Italo Calvino, author of ‘If on a winter’s night a traveler’, is probably the most unique book I have encountered till date. Although not a terribly hard read, the book entails a unique style of dual narration. The book begins with a rather direct, second-person narration of what the reader is doing and feeling while finding, picking-up, and starting to read this book. In all honesty, at first I was pretty confused by this. I had no knowledge or background about this book other than that it entails multiple different chapters, which are all different to each other, and lack a normal narrative connection. This led me to question whether this was even the actual introduction, or some kind of foreword/preface that was implemented differently in this case. I was wrong, and I realized this rather quick. Upon further reading, the humour, personality and relatability of the writing hit me immediately. I won’t say I resonated with the descriptions and emotions of going into a bookstore, or even reading a physical copy for that matter (I read this on my laptop), but nonetheless, I was intrigued. Calvino’s style of narration, a special blend of humour and a charismatic personality, aids the reader in falling into the lines of the book, like Calvino would want us to. This leads to a key point about the book – it is written for readers by a reader, depicting, in-part, what it means to be a fan of reading, chasing complete stories. The book essentially follows us the reader, and Ludmilla, another reader, on a quest to find the complete versions of the chapters we start reading, the book they have started reading. Maybe this is a metaphor for how people seek refuge in books, using stories as an escape for their reality, instead seeking ‘completeness’. In saying all this, I feel in essence this book is an exploration of the relationship between author, reader, and the narrative itself. I felt disconnected in the representation of a reader and how they would feel, because I have never been a reader in those situations. But this was reconciled by the fact that these themes and ideas are not unique to literature, but rather in all art, the conversation about the relationships between the medium, the author, and the audience is always imperative, and I could draw clear parallels to other fields, such as movies, where I have felt and had similar if not the same emotions and thoughts. Additionally, it can be argued this is intentional. Calvino is well aware of the fact that his depiction of the reader is rather specific, and therefore there is a disidentification where there is also explicit identification. Calvino is spoon-feeding us what we need to imprint ourselves into the book and become the character, while also consciously reminding us that we are a separate entity – the reader. The biggest strength of this book for me is how Calvino seamlessly blends reality and fiction. The book both explicitly creates the boundaries needed for these two ideas to exist independently, while also breaking this down and blurring the lines of what reality is. In a world where popular and iconic tropes and narrative ideas have been wrung to death, I found this to be somehow familiar, yet refreshing.
Question: Are there any other books, or other pieces of work, which remind you of this, and why?
Well, to answer your question, someone else wrote on their blog that this novel is like a “Bookception.” And of course I agree! I think that not having clear expectations about the novel is really a positive thing… Calvino himself would tell you that it is a very valid way of reading novels, almost from the spontaneity of picking up a book from wherever and without worrying about details such as the author name or titles, which can even be obstacles. A form of freedom. And yet, the topicc of censorship appears here as an attempt to control what surrounds the phenomenon of reading.
Hello Prathyush, I really enjoyed reading your blog this week! Your talking of what the author was trying to do, whether it was trying to blur the lines of fiction so that we, ourselves feel immersed into the story as the Reader himself, while also keeping us self-conscious about being a separate identity is complex, but I think it also feeds into the whole narrative of the relationship between the reader, the author, and the medium. Like it was a book about itself, in itself.? I don’t know what I’m saying. Anyways, to answer your question, the novel reminded me of the tv show Fleabag, as I said in my blog as well. The show is a meta-fictional masterpiece, with the 4th wall breaks of the main character basically talking to the audience, involving us into her mind.