Summary:
Chapter 1
Calvino breaks novelistic conventions from the first sentence of If on a winter's night a traveler, which reads: "You are about to begin reading Italo Calvino's new novel, If on a winter's night a traveler" (3). While a reader might expect this kind of direct address in a foreword or author's note, second person narration continues throughout the first chapter and indeed throughout the book. The narrator candidly and jocularly addresses the reader, giving instructions about how to read the book such as, "Find the most comfortable position: seated, stretched out, curled up, or lying flat...In the hammock, if you have a hammock" (3).
After four paragraphs of detailed instruction about how best to arrange oneself while reading, the narrator shifts from addressing a non-specific reader to making assumptions about the specific reader currently reading the book. The narrator says that the reader is "the sort of person who, on principle, no longer expects anything of anything" (4). The narrator goes even further to say that the reader found out about the new Calvino book by reading about it in the newspaper and then went to a bookshop to buy the book. The narrator draws out the scene of the reader entering the bookshop and passing by arrays of books which the narrator humorously categorizes into groups such as "Books Too Expensive Now And You'll Wait Till They're Remaindered" (5) and "Books That Everybody's Read So It's As If You Had Read Them, Too" (5). Finally, the reader (who the narrator continues to address as "you") finds If on a winter's night a traveler, buys it, and leaves the store. The reader takes particular pleasure in possessing a new book.
The narrator shifts tactics again, transitioning from making outright assumptions about the reader to making multiple guesses about things the reader might be doing with regard to the book. The narrator hypothesizes that the reader may by attempting to leaf through the new book on the bus, or unwrapping it while driving in a car, or peeking at it while sitting at a desk at work. The narrator seems to settle on the idea that the reader starts to read at work but must restrain themselves from being fully engaged until leaving for home in the evening. Then the reader sits down in their room, looks over the front and back covers of the book, and finally opens it to start from the beginning. Immediately, the reader realizes that the style of the book is not the usual style of the author. However, the reader muses that, "[Calvino] is known as an author who changes greatly from one book to the next" (9). The reader proceeds, thinking that it is preferable to read a book when the style and content are a mystery.
If on a winter's night a traveler
The story-within-a-story If on a winter's night a traveler—in contrast to the full novel If on a winter's night a traveler—takes place in a bar in a train station. Like the novel itself, the story is metaliterary. The narrator of the story at times narrates like in traditional fiction, describing the sights, sounds, and people in the train station. However, at other times the narrator calls attention to the very act of reading; for example, the narrator states, "I am the man who comes and goes between the bar and the telephone booth. Or, rather: that man is called "I" and you know nothing else about him, just as this station is called only "station" and beyond it there exists nothing" (11).
It becomes clear that the main character of the story, seemingly a middle-aged male, has been given instructions to be at this train station. The narrator fruitlessly attempts to use the telephone booth to receive further instructions, aware of the fact that he must not call attention to himself. The narrator again breaks into metaliterary narration, telling the reader directly that they have only been paying attention to him because he is called "I" (15), which marks him as the main character of the story. The narrator also says that the author attempted to "conceal" (15) himself by calling the character "I" but that the author has nevertheless "put into this 'I' a bit of himself, of what he feels or imagines he feels" (15).
The narrator reveals that he had been tasked with going to the train station to exchange a mysterious suitcase with someone else. Something went wrong with the exchange, leaving him in possession of the suitcase and confused what to do next. The last train of the day has already left the station, so he is stranded. All if the other people in the bar are local people who joke familiarly. They discuss whether a woman who owns a shop is going to purchase a neon sign to hang outside. The narrator is attracted to the woman, though when he tries to see her as the others in the bar do, he thinks she seems weary. The locals move on to bantering about the routines of two men, Dr. Marne and Chief Gorin, and place bets on which will arrive to the bar first.
The narrator begins to talk to the woman at the bar, and he finds out that she is Dr. Marne's ex-wife. The narrator knows he is calling attention to himself by talking to her, especially when the doctor arrives at the bar. The woman tells the narrator that she told a suitcase just like his earlier in the day. The woman has to leave, but they make plans for the narrator to come to her shop later that night. After the woman leaves, Chief Gorin arrives. He approaches the narrator and says the code words "Zeno of Elea" (23). He reports that "They've killed Jan" (23) and directs the narrator to get on the next train out of town, taking the suitcase with him. The narrator protests that the express train doesn't stop at this station, but the Chief tells him it will. The narrator hurries out to the platform, gets on the train, and is transported away.
