California State University, Dominguez Hills

Essay 3
Examining characteristics of postmodern fiction depicted within Italo Calvinos novel If on a
Winters Night a Traveler

Casey Robertson (202306117)

crobertson25@toromail.csudh.edu
HUX 581: Key Periods and Movements, Philosophy: Philosophy and Postmodernism
07 27 2012

When discussing the genre of postmodern literature, Italian author Italo Calvinos 1979
novel titled If on a Winters Night a Traveler is definitely a work worthy of examination within
this realm. While ascribing attributes of postmodern fiction to a given work can at times, prove
to be a task of both challenging and controversial nature, Calvinos novel exhibits several
notable literary devices that employ key characteristics postmodern fiction as described in
parameters outlined by Tim Woods in his publication Beginning Postmodernism.1 With this
stated, the following discussion will attempt to illuminate some of the postmodern characteristics
present within Calvinos novel, as well as examine the authors application and execution of
themes such as gender and identity.
Before discussing Calvinos novel, it seems appropriate to provide a brief sketch of the
criterion which Tim Woods describes as embodying the key characteristics of post modernism.
According to Woods, a work of postmodern fiction often demonstrates a preoccupation with the
viability of systems of representation, the decentering of the subject by discursive system, the
inscription of multiple fictive selves, along with narrative fragmentation and reflexivity,
narratives which self-consciously allude to their own artifice, and interrogations of the
ontological bases of and connections between narrative and subjectivity. 2 Woods also describes
additional postmodern characteristics such as the abolition between the cultural divide of high
and popular culture, explorations of how narratives mediate and construct history, and finally the
displacement of the real by simulacra, which depicts how the original has always been already
linguistically constructed.3
To begin the discussion on Calvinos novel, one might note that as a distinguished
foreign member of the French Oulipo literary group,4 Calvinos evolution as an author
exhibited a willingness to abandon what he described as serious formal literary structure, and

embrace more abstract constraints and techniques such as combinatory game-oriented stories. 5
By the date of If on a Winters Night a Travelers publication in 1979, Calvino had developed a
writing style by which embodied what scholars such as Federico Federici describes as being
playfully clever literate.6 While the extent of the influence of the Oulipo upon Calvinos
creative output is a separate topic more extensive than suited for this particular discussion, his
membership definitely establishes his forward-thinking that would embrace the following
postmodern literary devices to be examined.
Perhaps the first apparent postmodern device at play in Calvinos novel is that of
metafiction. From the beginning of the story, the author partakes in a type of combinatory
narrative experiment that he later would describe as generating a hyper-novel aimed to give the
essence of a novel by means of concentrated form. 7 To carry out this concept, the twelve
chapters are interpolated with ten fragmented portions of other novels which are framed into the
plotline; diverging within the conceptual framework from a common crux. With this said, one
might describe this particular work as essentially a novel about novels or a fiction about fictions.
Much like Laurence Sternes novel The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentlemen,
Calvinos use of metafiction is a pivotal role in the narrative of this work as Calvino refers to the
reader as you; making it abundantly clear from the first pages to the reader that they are
experiencing If on a Winters Night a Traveler within a metafictional context: You are about to
begin reading Italo Calvinos new novel If on a Winters Night a Traveler.8 It appears that
through the blurring of the framing texts and the embedded texts, Calvino attempts to also
dissolve the separation between perceived reality and the text of the narrative. Attempts at this
narrative action are perhaps best exemplified when the author remarks in in chapter nine: you
find yourself prisoner of a system in which every aspect of life is counterfeit, a fake. 9

