Sep 3, 2026 · 2 hr 9 min · 12 segments
Matthew Fresta and Matthew Sini from Getting Lit join me to talk Italo Calvino’s whirlwind love letter to…
Matthew SiniGuest
Matthew FrestaGuestIf On a Winter's Night a Traveler is the second to last and probably best known novel by the Italian writer Italo Calvino, the title is the first phrase of a long sentence that can be assembled by the titles of the various fictional works that comprise the body of the narrative.
If, on a winter's night, a traveler outside the town of Malbork, leaning from the steep slope without fear of wind or vertigo, looks down in the gathering shadow and a network of lines that enlace, and a network of lines that intersect, on the carpet of leaves illuminated by the moon around an empty grave, what story down there awaits its end, he asks, anxious to hear the story.
A sentence in itself that points to the beautifully metafictional quality of this narrative.
It's a book in which we, the reader, are the main character, and we are pulled along a sort of literary adventure that is one part romance, one part conspiracy thriller, a mystery, a satire, all of these things.
The magic of the book, however, is, to my mind, the many books of which we read a part of as the... narrative pulls us along in search of the missing pages from the very first book.
It's all very cerebral and heady, but in the end, it's actually a lot of fun to read with no lack of philosophical depth and literary virtuosity.
So to talk about this book, I have got the fellows from the great Getting Lit podcast, Mr. Matt Sinney and Mr. Matt Fresta.
If On a Winter's Night a Traveler is the second to last and probably best known novel by the Italian writer Italo Calvino, the title is the first phrase of a long sentence that can be assembled by the titles of the various fictional works that comprise the body of the narrative.
If, on a winter's night, a traveler outside the town of Malbork, leaning from the steep slope without fear of wind or vertigo, looks down in the gathering shadow and a network of lines that enlace, and a network of lines that intersect, on the carpet of leaves illuminated by the moon around an empty grave, what story down there awaits its end, he asks, anxious to hear the story.
A sentence in itself that points to the beautifully metafictional quality of this narrative.
It's a book in which we, the reader, are the main character, and we are pulled along a sort of literary adventure that is one part romance, one part conspiracy thriller, a mystery, a satire, all of these things.
The magic of the book, however, is, to my mind, the many books of which we read a part of as the... narrative pulls us along in search of the missing pages from the very first book.
It's all very cerebral and heady, but in the end, it's actually a lot of fun to read with no lack of philosophical depth and literary virtuosity.
So to talk about this book, I have got the fellows from the great Getting Lit podcast, Mr. Matt Sinney and Mr. Matt Fresta.
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