Want to experience jealousy in If on a winter's night a traveler? Just get a lady involved. Whether it's you (the character), Silas Flannery, or Ermes Marana, someone's always feeling the envies about a girl. And of course, jealously even rears its ugly head in a few of the fictional novels that Calvino puts out in his book. If one thing's for sure, it's that it's a guy thing. The desire to read and to somehow capture meaning is connected to the desire to capture or possess a woman sexually. Reading will never be the same again.
Questions About Jealousy
- In a nutshell, what possible connection can the book draw between your jealousy of other men in Ludmilla's life and the fact that she likes to read many books at once?
- How is your jealousy as a reader connected to Silas Flannery's jealousy as a writer, or more specifically, his jealousy toward the book that gives such great pleasure to the woman he watches through a spyglass?
- In what way is jealousy "a kind of game that you [play] with yourself" (13.53)? Is there something enjoyable about feeling jealous? In what way can jealousy in this book be considered as a form of lying to yourself?
Chew on This
In If on a winter's night a traveler, feelings of jealousy are deeply connected to the male Reader's desire to possess a woman and have her all to himself.
Jealousy shows a person's desire to get between someone else and his or her book; it's basically just anger about the fact that reading is like an inside joke, filled with private meanings and secrets.