If On a Winter's Night a Traveler

Around An Empty Grave by Mohammad Nokary

mohn92 — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 17:19:24 +0000

The story begins with Nacho sitting around his father deperately asking him to tell him the truth about his mother. Before his father had the chance to tell him his mothers name he dies taking with him all Nachos hopes on meeting his mother, but manages to tell him that his mother is in Oquedal. Nacho does not give up, he sets out to search for his mother on his know. When he reaches Oquedal he encounters three courtyards. He enters the third courtyard, and comes across an indian family. The mother quickly tells him that she has nothing to do with him and has no idea who her mother is. But when Nacho tries to have an affair with her daughter she gets furious and asks them to seperate. He tells him that his mother is in the other courtyard. When he goes there the woman denies any blood ties and also gets furious with his attempt to have intercourse with her daughter and leads him again to the first courtyard. The woman in the first courtyard, Anacelta, had talked about her brother earlier and how Nacho(Naho’s father was also called Nacho at that time)killed him. Then when he tries to get close to her daughter, her son quickly jumps out to fight him the same way his uncle fought the girls uncle years ago. The fight resembles exactly what had happened years ago, a brother fighting a man for trying to get close to his sister. Nacho obviously represents his father years ago. This story is a pastiche to colonial literature having many details proving the ties between the story and this literature.

Chapter 6 and In a Network of Lines that Enlace by Hisham Itani and Assil Hobbalah

absolutbeirut — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 21:01:57 +0000

Chapter 6:

In chapter 6, the mystery of the translations begins to uncover in front of us. It starts with the reader going to the publishing company and being informed that all this chaos and misunderstanding was caused by one man only. That man is Ermes Marana. You, the reader start searching through the letters which were sent by Marana and you read letter after letter only to find stories which don’t make sense and are a collection of different events simply stuck together. The letters are spread from around five continents so the real presence of Marana is not exact. He talks about a Father of Stories whom some people consider him to have told all the stories which have been written in the world others who consider him a reincarnation of Homer.

In page 117 “according to still others he is the reincarnation of Homer, of the story teller of the Arabian Nights, of the author of the Popol Vuh…”

We later find out that the technique being used in the short stories was an old technique used by writers in the Orient and its basic theory was to cut the stories being told short at the climax.

In this chapter, we view two clear elements of postmodernism. They are metafiction and fragmentation. Metafiction is basically when you read a novel involving a reader reading another novel and this novel or story is fictitious. It can be clearly observed through the reading of the letters. Fragmentation appears when the reader switches from letter to letter giving us random events. Also, the mysteriousness and the multiple post stamps are there to show the distortion of reality and also the contradicting views of Cerro Negro being in either South America or India, and in the two letters he sent about Cerro Negro, each had a different tone from the other to confuse the readers, all this serving for the element of showing that reality is perception.

In a network of lines that enlace:

The title of a short story, “In a network of lines that enlace” is very symbolic. It is symbolic of the book itself; it is a network of pieces of books that intertwine to form “If on a winter’s night a traveler”. The narrator during this novel is a professor who goes out daily for a short jog; Marjorie is his student whom he mentions to have had a crush on. That professor is paranoid of the ringing of the phone. Everywhere he goes; the Phone rings follow him regardless of time and place. As soon as he hears a phone ringing he feels “ torn between the necessity and the impossibility of answering…” he thinks that there is a telephone chasing him and that there is somebody looking up all the numbers in Chestnut Lane in the directory, calling one house after the other, trying to overtake him.

“ I am the prisoner of the circle whose center is the telephone ringing inside the house, I run without moving away, I hover without shortening my stride” This quote relates to all readers in a way or another. Personally, I have a mutual feeling: for whenever I hear a beeping or a ringing of the phone I quickly check mine and when the phones noise dies out I feel a sense of relief ! Now back to the short story. While that professor was jogging in Chestnut lane he hears a phone ringing in one of the houses. And without hesitation he enters the house and picks up the phone since he feels that the ringing follows him like a barking dog. As he picks up the phone he hears someone saying: “Now you listen to me …Marjorie is here… but she’s tied up and can’t get away…” Then the caller continues by telling the professor that going to a specific house at a specific time may save Marjorie. The professor at this moment feels a sense of dilemma and suffers from an internal conflict within him since he struggles to decide whether he has to go to save the girl or not. Eventhough he doesn’t know who that Marjorie is , and feels guilty for answering the phone and facing such a problem. When the professor is close to saying no, the name MARJORIE rings a bell in his head, and he then remembers his student who he mentions to have had a crush on. Marjorie Stubbs is not just any student, she is a girl who is appealing to him and who encountered a misunderstanding of intentions with him once. So after questioning and interrogations the professor realizes that Marjorie is that same girl he once liked so he decides to go and save her. He runs to the house with his full effort and discovers his tied up student, which after all his suffering calls him a bastard.

