Natalya Gornopolskaya

Blog by Natalya Gornopolskaya
“If on a winter’s night a traveler” by Italo Calvino: 7-On the carpet of leaves illuminated by the moon

I have reached a particularly interesting point in the story in which the author refers to “you” the reader, meaning Ludmilla, the Other Reader. I enjoy his use of imagery and thoughtful commentary in describing the details of Ludmilla’s home. Ludmilla has allowed the Reader to drop by to discuss the books they’ve been reading. Just as the Reader sits down to read Irnerio, the non-Reader re-enters the picture. It seems Irnerio frequently takes Ludmilla’s spare books among the books she’s already read and recreates them into works of art. Calvino articulates this as a way to express how a Reader and a non-Reader can individually capture the heart of a novel. The Reader then discovers a few personal items belonging to Ermes Marana, contained in one of Ludmilla’s closets. It seems that she and Marana had a close relationship and perhaps her deep passion for reading is now the driving force for his literary treachery. The Reader is baffled by the knowledge that Ludmilla is somehow involved in this elaborate conspiracy. Ludmilla returns to her apartment and suddenly the two are in bed together. This was quite a shock for me to read because there was no precursor to set off such an event. At the end of the chapter they both resolve to search for Silas Flannery for answers since it is his novel that is being counterfeited. The book “In a network of lines that intersect”, is about a billionaire obsessed with kaleidoscopes who finds himself involved in a conspiracy leaving him, his wife Elfrida and his mistress Lorna trapped in a hall of mirrors. Chapter eight also makes an unexpected shift to the modern diary of Silas Flannery, instead of referring to these events using the two Readers. Flannery talks about his toils and troubles in writing his next groundbreaking novel. He mentions a female who reads each day on her deck. He also encounters Lotaria, who is using his novels for her thesis paper. Lotaria is an unconventional reader who feels that by reading his novels she reaffirms what she already knew to expect. Through Lotaria, he meets Ludmilla, who he sees as the ideal reader and also attempts to sleep with. He then encounters the Reader, and out of his fear for losing Ludmilla, sends him on quest to Japan to trail Marana. He leaves the reader with a copy of yet another novel called “On the carpet of leaves illuminated by the moon”. This story is about a scholar living at the house of his mentor, Mr. Okeda. The scholar finds himself attracted to his mentor’s young daughter Makiko. This section is very sensual and erotic in its elements and adds a refreshing new twist to this already twisted novel.