Self-reflexivity clearly has a finite presence throughout Calvinos novel. While German
Romantics theorized about it,10 few major works actually put this concept into motion up until
this period. His self-conscious writing appears to frequently question his narration, while at the
same time, invokes liberal amounts of humor and satire to illuminate the poststructuralist notion
relating to the hierarchy of reading over writing; often through means of restating and
subversion. Calvino once stated that the process of literary composition has been taken to
pieces and reassembled, the decisive moment in literary life is bound to be the act of reading. 11
The other protagonist, Ludmilla also expresses a disinterest in the act of writing as she prefers
to solely partake in the act of reading. She proclaims [t]heres a boundary line: one side those
who make books, one the other those who read them. I want to remain one of those who read
them, so I take care to always remain on my side of the line. Otherwise, the unsullied pleasure of
reading ends. 12
Through Calvinos use of fragmented novel sections occurring in this work, there is very
much an abolition of the cultural divide of high and low cultures as Woods described. While
Calvinos literary stance in works such as this one have been at times describes as highbrow,13
each of the introductory chapters interspersed within the novel are vastly different not only in
theme and plot, but also in genre; Calvino intersperses everything from thriller, mystery, and
adventure genres to more traditional forms of classical fiction. This multiplicity of storylines
embedded into the underlying narrative also presents another characteristic of postmodern
writing; that of multiple fictive selves. Each novel fragment throughout the story presents a
unique isolated plotline of narration which serves at the same time to further the underlying
story. There is a definite sense of intertexuality at play amongst the narratives, while at the same

time, there is a generic sense of pastiche that guides the reader and Ludmilla through these
numerous seemingly disconnected fictions.
In relation to the use of gender, Calvinos novel exerts relatively specific discourse
relating to the reader within a masculine context. For example, the narrator states in chapter
eight that This book so far has been careful to leave open the Reader who is reading the
possibility of identifying himself with the Reader who is read and so he has been kept a
pronoun in the abstract condition of pronouns, suitable for any attribute and any action.14 By
incorporating the antecedent pronoun of he, this passage expresses identification with a
masculine narrative. In the third chapter, cultural representations of sexual difference are at play
when Calvino places the reader in the context of a male in relation to a female other which is
both mysterious and unattainable within the semantic context; furthering her role as a type of
object of desire. According to Cohen and Shires, by placing the signifier as the reader, this
narrative symbolically encodes gender differences by granting the male reader direct subjectivity
and the female reader indirect access to subjectivity. 15 With this in mind, the male reader
achieves subjectivity and recognition of masculinity through the pronoun/character that signifies
having a lack (the reader is notated as he, but the he in question is not the reader), while the
female identifies with the same narration to achieve femininity, but only by signifying through
a lack or absence (she is not the he ascribed to the reader).16 While the masculine pronounbased reader is depicted as the main protagonist in the story, the notion of autonomy appears to
be severely restricted from the very beginning with dictating narration such as youre the sort of
person who, on principal, no longer expects anything of anything. 17 The frequent use of you
seems to elude to the reader being resigned to a mere a signifier in the story.

It is interesting to note that the sexual dynamics of this novel in relation to gender have
also been the target of criticism for certain scholars. Teresa de Lauretis accused Calvino of
being involved within a neoconservative reaction in response to the feminist movement that
has led so many artists, writers, and theorists to employ their labor and talent to re-contain
women in male-centered systems. 18 According to Molly Travis, this view argues that by
silencing the other female character, there is a furthering of the status-quo.19
The notion of identity is also an interesting aspect of Calvinos novel. Much of the story
alludes to not only the questioning the act of writing itself, but also questions of ontological
uncertainty; often attempting to blur the notions between fiction and reality through Calvinos
mise-en-scne of unfinished novels. One might say that through these omtercpmmected
narratives, there is a sense of the displacement of the real by simulacra that Woods has described.
The use of these narrative stories which lack closure generates a postmodern condition in
literature similar to that of Luigi Pirandellos 1922 theatrical work Six Characters in Search of
an Author. This seems to point to Calvino eluding to a view that the reality of the world is
fundamentally tied to meaning through the concepts of language and culture. To elaborate, the
I experiencing what is known as reality is not an operational entity free of language and
culture; rather, it is their construct. At the same time, it appears that Calvino does not believe
that objective reality can exist outside of language and culture with any meaningful function.
This view illuminates epistemological problems centered upon the awareness of reality. With
these issues brought into focus, Calvino appears to reflect upon literature as his personal system
of knowledge or knowing. It seems that Calvino hoped to express in this work, along with his
1983 postmodern novel Mr. Palomar, a notion that this genre must stress participation of the
reader to acquire meaning.

