Chapter 1 and If On a Winter's Night a Traveler Summary

If On a Winter's Night a Traveler is the story of one reader's journey to finish reading a complete novel in a world full of obstacles designed to stop him. Through a variety of literary styles, author Calvino takes readers along to discover the truth behind readers, writers, and the fine line between the two.

Chapter 1 finds the author of the book speaking directly to the reader of the novel, you, as the novel is written mostly in the second person. However, the author assumes in his writing throughout the book that the reader of the tale is male. The author tells him how to read this novel comfortably and discusses how he probably found this book. The author assumes he went to the bookstore, made it...