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