The Book Shop
In Chapter 1, the author describes the book shop in which you, the reader, purchase the book If on a winter's night a traveler in extreme, humorous detail. The author's humor first comes across in the metaphors used to describe the rows of bookshelves and tables of different types of books. They are compared to a "barricade," a "girdle of ramparts," "phalanxes," and "towers of the fortress" (5). These metaphors all compare the book shop to a war battlefield, giving an ironic seriousness to the endeavor of finding a book. The humor of the passage also comes from the genres of books the author mentions. Rather than looking around the book shop and seeing books categorized into normal genres such as non-fiction, fantasy, and romance, the reader sees categories like "Books You Could Put Aside Maybe To Read This Summer" and "Books Made For Purposes Other Than Reading" (5). These categories jokingly call out tendencies many readers have and challenge the traditional way books are categorized. The imagery of this section creates feelings of intrigue and humor around the experience of buying a book, which the author presumes is a common experience for the novel's readers.
If on a winter's night a traveler (the story-within-a-story)
Calvino uses strong imagery to establish the setting of each story-within-a-story in the novel. The first story-within-a-story of the novel is titled "If on a winter's night a traveler," just like the title of the novel itself. As the first story-within-a-story, it is particularly important that the author uses striking imagery to shift styles and settings from the frame story. In the second sentence of the story of the story, Calvino uses olfactory (smell) imagery like "In the odor of the station there is a passing whiff of station cafe odor" (10). Smell is strongly linked to memory and perception, so beginning in this way brings the reader immediately into a new location. Later in the first paragraph, the author builds upon the reader's concept of the setting with visual imagery like "everything is misty...as if seen by...eyes irritated by coal dust" (10) as well as auditory (sound) imagery like "a whistle dies away" (10). All of these details together prepare the reader to inhabit the body of the narrator of the story-within-a-story as he tells his mysterious tale.
Outside the town of Malbork
Calvino again uses strong, stylized imagery to create a shift at the beginning of the story-within-a-story "Outside the town of Malbork" (34). Calvino again begins with olfactory (smell) imagery, demonstrating his awareness of the power of smell in memory and perception. In contrast to the faint and impersonal sensations at the beginning of the story-within-a-story "If on a winter's night a traveler," the beginning of "Outside the town of Malbork" makes the reader feel cozy and right at home. The first smell described is of "an odor of frying" (34). Calvino plays with the notion of olfactory and gustatory imagery used in novels by noting meta-literarily that "you can taste its flavor even though the text doesn't say what that flavor is, an acidulous flavor, partly because the word, with its sound or only with its visual impression, suggests an acidulous flavor to you" (35). This meta-literary comment on the impact of imagery on a reader's experience of a story shows Calvino's intention of imitating, parodying, and critiquing different styles of writing.
Sex
There are multiple instances of sex in If on a winter's night a traveler: between the reader and Ludmilla; between the reader and the woman in Ataguitania he presumes to be Lotaria; between Alex, Irina, and Valerian in the story-within-a-story Without fear of wind or vertigo; and between the narrator and Madame Miyagi in the story-within-a-story On the carpet of leaves illuminated by the moon. These sex scenes are described in vivid, even pornographic detail. Calvino's imagery in these scenes marks the novel as one written for an adult audience. Furthermore, his descriptions show sex as a passionate, erotic experience.
The sex scene between the reader and Ludmilla is particularly interesting for the extended metaphor the author uses to describe the experience. Calvino compares the act of sexual intercourse to reading. He writes, "the Other Reader now is reviewing your body as if skimming the index...Now she dwells on the negligible details, perhaps tiny stylistic faults...she gains impetus, covers (you cover together) pages and pages from top to bottom without skipping a comma" (155-156). This extended description has the effect of both making sex an intellectual endeavor and transforming reading to an exciting, erotic experience.