This story doesn’t follow the clear plot chain and makes us realize that the world is a weird place to be in. Some experiences can’t be expressed in words, like those of colors or smells or reading. Finding ways around this inability to directly describe a feeling is a theme that interests Calvino, who wishes to give “a name to what is still nameless, a voice to those still voiceless”.

Overview of Postmodernism in “If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler” By May Tamim, Nour Sinno and Hassan Sinno.

livme — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 11:45:23 +0000

Postmodernism is a new form of writing where the author is free with his style and breaks the rules of most classical pieces of writing. In “If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler” Italo Calvino enters the mind of the reader and uses the text as a medium of making the reader think what Italo wants him to think. In this piece of writing, Calvino demonstrates pastiche, fragmentation, globalization, experimentation, and refutation of the consumer material world which are all components of postmodernism. If on a winter’s night is an adventurous piece of writing that shows how disconnected random stories may be but nevertheless form an exciting plot.

The most noticeable aspect of Calvino’s style is his ability to alternate between stories that have nothing in common and form a serious plot between the readers. For example, in “If on a winters night a traveler”, the first story about Madame Marne, Calvino foreshadows Ludmilla’s entry in the numbered chapters. There is a loss of identity for Ludmilla who is portrayed as a classy Madame Marne in one story then as the adventurous and the sensual woman-rights protector who shows Ludmilla’s strong and decisive personality in another. Also, the whole confusion with the books and the kaleidoscopes aim to confuse the reader and make him lost in his own identity.

Pastiche is very evident in all the short stories in Calvino’s novel where he takes ideas from several other writers and styles and manipulates them to fit in his plot. For example, he takes the essence of Japanese writing where he tenderly describes emotions and feelings in “On the carpet of leaves illuminated by the moon”, then he has several references to Chekhov the Russian author who usually portrays the sad conditions in Russia at the turn of the century (i.e. the Russian Revolution) and expresses them in “without fear of wind or vertigo”. Calvino also experiments with colonial literature in “Around an empty grave” where he chooses an Indian protagonist called Nacho and an American Indian ground setting. By joining all these diverse pieces of literature, Calvino is subconsciously globalizing literature in one book. He experiments by writing disconnected stories which no other author has tackled before which makes it an experimental postmodern novel.

“If on a winter’s night a traveler” is not meant to be a story any sort of reader can read and enjoy. It goes further than that by encouraging people to use books to communicate and let go of the very fast and unemotional methods of communication and media like television and other modern devices. This is very evident from the very beginning of the novel when he writes, “No, I don’t want to watch TV! I’m reading I don’t want to be disturbed!” In this sense, Calvino wants us to appreciate the book and give it the concentration, time and respect it deserves.

In conclusion, “If on a winter’s night a traveler” is a great example of a postmodern novel where it introduces new styles and horizons to the reader but maintains the favored tradition of having a finished story.

Link to Postmodernism chapters 11 and 12 Bassel Salman

basselsalman — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 17:45:25 +0000

” If On A Winter’s Night A Traveller” is an art of postmodernism where the author communicates directly with the reader usinng him as part of the novel. He guides the reader to head for the library and explains to him what to expect there. In addition, the author also uses the “YOU” pronoun inorder to make the reader part of the events and therefore involved in the book. Calvino also portrays ” skepticism towards progress” (pg 258 something that seemed to conseal a mystery) for in the book the reader is frustrated in attempts to solve the mystery of the books. The reader lives an adventure trying to find the book he wants to continue and ends giving up the endings of the stories creating an ending for his life story (Marriage). In other words, the reader in vain attempts to find the truth behind the unfinished novels which is barely human nature . Instead he manages to find another truth which is the continuation of his life. Finally, ” If On A Winter’s Night A Traveller” is an example of postmodernism literature because it contains ” Intertexuality” and ” Interwoven texts” . (Chapter 12 ” just a moment …. Calvino). It is a series of unfinished stories all mixed up in one about the reader ( YOU). Meanwhile, the author carries the reader (YOU) to an atmosphere of mystery and suspense, keeping him wondering like a traveller in a winter’s night seeking his lost path.

