If on a winter’s night a traveler Character Analysis

The Narrator

In a novel full of fragments and shifting stories, the one constant presence is the narrator. In one sense, the novel seems to have at least 11 different narrators, with each of the 10 titled… read analysis of The Narrator

You (The Reader)

The narrator frequently addresses “you,” and while at the beginning of the novel, it seems at first that he’s directly addressing the audience of the book, it turns out that “you” (also known as… read analysis of You (The Reader)

Ludmilla (The Other Reader)

Aside from you (the Reader) and the narrator, Ludmilla is the character who appears most frequently in the numbered chapters that give this fragmented novel its overarching narrative. At first, Ludmilla is merely another… read analysis of Ludmilla (The Other Reader)

Lotaria

Lotaria is the sister of Ludmilla, and she is very similar to Corinna—who is possibly even Lotaria disguise, although Corinna’s identity remains a mystery. Unlike Ludmilla, Lotaria is a highly methodical reader, always… read analysis of Lotaria

Ermes Marana

Ermes Marana is a counterfeit translator who claims to translate the works of Silas Flannery. In reality, however, Marana may be translating other books instead or perhaps inventing new books from scratch for the… read analysis of Ermes Marana

Silas Flannery

Silas Flannery is perhaps the most developed of all the fictional writers within the novel, with In a network of lines that enlace supposedly being from one of his novels and In a network of… read analysis of Silas Flannery

Uzzi Tuzii

Uzzi Tuzii is a professor specializing in the literature of Cimmeria who attempts to help the Reader and Ludmilla track down a story. Uzzi Tuzii has an ongoing feud with Professor Galligani, who has… read analysis of Uzzi Tuzii

Irnerio

Irnerio is a young man who never reads but who nevertheless maintains a friendship with the avid reader Ludmilla, borrowing her books to use for his art projects. Irnerio’s secret for never reading isn’t… read analysis of Irnerio

Italo Calvino

Italo Calvino is both the real author of If on a winter’s night a traveler, as well as a character within that novel who has written a novel called If on a winter’s night… read analysis of Italo Calvino

Mr. Cavedagna

Mr. Cavedagna is a publishing employee that the Reader runs into when he tries to investigate a printing error in Italo Calvino’s If on a winter’s night a traveler. Cavedagna’s slight, unimpressive stature… read analysis of Mr. Cavedagna

Corinna

Corinna is a character with many different names and identities. The Reader meets her during his trip to Ataguitania. She reminds the Reader of Lotaria, and they may even be the same person. The… read analysis of Corinna

Madam Miyagi

Madam Miyagi is the mother of Makiko, and she has a strained relationship with Makiko’s father, Mr. Okeda. In On a carpet of leaves illuminated by the moon, the family has a… read analysis of Madam Miyagi

The Woman Who Sells Suitcases

There is a nameless woman that the narrator meets in If on a winter’s night a traveler. All the narrator knows about her is that she is Dr. Marne’s ex-wife and that she… read analysis of The Woman Who Sells Suitcases

Ponko

Ponko is the son of Mr. Kauderer the farmer who swaps places with the narrator of Outside the town of Malbork. He and the narrator are each reluctant about this swap for various reasons… read analysis of Ponko

Mr. Okeda

Mr. Okeda is the father of Makiko, and he has a strained relationship with Makiko’s mother, Madam Miyagi. He teaches the narrator in On the carpet of leaves illuminated by the moon… read analysis of Mr. Okeda

Mr. Kauderer the Farmer

There are multiple characters called Mr. Kauderer in the book, and the first one is a farmer in the story Outside the town of Malbork. He sends his son Ponko to live with a… read analysis of Mr. Kauderer the Farmer

Bookseller

A bookseller helps the Reader and Ludmilla after they both realize that there is a printing error in their copies of Italo Calvino’s If on a winter’s night a traveler. The bookseller helps… read analysis of Bookseller

Chief Gorin

Chief Gorin is a police chief in the bar by the train station in If on a winter’s night a traveler. When he tells the narrator a secret password, the narrator isn’t sure whether… read analysis of Chief Gorin

Mr. Kauderer the Meteorologist

The second Mr. Kauderer in the story (after Mr. Kauderer the farmer) is a meteorologist who works at an observatory in Leaning form the steep slope. He asks the narrator to help him… read analysis of Mr. Kauderer the Meteorologist

Miss Zwida

The second character named Zwida in the book (after Zwida Ozkart) is a woman who sits on a chair outside a hotel and reads in Leaning from the steep slope. She seems to… read analysis of Miss Zwida

Franziska

Franziska is the woman that the narrator of What story down there awaits its end? seems to love, but he only ever likes to run into her by chance. She reveals how this narrator’s fears… read analysis of Franziska

Faustino Higueras

Faustino Higueras is the brother of Anacleta Higueras. In the past, he fought with Don Anastasio Zamora, the father of Nacho (narrator of Around an empty grave). Although Faustino supposedly died… read analysis of Faustino Higueras

