Legacy and Opinion
The Telegraph included it in 69th place in a list of "100 novels everyone should read" in 2009, describing it as a "playful postmodernist puzzle".
Author David Mitchell described himself as being "magnetised" by the book from its start when he read it as an undergraduate, but on rereading it, felt it had aged and that he didn't find it "breathtakingly inventive" as he had the first time, yet does stress that "however breathtakingly inventive a book is, it is only breathtakingly inventive once" - with once being better than never.
Novelist and lecturer Scarlett Thomas uses it to teach innovative contemporary fiction, as an example of different kinds of narrative techniques.
Sting named his 2009 album If On a Winter's Night... after the book.
English musician and composer Bill Ryder-Jones released the album "If..." on 14 November 2011. The album is a musical adaptation of the book and serves as an "imaginary film score."
Read more about this topic: If On A Winter's Night A Traveler
Famous quotes containing the words legacy and/or opinion:
“What is popularly called fame is nothing but an empty name and a legacy from paganism.”
—Desiderius Erasmus (c. 14661536)
“He who is usually self-sufficient becomes exceptionally vain and keenly alive to fame and praise when he is physically ill. The more he loses himself the more he has to endeavor to regain his position by means of the opinion of others.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (18441900)