Calvino's dazzling post-modernist masterpiece combines a love story, a
detective story and a sardonic dissection of the publishing industry in a
scintillating allegory of reading. Based on a witty anaolgy between the
reader's desire to finish the story and the lover's desire to consummate
his or her passion, IF ON A WINTER'S NIGHT is the tale of two bemused
readers whose attempts to reach the end of same book - IF ON A WINTER'S
NIGHT by Italo Calvino - are constantly and comically frustrated. THE
ARABIAN NIGHTS of our day