If on a Winter's Night a Traveler Lesson Plan

What message, if any, does this section of the novel seem to be making about academia?

Calvino seems to be sending a message about academia in Chapters 4 and 5. One message seems to be that academics tend to focus on debates that are not relevant to the plot itself. This is evidenced by the debate between the two professors about whether the text is Cimmerian or Cimbric. Another message is that academia seems more involved with discussing texts than actually reading them. After Lotaria finishes reading Without fear of wind or vertigo, the Reader wants to keep going but no one else does. “Only you have remained suspended there, you and Ludmilla, while nobody else thinks of...