Nian Liu

"If on a winter's night a traveler" by italo calvino

Like the critics say, this calvino guys a magician. He brings the reader into the very making of his book, he brings me to his desk where his ideas are flowing and where his pen strikes the page. At the first chapter, Calvino just quickly brainstorms certain topics to write about, and as he is doing this, he makes readers feel as if we have an option on the way we see the character in the book. The author also admits that he has been talking about the station a lot, but as we're stuck reading about this station, he's also stuck, which brings the reader and the character a lot closer. I believe that this calvino guy is creating a work of art, attempting to bring the reader into the book through this strategy. This book like everyone has said is very similar to the House of Leaves, by the way the story is told and the different levels of perspectives in calvino's book.

Questions:
1) Is the main character who's talking about the book the author's writing the author? or just a pretend?