After reading the final portions of Italo Calvino’s (“Calvino”) book if on a winter’s night a traveler, I have a much clearer understanding of interactive text. The book was thought provoking in the way it shifted story lines, presented newly created words, and contained all the book’s format in a weaved circular pattern. The book allows you to think of possible new ending to each story’s plot.
I was impressed when begin the 9th chapter relating the airplane to a metallic uterus. The uterus holds the life of an unborn fetus until delivery time; while the airplane holds its passenger until arrival time. The book’s text implied ways that a person could eliminated writers block by just writing and weaving a story with the experiences of you life, someone else’s life, or just vision from your mind. And, if that is not enough, you could mix all or part of the elements listed combining them in any form you desired and continue your story. Calvino did just that when he visualized Lotaria and incorporated her into many different personalities.
The characters she represented are as follows: Lotaria – Corina – Gertrude – Ingrid – Alfonsina –Shelia – Captian Alexandra. Calvino begin reading a book to get the girl, ended his novel with the revelation that he love the girl, and chapter 12 married the girl. He could have asked her to marry his in the first few pages, but instead he took the reader on a textual journey.