What: Italo Calvino's novel If on a Winter's Night a Traveler is about someone ("you") trying to read a book called If on a Winter's Night a Traveler, by Italo Calvino. (With me so far?) The reading is interrupted by, among other things, missing pages, a foundering publishing house, literary guerrillas, and an international conspiracy.
Comparable to: It won't surprise you to learn that David Mitchell, the author of Cloud Atlas, was an instant fan the first time he read it. See also other twisty-structure-meta works of classic literature, such as One Thousand and One Nights, Pale Fire, and Tristram Shandy.
Opening lines: "You are about to begin reading Italo Calvino's If on a winter's night a traveler. Relax. Concentrate. Dispel every other thought. Let the world around you fade. Best to close the door; the TV is always on in the next room. Tell the others right away, 'No, I don't want to watch TV!' Raise your voice --- they won't hear you otherwise --- 'I'm reading! I don't want to be disturbed!'"
You might not like it if: It seems too much like compulsory reading for an undergraduate course in postmodern fiction. (Which, let's face it, is exactly what it is.)
How to get it: Buy or borrow it in print. Not Kindle-able (yet) --- although that would have the potential for an interesting experience.
Connections to previous Wreckage: David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas was Rec. #140. To see how this sort of thing can sometimes be made into a movie, watch Tristram Shandy (Rec. #112).
[Originally posted 9/3/12.]
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