Reflection and Analysis Chapter 11 and 12 Bassel Salman and Noureen shehab

basselsalman — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 17:19:14 +0000

According to Calvino, it is the reader’s final hope to end up in a library (pg 253 what … library). There are certain procedures to be followed when applying for a book. If he is fortunate , he finds directly what he desires but in some cases some obstacles may arise forcing him to wait. During this time, he encounters other readers who expose their different styles of reading inorder to make it enjoyable. Calvino expresses their methods of reading in an amazing and worth praising way. However, the readear (YOU) after a moment of reasoning realizes that all seven methods of reading lead to a standard and perfect way of reading revealing the significance of language in solving the mysteries. There are readers who pause after several lines wondering to seek thoughts , feelings and images of the story being read . Others concentrate on reading inorder not to lose any valuable details. He also adds that most readers repeat what they read to create a sense of continuity between the books or discover new things that they werent aware of or seek the themes behind each novel. Calvino continues to show through the readers the relationship between old and recent books since the old lead to the present ones . However, Calvino in his unique way , keeps the reader suspended and never perceiving an ending (pg 257 it seems … all the way). After certain interruptions by one of the readers the reader (YOu) realizes that ancient novels must posses a begining and an end. (pg 259 the seventh… death). It flashes directly to the reader that he himself has gone through a puzzling story with Ludmilla from the first day he met her in the book shop until the current day. Inorder, for him to to end his story , he chooses to marry Ludmilla ( continuation of life) as a blissful ending rather than a tragic one (inevitability of death). The ending of his story happens to be the ending of Calvino’s novel ” If On A Winter’s Night A Traveller”.

What Story Down There Awaits Its End? by Karim Saba and Helmi Rifai

karim543 — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 18:02:31 +0000

The story starts with the narrator walking along the “Prospect” of the city, then the process begins, the process of erasing everything that is not necessary. He begins by erasing the ministry building and reduces it to an opaque slab of glass, but that was not enough for him, so he erases it completely, leaving nothing behind! He then realizes that the world is too overloaded and complicated, so he goes on erasing everything. As he goes along erasing, reducing the whole prospect into a slab of gray ice, he sees the distant shadow of Franziska, of whom we know nothing about other than that he likes her and enjoys talking to her. He doesn’t only destroy the buildings and roads, but he goes on to erase cultures, economic structures, primitive societies, and nature, for as he sees it :”Once you have succeeded in dispensing with something you thought essential, you realize you can also do without something else, then without many other things”( p.248). Then all that remains in the world is him, Franziska, and men from section D, that basically come out of nowhere and we have no background information on, nor any piece of information other than that they are there with the narrator and Franziska. He decides to erase the men from Section D, that by best guess, have something to do with totalitarianism, or communism, like the KGB or something, but with no success as they remain there between him and her. At that point he regrets what he has done and tries to go back to the normal world, but to his misfortune he cannot. Finally he manages to get away from the men from section D, and meet Franziska, she asks him to a coffee shop and then “zap” the story ends, another chapter with no ending, what a surprise by now.

This chapter contains postmodenistic elements. An element of postmodernism evident in this chapter is the absence of a concrete reality, and a shift between two alternate realities, from the world as we know it to a world not bounded by the laws of physics, which would ideally be the narrators imagination, creating a void between these two “realities” where we are bound, for we never go inside his head, nor are we distant observers. We also see that lack of basic structure in this chapter, we start out with the narrator erasing everything then to finding men that he cant erase, and then to wishing he could replace everything, and finally to meeting Franziska, basicly jumping all around the place from topic to topic and never really concentrating on one thing other than the will to alter reality, and erase things.