In context, Italo Calvinos work of If on a Winters Night a Traveler has proven to be not
only a fascinating, but also innovative work of postmodern fiction. As this discussion has
reflected upon, there is a level of literary complexity at play that Calvino uses to not only disrupt
narrative techniques, but also bring them back under governance. While this novel is without
doubt, an enjoyable read upon many levels, the postmodern techniques at play generate a clever
type of literary game that is never fully satisfied for the reader, even with the novels eventual
resolution at its end. By residing within this realm which generates many more questions than
answers, Calvino has composed a work that was not only innovative for the fiction of its period,
but also one that served to generate a much necessary examination into the act of writing fiction
itself.

Footnotes

Woods, Tim. Beginning Postmodernism. Manchester University Press. New York, New York. 1999. P. 65.

Woods, Tim. Beginning Postmodernism. Manchester University Press. New York, New York. 1999. P. 65.

Woods, Tim. Beginning Postmodernism. Manchester University Press. New York, New York. 1999. P. 66.

Federici, Federico. Translation as Stylistic Evolution: Italo Calvino Creative Translator of Raymond Queneau.
Rodopi. New York, New York. 2009. P. 5.
5

Grundvig, Birgitte. McLaughlin, Martin Petersen, William (Editors). Bartezzaghi, Stefano. Calvino at Play:
Image, Eye and Art in Calvino. Modern Humanities Research Association & Maney Publishing. London, United
Kingdom. 2007. P. 122.
6

Federici, Federico. Translation as Stylistic Evolution: Italo Calvino Creative Translator of Raymond Queneau.
Rodopi. New York, New York. 2009. P. 5.
7

Weiss, Beno. Understanding Italo Calvino. University of South Carolina Press. Columbia, South Carolina. 1993.
P. 167.
8

Calvino, Italo. If on a Winters Night a Traveler. Trans. William Weaver. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. New York,
New York. 1982. P. 3.
9

Calvino, Italo. If on a Winters Night a Traveler. Trans. William Weaver. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. New York,
New York. 1982. P. 215.
10

Landry, Joshua. How to Do Things with Fictions. Oxford University Press. New York, New York. 2012. P. 90.

11

Weiss, Beno. Understanding Italo Calvino. University of South Carolina Press. Columbia, South Carolina. 1993.
P. 167.
12

Calvino, Italo. If on a Winters Night a Traveler. Trans. William Weaver. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. New York,
New York. 1982. P. 93.
13

Bondanella, Peter. Italo Calvino and Umberto Eco-Postmodern Masters: The Cambridge Companion to the
Italian Novel. New York, New York. P.171.
14

Calvino, Italo. If on a Winters Night a Traveler. Trans. William Weaver. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. New York,
New York. 1982. P. 141.
15

Cohen, Steven. Shires, Linda. Telling Stories: A Theoretical Analysis of Narrative Fiction.Routledge. New York,
New York. 1988. P. 153.
16

Cohen, Steven. Shires, Linda. Telling Stories: A Theoretical Analysis of Narrative Fiction.Routledge. New York,
New York. 1988. P. 153.
17

Calvino, Italo. If on a Winters Night a Traveler. Trans. William Weaver. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. New York,
New York. 1982. P. 4.
18

Travis, Molly. Reading Cultures: The Construction of Readers in the Twentieth Century. Southern Illinois
University Press. Carbondale, Illinois. 1998. P. 52.

19

Travis, Molly. Reading Cultures: The Construction of Readers in the Twentieth Century. Southern Illinois
University Press. Carbondale, Illinois. 1998. P. 52.