traveler. Entirely standalone; no sequels or prequels. - Buy
Invisible Cities
OptionalItalo Calvino·1972·Marco Polo describes cities to Kublai Khan — Calvino's most beloved and accessible work of imaginative fiction; each city is a meditation on memory, desire, or form; the obvious companion read for If on a winter's night a traveler. - Buy
Cosmicomics
OptionalItalo Calvino·1965·Stories narrated by a being called Qfwfq, who witnesses the origin of the universe, the formation of the solar system, and the appearance of life — Calvino's early experimental collection and the best entry point into his imaginative range for readers new to his work. - Buy
The Baron in the Trees
OptionalItalo Calvino·1957·Cosimo Piovasco di Rondò climbs into the trees at age twelve and never comes down — Calvino's most charming novel, part of his 'Our Ancestors' trilogy, and the most narrative-driven of his major works.
If on a winter's night a traveler — Frequently Asked Questions
What is If on a winter's night a traveler about?
If on a winter's night a traveler is a novel about reading. It begins in the second person — 'You are about to begin reading Italo Calvino's new novel' — and follows 'You,' the Reader, as you buy a book you believe is the new Calvino novel, only to discover it is misbound and ends after a few chapters. Your quest for the continuation draws you into a series of encounters: with another reader (a woman named Ludmilla, with whom you fall in love), with a fraudulent translator, with a network of secret readers, and with a mysterious author who may be behind everything. Alternating with these quest chapters are ten complete novel openings — each in a different style, genre, and voice, apparently from a different fictional author — that are never continued. The novel is simultaneously a love story, a spy thriller, a meditation on the nature of reading and writing, and a demonstration that beginning is the most interesting thing a novel can do.
Do you need to know Calvino's other work to read If on a winter's night a traveler?
No prior knowledge of Calvino is required. If on a winter's night a traveler stands entirely alone and was designed for readers encountering Calvino for the first time as well as those who knew all his previous work. It is self-contained in its pleasures. That said, readers familiar with Calvino's earlier experiments — particularly Cosmicomics (1965), The Castle of Crossed Destinies (1969), and Invisible Cities (1972) — will recognize the consistency of his preoccupations (multiplicity, structure as meaning, the reader as collaborator) and appreciate the novel as a summation of his aesthetic project. If you come to Calvino through If on a winter's night a traveler, Invisible Cities is the most natural next book — shorter, less demanding, and equally beautiful.
Is If on a winter's night a traveler difficult to read?
The second-person narration can be disorienting at first — being addressed as 'You' while reading about what 'You' are doing is an unusual experience — but most readers find they adjust within the first few pages and begin to find it pleasurable rather than alienating. The ten embedded novel openings are each in a different style and genre (thriller, existential fiction, Latin American magic realism, erotic novel, political fiction), and some readers find certain openings more engaging than others. The cumulative structure — ten beginnings without conclusions — is the formal enactment of the novel's themes, not a frustration to be solved. The novel is not difficult in the way that Ulysses or Gravity's Rainbow is difficult; it is playful, light on the page, and often funny. The experience of reading it is more like a puzzle-box than a challenge.
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