“Around an Empty Grave” by Mireille Naim and Amin Nassar

mirou92 — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 22:28:18 +0000

In this captivating pastiche of a South American story, the suspense and tension carry on. Nacho is finally told the truth about his mother, whom he knew nothing about. He finds out at his father’s death bed that he has a mother living in Oquedal. He is ordered to take his father’s horse and search for his unknown mother. He comes across a young, ill-mannered man who doesn’t answer his question. The young man gets offended and aims his rifle at Nacho. Nacho continues his journey and he finally arrives at Oquedal where he heads towards the third courtyard. There, he meets Anacleta Higueras who informs him of all the evil his father has resembled. Then, Nacho realizes his facial resemblance in all the people in Oquedal. He starts suspecting that Anacleta is his mother, however she denies it. He continues his search for is beloved mother and in several incidents he tries to engage in sexual intercourse with girls such as Amaranta. He is denied first by Anacleta and then by Dona Jazmina another woman, whom he also thinks is his mother. This comical or ironic situation shows that he is unwanted for none of the women he suspected wanted to be his mother. Nacho then finds out about his father’s enemy and he is informed about his latter’s bitter victory over his rival. Then he goes to his grave but finds it empty thus realizing that the man whom he met on the road is Faustino Higueras, his father’s enemy. Suddenly, the latter appears next to his grave ready to take revenge and fight Nacho.
This story contains sort of a descriptive and narrative style that surprises the reader with its open ending. The author uses metafiction, thus, accumulating the suspense by the sudden narrative shifts that stir the story around. This is evident when Nacho is tossed from one woman to another fruitlessly, and just when the reader thinks that Anacleta is Nacho’s real mother, he discovers that his prediction was wrong, and this is also the case with Dona Jazmina. Finally, the author forces the reader to analyze the nature of the story by using a relatively radical move.

Chapter [9] By Mireille Naim and Amin Nassar

mirou92 — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 21:56:39 +0000

The chapter begins with the Reader, or “I” as previously named, travelling in pursuit of Marana. We can see the self- referentiality of the idea of “void” that blends reality and fiction in this novel. The Reader is crossing a “gap in space”. He is becoming an “abstraction”, an “anonymous”, and in order to occupy the “nothingness” he is flying above, he reads. It is literature that connects him to reality thus building a “bridge over void”. In the Reader’s opinion, the only existing thing between reality and fiction is literature. Everything else is an illusion, a false impression.
The same routine of fragmentation or interruption persists whereby a policeman seizes the Reader’s copy of “On a Carpet of Leaves Illuminated by the Moon”. An unknown women who acquires several identities as a source of camouflage gives him a copy of “Around an Empty Grave” and explains the ubiquitous falsifications in this country. Even books are faked using specialized machines and programmers. A question, thus, of what is true and what is not also arises in this chapter. The Reader travelled to a world “where everything that can be falsified has been falsified”. He is lost in a maze of hypocrisy that diffuses truth and fiction, causing a person to deceive his own self. Such philosophical element is called epistemology. This confusion created an internal conflict within the Reader causing him to be “dragged passively by the plot”. For the first time, he is oblivious to what happens around him.
Moreover, Identity, a motif in this novel reappears in this chapter whereby the Reader’s acquaintance admits several personalities: “there’s always another uniform underneath- everything is two-faced”. Since the Reader identifies with his acquaintance into conceiving her as Latoria, he ends up on the verge of submissively making love to her. The motif of sex is reborn in this chapter as a process of pleasurable reading of the body. His acquaintance is his “object of reading”(chapter [7]) now, and the Reader is “skimming the index”( chapter [7]) of her body.
However, the stereotypical discontinuity of the Reader’s novels ceases and a switch in events occurs. The Reader and Latoria-Ingrid are interrupted at their climax which foreshadows the promising incoming continuity of “Around an Empty Grave”. This intermittency of the novels is an element of postmodernism.

Chapter [10] by Karim Saba and Helmi Rifai

karim543 — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 15:18:37 +0000

The chapter begins with “you”, the reader, drinking tea with Arkadian Porphyrich. Calvino, through the discussion that goes on between the reader and Porphyrich, discusses the fact that literature has great authority and power over everyday life. (Nobody these days holds the written word in such high esteem as police states do,……Where it is the object of such attentions, literature gains an extraordinary authority…… pg 235 and 236). Calvino also criticizes western countries where books are not banned and the public is free to chose by implying that people have books but they could not care less as to bother read them (the countries, finally, in which every day books are produced for all tastes and all ideas, amid general indifference…pg 235).

