Natalya Gornopolskaya

Blog by Natalya Gornopolskaya
“If on a winter’s night a traveler” by Italo Calvino: 3-Without fear of wind or vertigo

As the story progresses we see the main character, known only as “Reader” become further engulfed into making sense of his original novel along with a few new subsequent novels. Just as he was in the middle of what he thought was the Polish novel, it turns out that it wasn’t even the same story to begin with. The names were not Polish and neither were the towns and areas in the context. His copy of the novel contained plot holes and many blank pages, prompting him to call the woman he met at the bookstore, Ludmilla. Her sister Lotaria answers the phone and seems very argumentative and critical of her sister’s intrigue with reading such a tangled web of a novel. Ludmilla then starts talking on the phone, telling the Reader to meet her at professor Uzzi-Tuzii’s office to discuss Cimmerian literature. It seems that the book he was reading was not the Polish novel but a Cimmerian novel. At the university, the professor starts to read aloud from a novel with similar names and locations, thinking this is the aforesaid novel; though this also ends up being an entirely different novel. This new novel is called “Leaning from the steep slope”. It involves a nameless man who is unknowingly involved in a scheme with Mr. Kauderer while trying to obtain a grapnel for an artist known as Miss Zwida. At some point during the reading Ludmilla is newly present. The professor’s reading is suddenly brought to a halt by Ludmilla’s sister Lotaria. Lotaria claims the professor has misinterpreted the novel being read. She says this novel is not the Cimmerian work “Leaning from the steep slope”, but a Cimbrian piece, which was renamed to “Without fear of wind or vertigo” by the same author under a different pseudonym. Ludmilla and the Reader then go to Lotaria’s study group to further discuss yet another new novel. This new novel portrays a time of revolution, with three main characters involved in a schism or some sort of a treacherous organization. The main character has always been male, with no first name and this next story is no exception. We follow this new character along with his associates, Irina and Valerian as they are seemingly up to no good. This small portion of an entirely new story also ends in a pivotal moment just as all the preceding stories have done.

Questions:

1. Why is the main character in each story a male with no first name?

2. Do each of these stories somehow go together?

3. Is the Reader more driven towards this quest out of pure intrigue or is he simply trying to pursue Ludmilla?