Borges was an opener of doors. Although he certainly walked through many of these doors himself, albeit on rather brief sojourns, his chief contribution to art and literature was to demonstrate the depth and breadth of possibility. He toyed with metafiction, authenticity, the relationship between artist and consumer, reality, sanity, time, death, infinity…… leaving doors wide open all along the way for future creators.
Calvino’s “If on a winter’s night a traveler” masterfully expands to a full novel the level of engagement with and stretching of literature as an art form pioneered in short-form by Borges. Everything about this novel, from the prose to the form to the “plot” to the title itself, serves to reinforce the theme of anticipation and the infinite íncipit. A novelization of the unlimited potential of beginnings, of continuous unfolding, much like the Library of Babel in novel form.
In other words, if Borges had written his perfect Borgesian full-length novel, this would be it. I am in awe of Calvino’s achievement in “If on a winter’s night a traveler.”
I’d love to hear others’ thoughts about this remarkable work.
by Stupid-Sexy-Alt