Calvino then moves on talking about what opposing regimes do to remain in power. These regimes work secretly together (though they are enemies) on importing and exporting banned books to make it seem like banned books in this country are allowed in the other and vice versa (This would seem to imply……and vice versa …pg236). This brings us to the idea of “losing our sense of reality” as the world becomes built on illusions and falsified records. In relation to what has just been said, Calvino also raises the issue of counterfeit and falsification. Books are edited in a way that dilutes the material found in them in order to maintain the balance the ruling regime is in. In simpler words, as long as the people do not read, they remain ignorant and will never revolt and construct their own reality. A character we are introduced to in the chapter is the Cagliostro (the one who counterfeits books and is behind the falsification process). According to the Cagliostro the world “exists only as artifice, pretense, misunderstanding, falsehood….pg 239. Calvino then mentions a woman this Cagliostro would do anything for and shoes her to be a “reader” and a “seeker of the truth hidden behind all circumstances”. This woman is thus an embodiment of reality, a sign that is reality itself.

Calvino also brings up the subject of “constructed realities”. (Something must always remain that eludes us…..For power to have an object on which to be exercised……As long as I know there exists in the world someone who does tricks only for the love of the trick…..pg 240). This is a clear reference to the communist regimes that pretty much controlled people’s lives and thus constructed their “reality”. Towards the end of the chapter, the reader has a dream that he is on a train and he finds the book he has been seeking. He then sees a blurred figure of Ludmilla who says to him, “The book I’m looking for is the one that gives the sense of the world after the end of the world, the sense that the world is the end of everything that there is in the world, that the only thing there is in the world is the end of the world”….pg243. This is nothing but an introduction to the next story “What story down there awaits its end?” in which the main character constructs his own reality.

All in all, the elements of postmodernism are clearly evident in this chapter as Calvino mocks the way society is running through an experiment in literature. One can finally infer that Calvino’s goal was to shed light on the important role of books and literature in awaken the masses and constructing the “real”.

Samia Sayyid, Raja Riachi Chapters [11], [12]

donriachi — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 16:27:18 +0000

The first two paragraphs of chapter 11 state that what was once a “dark and stormy night” expressed in the blank pages of “If on a Winter’s Night a Traveller” encountered by the two readers is now finally resolving itself into a new day of enlightenment. He arrives at the library bearing in mind that it is his one final hope, the final harbor to unravel the mysteries that he has been chasing for the duration of his part of the novel. After that Calvino reveals his usage of cheap literary devices for one last time in this novel to keep us and the Reader away from the endings of any of the ten novels. Calvino also revisits issues raised earlier in the novel about the different types of readings, making the point through several readers in the library that reading is an experience that can be enjoyed in anyway possible. However, while all views posed are valid, the reader known as “You” reasons that none can exist solely and in a way combines all these different aspects in what can be described as the standard type of reading. All these point of views share one common trait of language which is its duality, philosophical illusion which is portrayed when the speakers mention that language shows, yet conceals, reveals and hides, and it’s up to the reader to unravel its mysteries. (p.256 “I also seek…end”) He also relates the uneasiness of having various novels interrupted before reaching a resolution, and a reference is given by one of the readers at the library to Arabian Nights and not for the first time in Calvino’s novel.

When Calvino sums up all the titles of the sort stories in one sentence, it forms the possible beginning of a classical story. In this hypothetical paragraph, a time is specified (a winter’s night) a place (outside the town of Malbork) a character (a traveler), a few sentences describing the state of the character while creating an air of suspense and mystery around him.

In the final lines of chapter 11, one of the readers poses the question: “Do you believe that every story must have a beginning and an end?” This brings the reader to a conclusion that he has passed through a story. It begins at that bookshop where he first met Ludmilla, and its end has not been reached yet. He finally figures out that the missing piece of the puzzle of his own story is by having an end, by marrying Ludmilla. Even though post modernism rebels against traditional endings it accepts the basic human need that needs to be satisfied. Ludmilla and the Reader get married because he is faced with two choices “the continuality of life, the inevitability of death.” He chooses the path of life through marrying Ludmilla instead of death, giving his story a classical ending in contrast to the endings of the other story fragments in the novel.

Despite it being short, chapter 12 is vital to completing the style of writing that Calvino has made key to portray the wanted image. Through this chapter he closes a cycle started at the beginning of the novel by quickly reinstating the double meaning of the “You” when he says in the dying letters of the book “And you say “Just a moment, I’ve almost finished If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler”” This sentence is directed at every reader announcing the end of the novel just as the beginning was announced, and is also directed at our protagonist firmly showing his new life with Ludmilla which was brought together through reading.