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Uzzi Tuzii
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 to avoid books but the opposite: he looks at them so much that he ceases to actually read what the words say. Irnerio is in some ways the opposite of the Reader, and his ongoing project to turn books into physical art provides a cautionary tale about how some people only care about the aesthetics or lifestyle associated with books without actually bothering to pay attention to what the books are about.
Irnerio Quotes in If on a winter’s night a traveler
The If on a winter’s night a traveler quotes below are all either spoken by Irnerio or refer to Irnerio. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 3
Quotes
“Me? I don’t read books!” Irnerio says.
“What do you read, then?”
“Nothing. I’ve become so accustomed to not reading that I don’t even read what appears before my eyes. It’s not easy: they teach us to read as children, and for the rest of our lives we remain the slaves of all the written stuff they fling in front of us. I may have had to make some effort myself, at first, to learn not to read, but now it comes quite naturally to me. The secret is not refusing to look at the written words. On the contrary, you must look at them, intensely, until they disappear.”
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Irnerio Quotes in If on a winter’s night a traveler
The If on a winter’s night a traveler quotes below are all either spoken by Irnerio or refer to Irnerio. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 3
Quotes
“Me? I don’t read books!” Irnerio says.
“What do you read, then?”
“Nothing. I’ve become so accustomed to not reading that I don’t even read what appears before my eyes. It’s not easy: they teach us to read as children, and for the rest of our lives we remain the slaves of all the written stuff they fling in front of us. I may have had to make some effort myself, at first, to learn not to read, but now it comes quite naturally to me. The secret is not refusing to look at the written words. On the contrary, you must look at them, intensely, until they disappear.”
Related Characters:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
