If on a Winter’s Night a Traveller gives the reader the impression that there must be a system at play and gives up some of its secrets easily. However, there remains a persistent feeling, after reading each section, that there are other connections - threads of deliberate meaning - between them all that slip through your fingers as you desperately try to clutch more and more fragments passing by.
It's one of my favorite books precisely because it generates this feeling and led me to Perec's Life: A User's Manual among other fantastic works.
As a fan of Calvino I will say that If on a Winter’s Night a Traveller is somewhat more enjoyable after you've read a bunch of other Calvino, since it has a somewhat cheeky, self-referential feel and the more you sympathize with the author the more you may like it.
Numbers in the Dark is very good as a place to start.
In italian high schools you learn to hate a lot of what you do, just because you're a student and can't be bothered to enjoy an analysis of some themes - then when you're a bit older you start to appreciate what you hated much more
I absolutely loved Invisible Cities, but I couldn't get more than a couple of chapters into If on a Winter's Night. The first pages are very evocative, but it gets really repetitive with nothing to "progress" the "plot".
My impression (possibly mistaken) is that it's a product of its time that was innovative, but hasn't aged that well. More a fun puzzle box than something with emotional weight.
Given the above, what other Calvino work might appeal more to someone like me?
I've never been able to get into Calvino. Those works of his that I've read mostly felt like games and puzzles, sterile mental exercises, or inconsequential fantasy.
21 comments
It's one of my favorite books precisely because it generates this feeling and led me to Perec's Life: A User's Manual among other fantastic works.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35197000 (March 2023)
>[...] and led me to Perec's Life: A User's Manua
For people who may be unfamiliar with this (excellent) connection: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oulipo
The Timeless Magic of Italo Calvino's Invisible Cities at 50 - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43511876 - March 2025 (1 comment)
The Human Reader: Italo Calvino foresaw generative AI’s necessary companion - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35764984 - April 2023 (1 comment)
The Worlds of Italo Calvino - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35178426 - March 2023 (47 comments)
What would it be like if Italo Calvino and Sun Tzu explained refactoring? - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35150753 - March 2023 (3 comments)
Italo Calvino, The Art of Fiction No. 130 (1992) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26395898 - March 2021 (28 comments)
The Penguin Book of Oulipo review – writing, a user's manual - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21869669 - Dec 2019 (2 comments)
Italo Calvino, The Art of Fiction No. 130 (1992) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21340794 - Oct 2019 (29 comments)
The Movies of My Youth - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10151334 - Sept 2015 (5 comments)
Cybernetics and Ghosts (1967) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9001508 - Feb 2015 (1 comment)
Numbers in the Dark is very good as a place to start.
I'd definitely suggest starting with these. His short story work is beautiful.
> Cosmicomics
Damn Qfwfq.
My impression (possibly mistaken) is that it's a product of its time that was innovative, but hasn't aged that well. More a fun puzzle box than something with emotional weight.
Given the above, what other Calvino work might appeal more to someone like me?
You are bound to find at least one city that will stay with you.
* Our Ancestors (The Cloven Viscount, The Baron in the Trees, The Nonexistent Knight)
* The Complete Cosmicomics (Cosmicomics, t zero, + others)
* Invisible Cities
* If on a winter's night a traveler