If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler

novel by Calvino

Also known as: “Se una notte d’iverno un viaggiatore”

Written and fact-checked by

Britannica Editors

If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler, avant-garde novel by Italo Calvino, published in 1979 as Se una notte d’inverno un viaggiatore. Using shifting structures, a succession of tales, and different points of view, the book probes the nature of change, coincidence, and chance and the interdependence of fiction and reality. It examines living and reading as interchangeable metaphors for each other. Also investigated are the expectations of the reader, the intentions of the author,...