If On a Winters Night a Traveler has been a very intriguing read so far. Italo Calvino, as an author, is quite different than any other author I’ve come across. He draws the reader into the story, but he does it in a completely unconventional way. My first thought, once I realized that this book was not one book, but several parts of several books split into chapters, interrupted by a seperate continuing story, was that Italo Calvino was putting on an exhibition. He was trying to see just how many different stories he could squeeze into one book while maintaining one story, as a whole. Of course this most likely wasn’t his intention, but it was an interesting way to look at the book. I then began to think of this book being presented in other forms of media. If this book was made into a movie, I can’t help but think that it would either drive the audience crazy or deeply draw people into the plot. Every few minutes, a new plot, completely new characters, yet something underlying that remains the same. A male narrator trying to involve himself with a female character.
As I’ve continued to read through page 130, I’ve noticed that I prepare myself for each story, knowing that I’ll only be reading a chapter or two of each story. Because of that, its a lot easier for me to take interest in the story between The Reader and Ludmilla. Italo Calvino sure did create a very interesting new aproach to the novel, one that I’ve never encountered before. But why did he choose to write the novel in such a way?