Italo Calvino was noted as being of great inspiration to Jonathan Blow (as a relative point of interest on the OP's question)

I think during one of the Braid 20th anniversary podcasts[0] he talks to it which I loved listing to (from a historic viewpoint; well moreso than a game dev/design)

[0]https://open.spotify.com/show/7t7FUL1e9vMCLWpKqcknAL?si=B_Bd...