If on a winter's night a traveler by Italo Calvino, an in-depth review [CC]

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Italo Calvino
Pub quizz bonus : he has a crater named after him on the planet Mercury

The Oulipo movement
A french “think tank”, a group of yummy people dedicated to creative writing. They basically devised games (called constraints) with the aim to come up with interesting and weird stories.
The full name is Ouvroir de Littérature Potentielle or Workshop of Potential Litterature. At its birth, mostly writers and mathematicians were involveld which explains the almost science-based approach and theorisation as well as why a good chunk of works involve math, biology, physics concepts. They describe themselves as __“rats who construct the labyrinths from which they plan to escape”__

Summary of the book
You’re about to start reading Italo Calvino’s newest book If on a winter night a traveler but you’re mhh interupted multiple times. You want to know what happens next, so you decide to be a big boi and go back to the shops. You’re not scared of talking to the manager. There you meet a woman, reading the same book and also experienced that ludicrous display. You quickly bond and embark on an adventure leading you to other stories, discover new countries, sub plots and characters until the mist is cleared. Fully ? Perhaps not.

The double genesis of the book
Circling back to the Oulipo movement, what has it got to do with Calvino ? Well, he did live in Paris a few years in the 60-70’s where he met up with Raymond Queneau and became a full member in 73. As a sort of assignment he gave himself some constraits that led to i own t. Calvino wrote an essay called How I wrote one of my books, twice actually to revise some elements.
- v1 in 82, inisiting on Oulipo-based constraints : the title of the essay is itself refering to other works from the Oulip, and he was following up on the Invisible City. So it’s clear that he was influenced by the movement and he wrote in a preface (La Squadratura) of an art catalogue around 75 about a book made only of bits and pieces of apocrypha books written in the first person. The book would have been called Incipit.
- v2 in 84 insisting on Algirdas Greimas’ semiotics : giving the book an almost genetic-like origin using these semiotic squares. He goes from a litterary challenge to a science-based approach to a story. What’s interesting is that Calvino refered to thois theory after he wrote the book and he showed some of his archives and drafts, but they don’t appear to have been used at the time of writing the boo. The article has never been translated to Italian or not until after his death it seems. So he was perhaps trying to shift the origin slightly. What’s clear is that the book isn’t based on just one of the approach, it’s a savant mix of the two.

Themes explored & images
Each chapter has two parts :
a numbered part where we follow the main storyline where the aim’s to read the book
the start or incipit of another story, each time in a different style and genre, but linked to the main story in style.
What’s explored is the reading process including elements of critics, censorship, editing... Each incipit has a different style and meaning : introspection, almost sci-fi, erotic, violent. Each story is said to be an apocrypha because they were written by Calvino but as a different person : as someone he’s not and someone not existing.
Although being about stories, the ending is the most classical happy ending, a choice by Calvino that ties the concept together. He’s kinda mocking the trope but knowingly and in a logical fashion.
The book was intended for the average reader which explains why it’s so easy to read and why the reader is the main character. It also ties with the ending, a closed and definitive one by choice. To him he was representing the engagement of the reader. The structure may seem complicated but it remains quite simple (a to b) and with a kind of unity (the parts of the chapters don’t change).

Useful links :
N. BERKMAN, How I wrote one of my books, DOI 10.400/genesis.2993
Calvino’s BBC ITW : https://youtu.be/w2UUhi3vs7g
Oulipo Compendium (EN) : https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/951480.Oulipo_Compendium?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=Gx1CZZvXN2&rank=1
An amazing vizualization of the book : https://www.behance.net/gallery/83315693/Italo-Calvino-text-data-data-visualization-book
Title card poster by Maelle DOLIVEUX : https://www.maelledoliveux.com/If-on-a-Winter-s-Night-a-Traveler
Semiotic square : https://www.behance.net/gallery/17551537/Italo-Calvino-Art-Book


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