Calvino IS a Wizard

As promised, Calvino's If on a winter's night a traveler was marvelous. Finally, a post-modern writer with talent! And an amazingly risky and complicated novel that succeeds. As my classmate Micah Schwartzman said, there is every reason to expect the structure to fail completely, and yet it does not. This alone is impressive. Yet Calvino goes further, taking his originality and aiming it in a fascinating direction: the purposes and assumptions that govern the art of reading and the relationship between an author and a reader. I will most certainly have to read the book again to fully appreciate Calvino's message, but even with what little I have succeeded in understanding I can appreciate his accomplishment.