Valerian

Valerian is a friend of the narrator of Without fear of wind or vertigo. In the middle of a threesome involving the narrator, Valerian, and Irina, the narrator gets away and sees that… read analysis of Valerian

Arkadian Porphyrich

Arkadian Porphyrich is the director of the State Police Archives in Ircania. The Reader ends up having a discussion with him about censorship, in which Arkadian Porphyrich, who highly supports censorship, says that there is… read analysis of Arkadian Porphyrich

Jan

In If on a winter’s night a traveler, Chief Gorin tells the narrator that someone named Jan has been killed, and later, in the next story Outside the town of Malbork, a character… read analysis of Jan

Minor Characters

Bernadette

Bernadette is the accomplice of the narrator of Looks down in the gather shadow, as the two of them try to dispose of the body of Jojo. At the end of the story, she seems to betray the narrator, although an abrupt ending leaves things unresolved.

Don Anastasio Zamora

Don Anastasio Zamora is the dead father of Nacho, the narrator of Around an empty grave. He was a notorious womanizer, and he supposedly killed Faustino Higueras. His death leaves behind many unanswered questions for his son, who seems destined to keep becoming more and more like his father.

Ukko Ahti

Ukko Ahti was a Cimmerian poet who wrote Leaning from the steep slope. Eventually, he fell into depression because of his writer’s block and killed himself, paralleling the deep writer’s block that plagues later writer Silas Flannery.

Anacleta Higueras

Anacleta Higueras is the sister of Faustino Higueras, the mother of Amaranta, and the most likely mother of Nacho, the narrator of Around an empty grave. She scolds the narrator for being too much like his father (Don Anastasio Zamora), a destiny that Nacho seems unable to avoid.

Makiko

Makiko is the daughter of Mr. Okeda and Madam Miyagi in On a carpet of leaves illuminated by the moon. The narrator is attracted to her, but he ends up ruining a potential relationship when he has sex with Madam Miyagi and Makiko witnesses the act.

Zwida Ozkart

Zwida Ozkart is a girl in Outside the town of Malbork who seems to be the sweetheart of Ponko (who keeps her photo with him), even though their two families have a blood feud. Seeing Zwida’s photo, the narrator is jealous of Ponko.

Anatoly Anatolin

Anatoly Anatolin is the author of What story down there awaits its end. Arkadian Porphyrich targets his work for censorship, inspiring the Reader to try to reach Anatolin first. They meet, but Anatolin can only give the Reader some of his work before men pop out to arrest him.

Brigd

Brigd is a woman in Outside the town of Malbork whom the narrator seems to love, although he never expresses it. The narrator gets jealous when he imagines that Ponko will get to be with Brigd after the narrator leaves.

Dr. Marne

Dr. Marne is the ex-husband of the woman who sells suitcases in If on a winter’s night a traveler. He often comes to a bar near a train station even though he knows his ex-wife will be there.

Jojo

Jojo is a man that Ruedi the Swiss, the narrator of Looks down in the gathering shadow, had to kill for unexplained reasons. Disposing of Jojo’s body drives most of that story’s plot.

Professor Galligani

Professor Galligani is a rival of Professor Uzzi Tuzii at the university and teaches a seminar that Lotaria attends. Despite his very different views from Uzzi Tuzii, he also gets bogged down in lots of theory when he reads.

Irina

Irina is a woman that the narrator meets in Without fear of wind or vertigo. She unites the narrator and Valerian, but her true allegiances to either the revolutionaries or the counterrevolutionaries in the story remain mysterious.

Marjorie

Marjorie is a student of the narrator of In a network of lines that enlace who gets kidnapped and tied up.

Amaranta

Amaranta is the daughter of Anacleta Higueras and possibly the sister of Nacho, the narrator of Around an empty grave. Nacho starts trying to have sex with her, perhaps to provoke a reaction and get his mother to reveal her identity.

Lorna

Lorna is the mistress of the narrator of In a network of lines that intersect. The narrator organizes fake kidnappings to protect himself, but when he gets kidnapped for real (by his wife, Elfrida), he finds Lorna tied up in a room full of mirrors.

Doña Jazmina

Doña Jazmina is the mother of Jacinta and another possible mother of Nacho, the narrator of Around an empty grave, but she sends him away and denies that she gave birth to him.

Jacinta

Jacinta is the daughter of Doña Jazmina. As with Amaranta, Nacho, the narrator of Around an empty grave, tries to have sex with her, hoping that his attempt will cause his mother to reveal her identity.

Elfrida

Elfrida is the wife of the narrator of In a network of lines that intersect. She tries to protect him by pretending to kidnap him but seems to end up trapping both of them in a hall of mirrors.

Tazio Bazakbhal

Tazio Bazakbhal is a Polish novelist who wrote Outside the town of Malbork.

Calixto Bandera

Calixto Bandera is the author of Around an empty grave, a book that Corinna has.

Bertrand Vandervelde

Bertrand Vandervelde is the Belgian author of Looks down in the gathering shadow.

If on a winter’s night a traveler Characters