Number nine? You’re up.

“Around an empty grave”

If I could be a character in any of Calvino’s “If on a winter’s night a traveler“, the part of Nacho’s father would rank near the top of my list.  Score the part of the senior, and you get to give a dramatic death scene that includes the tragic moment where you finally are going to tell your son Nacho who his mother is, but then pass away before you can say her name

Playing the part of the mysterious stranger who follows Nacho would be pretty good too.  Riding my horse on the opposite side of the chasm, refusing to answer Nacho, and pointing my gun at him make for a dramatic scene.

Would it be more fun to play Anacleta Higueras or Doña Jazmina?

[10]

• Agreeing to completing a secret mission gets the Reader out of prison.

(“official mission with secret aspects as well as secret mission with official aspects”)

• Banned books and censorship are the focus of this chapter.
• Marana’s work was inspired by Ludmilla–or rather the desire to prove to her that there is nothing behind the text of a novel.  But Marana was unable to do this and was allowed to escape the country.
• The Reader would like to finish at least one tale and creates a plan to intercept the rest of “Around an empty grave” before Porphyrich can.
• The Reader meets Anatolin who gives him a few pages at a time, but before the Reader receives the complete novel, Anatolin is arrested.

Whew… Almost finished.