If on a Winter's Night a Traveler

A man walks into a bar in a train station. The people inside the small bar turn to watch as he walks in. The narrator questions whether he is, in fact, the man, or whether “that man is called ‘I’” (11). The Reader knows nothing about the man beyond what the narrator tells him. Furthermore, the Reader doesn’t know when or where the station even exists. The authors of such novels, the narrator says, may not even have decided on these facts. The narrator—now taking up the role of the novel’s nameless protagonist—wonders why he’s in the station. He may have missed his connection due to some accident. He has no plans to meet anyone. Casting his mind to the world outside the station, the narrator wonders whether the author has simply chosen to leave that part of the world blank. The narrator, as the protagonist, chooses to believe that he’s undertaking a job for another person. He feels as though he’s an anonymous “subordinate,” a person who could vanish into the background. His first-person identity in the novel hints at obscurity, hiding even his name.

As much as the narrator would like to look backward in time, the text moves ahead. The narrator, as the protagonist, had arranged to meet a man. In doing so, they’ll exchange a code phrase—“Zeno of Elea came in first” (16)—and then swap their matching suitcases. Now that his plans are seemingly ruined, the narrator wonders what to do. In this unfamiliar and small city, he feels out of place. He envies the locals as they bet on which of two regulars will arrive first, Dr. Marne or Chief Gorin. Sitting beside an “attractive woman,” he realizes that she’s Dr. Marne’s ex-wife. At that moment, Dr. Marne enters the station. He doesn’t acknowledge his ex-wife but notices that she’s talking to the narrator. Madame Marne sells suitcases and mentions to the narrator that she recently sold one just like his. Complaining about dragging around a suitcase, the narrator agrees to leave it in Madame Marne’s shop. Chief Gorin of the local police enters the bar and uses the code phrase. The narrator is afraid. He approaches Gorin, who explains that “they’ve killed Jan” (23). Gorin tells the narrator to take his suitcase and then board a train. As Gorin watches, the narrator boards the train and vanishes from the station.

The narrator addresses the Reader, mentioning that a passage in the novel may have seemed familiar. The narrator compliments the Reader, who is “quick to catch the author’s intentions” (25). A page in the novel was reprinted, the narrator explains, so the next 16 pages are all exact duplicates. The Reader decides not to throw the book away, instead, returning to the bookstore after a “restless night.” The Reader isn’t the first person to complain about the printing error, the bookseller admits. The publishing company sent a letter to the bookseller, explaining that If on a winter’s night a traveler by Calvino may have been mixed up with a separate novel during the printing process. The other novel is Tazio Bazakbal’s Outside the town of Malbork. The Reader decides to read Bazakbal’s book rather than Calvino’s. The bookseller mentions a young woman who had the same printing issue and made the same decision. However, the bookseller warns that he can’t guarantee that Outside the town of Malbork will be free of errors. The Reader collects a copy of Bazakbal’s novel and notices that the young woman is very attractive. The Reader and the young woman—the “Other Reader”—discuss their appreciation of Bazakbal, though the Reader notices that “she’s read many more novels” than he has (30). They joke about whether Calvino’s novel may actually be printed inside the book. They swap phone numbers, and the Reader is pleased by the dual prospects of a new book and (potentially) a new relationship. The Reader begins to read the new book, only to discover that it has “nothing to do with the one you were reading yesterday” (32).

An onion fries in a crowded kitchen in Kudigwa. Jan’s widow talks to Brigd and Hunder. The narrator enters the kitchen. He’s “leaving home for the first time” (36) to spend the summer on an estate belonging to a farmer named Mr. Kauderer, whose son Ponko will swap places with the narrator in Kudigwa. The smell of frying onion makes the narrator feel sad. He questions whether the Reader feels like the story is “slipping through your fingers” (37), and then he speculates that the translated novel might have lost something of the original meaning. He packs his bags before Ponko can move in. He notices that Ponko seems to be hiding a photo of a woman. Snatching it from Ponko, the narrator sees the name Zwida Ozkart written on the photo. Ponko is furious with the narrator. The two men fight. The narrator is jealous of Ponko, who not only has Zwida but may also soon start a relationship with Brigd. The narrator is afraid that he’ll lose Brigd when he goes to the farm. After the fight, the narrator leaves the room. Outside, he overhears Mr. Kauderer discussing his family’s long-standing feud with the neighboring Ozkart family. Two people have recently died as a result of this feud. Ponko has been sent to Kudigwa so that she can be “safe, at last” (40). The narrator’s mother is talking to Mr. Kauderer. She worries that her son—whom she calls Gritzvi—will be attacked by the Ozkarts by mistake. Mr. Kauderer assures her that Gritzvi isn’t in danger, at which point the narrator is told that his carriage is ready.