Chapter 2
The narration returns to the frame story wherein a reader ("you") are reading Italo Calvino's new book. The reader realizes that at page 32, the book's text suddenly returns to page 17. There has been a printing mistake such that many duplicates of the same "signature" (or group of book pages) have been inserted. The reader throws the book on the floor in frustration at not being able to continue reading the story and proceeds to fantasize about throwing the book extremely far away. The reader calms down and decides to return to the bookstore the next day to exchange the book for a complete copy.
After a restless night, the reader returns to the store. The bookseller says that other people have already come in to report the same thing, and the publisher has sent a note saying that the book "has proved defective and must be withdrawn from circulation" (28). However, the publisher's note goes on to say that the issue requiring the books to be withdrawn is not the repetition of signatures, but the fact that the text inside the book was not that of Italo Calvino's new book If on a winter's night a traveler at all. The text the reader has just read is actually a translation of a Polish novel called Outside the town of Malbork.
The bookseller offers to give the reader a new copy of the Calvino book that isn't defective, but the reader decides what they actually want is a complete copy of the Polish book so that they can continue the story they were already reading. The bookseller gives the reader a new copy of the Polish book and points out a young woman browsing among bookshelves who also exchanged a defective copy of the book. The narrator is immediately attracted to the woman, who is given the moniker 'Other Reader'. The reader approaches the woman and blunders through an introduction. They begin to talk about books, and it becomes clear that the woman is very quick-witted and well-read. She asserts that she likes novels "that bring me immediately into a world where everything is precise, concrete, specific" (30). The reader asks the Other Reader for her phone number, explaining that they could contact one another if something is wrong with their new copies of the book. For the first time in the book, the narrator specifies the gender of his supposed reader, writing, "You can leave the bookshop content, you, a man" (32).
The reader goes home excited and finds that when he begins to read the book he received at the bookshop, he does not feel alone, but feels the presence of the Other Reader. The reader finds that the book is uncut—the pages within each signature are still attached to one another. The reader takes out a paper knife, separates the title page from the first page of the first chapter, and immediately sees that this is a different book from the one he was reading the day before.
Outside the town of Malbork
Like the last story-within-a-story, this story fluctuates between first-person narration typical of a fiction novel and second person narration directly to the reader. The story takes place in a house full of smells of cooking food, which the reader can perfectly imagine even without knowing what some of the foods are. Characters cooking and talking in the kitchen "take on form gradually" (35); there seem to be many characters, and they refer to one another by many different names depending on their relationships. The story pays special attention to small details—minute aspects of characters' appearances, specialized cooking utensils, and emotive gestures.
The narration shifts to a much more personal style, describing the narrator's own role in the story. The narrator is a boy who lives in Kudgiwa, in the home where the story is currently taking place. It has been decided that he and a boy from Pëtkwo named Ponko will switch places so that the boys can learn different trades. He is worried about leaving everything he knows, and the narrator calls attention to the fact that the style of writing being used in the story is meant to give the reader a sense of this "vertigo of dissolution" (37).
The narrator watches Ponko unpack in his bedroom, feeling threatened by a stranger so physically taking control of his space. He sees a photograph of a girl in Ponko's belongings and tries to look at it. When he sees the girl in the photograph, it makes him think about Brigd, a character who was introduced in the kitchen. Written on the photograph is the phrase: "To remind you of Zwida Ozkart" (38). Ponko tries to get the photograph back, but the narrator overpowers him, tackling him to the ground. The narrator feels as if they might transform into one another through their fighting, and he becomes even more set on beating the other boy to hold on to his sense of self. He thinks to himself that he actually wants to destroy Brigd, who he says he once "rolled with...one on top of the other almost like now with Ponko" (38). He thinks that when he was with Brigd, he was actually already fighting Ponko for possession of Brigd and Zwida.
Finally, the boys break apart. The narrator feels very strange, as if his room and all his belongings were "alien" (40). He wants to find Brigd, or rather a combination of Brigd and Zwida. In another room, the narrator hears Mr. Kauderer, Ponko's father, talking. He reports that two young adult men were found shot. He says that it was done by the Ozkarts, a family with whom the Kauderers have had a long rivalry. He says sadly that Ponko will be safe in Kudgiwa. The narrator's mother says the narrator's name for the first time when she cries, "Will our Gritzvi be in danger?" (41). Mr. Kauderer assures her that her son will be safe, and they call the narrator to leave.
