If on a Winter's Night a Traveller by Italo Calvino
The novel is a postmodernist narrative that follows the adventures of the reader, who is trying to read a book called "If on a Winter's Night a Traveller." However, the reader keeps encountering obstacles that prevent him from finishing the book, including printer's errors, censorship, and interruptions from other characters. The story is interspersed with the beginnings of ten different novels, each interrupted at a moment of suspense. The book is a meditation on reading, writing, and the nature of narrative itself.
The 318th greatest book of all time
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- Published
- 1979
- Nationality
- Italian
- Length
- Short
- Pages
- 200-300
- Original Language
- Italian
- Avg User Rating
-
(3.9)
- Alternate Titles
-
- If On A Winter’s Night A Traveler
- If on a Winter's Night a Traveler
- Se Numa Noite De Inverno Um Viajante
- Se una notte d'inverno un viaggiatore
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This book is on the following 28 lists:
- 22nd on Harvard Book Store Staff's Favorite 100 Books (Harvard Book Store)
- 38th on 50 Books to Read Before You Die (Complex)
- 69th on The Telegraph’s 100 Novels Everyone Should Read (Telegraph)
- 72nd on 100 Best Books (Montana State University)
- 75th on The 100 Most Important Translations (Notos Magazine (Turkey))
- 79th on 4chan’s Literature Board’s Aggregate Top 100 Books for the Decade 2014 - 2024 (Reddit)
- 96th on Entertainment Weekly's Top 100 Novels (Entertainment Weekly)
- 121st on El Pais Favorite Books of 100 Spanish Authors (El Pais)
- 122nd on Our Users' Honorable Mention Favorite Books of All Time (The Greatest Books Users)
- 171st on The 500 best books of all time from Culture Café users (Culture Café)
- 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die (The Book)
- 25 Books to Read Before You Die (Powell's Books)
- 500 Must Read Books (The Daily Telegraph)
- 501 Must-Read Books (LibraryThing)
- 50 Best Cult Books (Telegraph)
- A Century of World Literature 1925 - 2025 (Der Spiegel)
- Everything You Should Read without Being a Library Rat (Book by Luiz Carlos Lisboa)
- Fifty French Writers Choose Their Favorite 10 Books - Honourable Mention (On en garde 10 ! Pour la littérature)
- From Zero to Well-Read in 100 Books (Jeff O'Neal at Bookriot.com)
- Harold Bloom's The Western Canon (The Western Canon (Book) by Harold Bloom)
- List of the 100 best Italian books of the last 200 years (IL RIFUGIO DELL'IRCOCERVO)
- "Our Readable Century", The Best Books of the 20th Century -- Honorable Mention ( January Magazine)
- The 100 Best Novels in Translation by Boyd Tonkin (Book)
- The 100 Best Novels Of All Time (Runners-Up) (The Guardian)
- The 100 Greatest Novels of All Time: The List (The Observer)
- The Bigger Read List (English PEN)
- The Books You've Always Meant to Read (Waterstones)
- The Well-Educated Mind (Book)