<P> Languages named Cimmerian and Cimbrian have both existed . The Cimmerians were an ancient tribal group, contemporary with the Scythians, who lived in southern Ukraine . The Cimbrian language still exists today, and is spoken by about 2230 people in northern Italy, not too remote from Calvino's home in Turin . However, these real - world items have no clear relationship to their fictional namesakes . </P> <P> The main character in the first part of each chapter is you, the reader . The narrative starts out when you begin reading a book but then all of the pages are out of order . You then go to a bookstore to get a new copy of the book . When at the bookstore, you meet a girl, Ludmilla, who becomes an important character in the book . You think Ludmilla is beautiful, and you both share a love of books . Throughout the rest of the narrative, you and Ludmilla develop a relationship while on the quest for the rest of the book you had started reading . There are a number of minor characters that appear at various points in the story including Lotaria (Ludmilla's sister), Ermes Marana (translation scammer), and Silas Flannery (an author). </P> <P> In a 1985 interview with Gregory Lucente, Calvino stated If on a winter's night a traveler was "clearly" influenced by the writings of Vladimir Nabokov . The book was also influenced by the author's membership in the literary group Oulipo . The structure of the text is said to be an adaptation of the structural semiology of A.J. Greimas . </P> <P> In a letter written to critic Lucio Lombardo Radice dated November 13, 1979 (published in Italo Calvino: letters, 1941--1985; Princeton University Press, 2013, p. 501), Calvino mentions Bulgakov, Kawabata, Tanizaki, Rulfo, Arguedas, Borges and Chesterton as having influenced, in various ways, the narrative style of the ten stories that comprise the book . </P>

If on a winter's night a traveler sparknotes