Analysis:
Calvino's novel If on a winter's night a traveler is nontraditional in many ways. One of the most important ways is the novel's use of second-person narration, meaning the narrator speaks directly to the reader and makes them the main character of the story. Unlike in a choose-your-own-adventure story where second person narration gives a reader a feeling of immersion and control, the second person narration in If on a winter's night a traveler may cause a reader discomfort. This is due to Calvino's slow effort to define the reader (the character) as separate from the actual reader. The first few sentences of the book could apply to any reader: "You are about to begin reading Italo Calvino's new novel, If on a winter's night a traveler. Relax. Concentrate. Dispel every other thought. Let the world around you fade" (3). Then, Calvino puts in the first detail that could cause a reader to break identification with the reader in the story, writing, "Best to close the door; the TV is always on in the next room" (3). While some readers might actually have a TV playing in the next room, many will not. With this lighthearted instruction just moments into the book, there is a subtle shift in which some readers realize they will be implicated in a reality that is not their own.
While lack of identification with having a TV on in the next room may not cause a large amount of discomfort, other choices Calvino makes about the definition of the reader are more significant. While Calvino asserts that it would be "indiscreet to ask" the reader about "your age, your status, profession, income" (32), the narrator does make a large assumption: the reader's gender. The reader is implied to be male throughout the second chapter in which he interacts with the woman at the bookshop. Calvino settles the matter when the reader leaves, having gotten the woman's phone number, writing, "You can leave the bookshop content, you, a man who thought that the period when you could still expect something from life had ended" (32). The assertion of a male reader has been interpreted in different ways. Some have accused Calvino of misogyny, while others believe he is parodying the way books in his time were largely written by and for men. It is the nature of literature that different people will have different emotional responses and levels of identification with a story, but If on a winter's night a traveler calls special attention to this fact by making the reader the main character.
The theme of gender and Calvino's inequitable treatment of men and women is continued in the stories-within-a-story. The text of If on a winter's night a traveler bounces back and forth between frame story and snippets of books the main character reads before meeting some obstacle to completing the story. The narrators of both stories-within-a-story in this section, and indeed in all ten stories in the novel, are male. Females appear in the stories largely as romantic objects, and are often paralleled to one another and even blended together. For example, Brigd and Zwida in "Outside the town of Malbork" serve a largely symbolic role as the narrator of the story grapples with leaving his home. After he fights with Ponko, the narrator thinks, "I headed toward Brigd thinking of Zwida: what I sought was a two-headed figure, a Brigd-Zwida" (40). Brigd and Zwida are not written as complex characters in their own rights, and as the novel continues, the reader will discover that the female characters in all the stories-within-a-story parallel one another in their lack of complexity and presence as romantic objects.
Biographer Frank MacShane noted Calvino's views on gender in his article published in the New York Times in 1983, writing, "Calvino takes for the subject of each of the 10 tales the condition of a man who is caught up in a mystery or conspiracy. He always gets into a threatening situation because of an involvement with a woman. This is the basic human condition as Calvino sees it..." (The Fantasy World of Italo Calvino). The first two stories-within-a-story disprove MacShane's assertion that the threatening or mysterious situations encountered by the male narrators are caused by women. In the first story-within-a-story, "If on a winter's night a traveler," the narrator only interacts with a woman, the former Madame Marne, once the mystery he is involved in has been botched. In "Outside the town of Malbork," a woman could only be considered to cause a threatening situation by existing in a photograph. MacShane's generalization on top of Calvino's characterization demonstrates the prevalence of a bias against women in 20th-century literature.
One allusion of particular importance in this section is the reference to "Zeno of Elea" in the story-within-a-story "If on a winter's night a traveler." Zeno of Elea was a Greek philosopher who lived around 400 BCE. While there are references to his writing in the works of other philosophers such as Aristotle, none of his original works survive today. This underscores the theme of decoupling authors, titles, and stories in If on a winter's night a traveler. Since Zeno of Elea was influential to the works of Aristotle and others, his legacy lives on. In fact, as in If on a winter's night a traveler his philosophical works might live on without his name, transcribed by another author or translated into another language.
