1. As Salamander tells the story (or stories) of a
world-spanning quest for the infinite book, how does the novel
itself begin to take on the characteristics of the infinite
book?
2. Throughout the novel we encounter people, places, and things
that are continually shifting, changing shape, refusing to be fixed
to a single position, style, or identity. What are some examples of
such shape-shifting? Why do you think the author populated the
novel with so many shape-shifters?
3. Pica's story begins with the telling of a fairy tale [p 117],
followed by her recollections of her life in the dreary Ospedale in
Venice. Why has the author chosen to open Pica's story with a fairy
tale? Are there other fairy-tale elements in Pica's story, and how
do they differ from what you may find in more conventional fairy
tales?
4. The relationship between fathers and daughters is an
important one in Salamander. How does Pica's relationship
with Flood resemble Irena's relationship with Count Ostrov? How
does it differ? In what ways do Pica and Irena both carve out a
particular niche for themselves within the world of their fathers'
obsessions? Do you think Flood and Count Ostrov ultimately pass on
something of their obsessions to their daughters?
5. Why do you think the author chooses a printer and not a
writer to be the hero of this story about the magical power of
books? What is he trying to say about the craftsman's role?
6. How would you describe the relationship that the Abbé, Count
Ostrov, Flood, and Djinn each have with time?
7. When the Abbé finds Pica with Kirshner's type he says, "You
found your own well of stories, as indeed I should have guessed you
would. When I visited you at the Ospedale, I felt that we were
somehow akin" [p 358]. Both the Abbé and Pica are in their own ways
searching for a "well of stories" but for very different reasons.
How do Pica's motivations differ from those of the Abbé? Do you
think they ultimately find what they're looking for?
8. In many ways Salamander can itself be considered a
"well of stories." What are some of the genres the novel draws upon
to tell its story? Woven into the novel's main narrative are a
collection of side stories, all with elaborate titles such as "The
Metallurgist's Tale," "The Adventure of Djinn," and "The Curious
Confession of the Widow Janssens." What is the significance of
these stories-within-the-story? Why do you think the author gives
these stories titles? Rumours and legends abound in
Salamander. In what ways are these types of "stories"
different from the other tales in the book?
9. Salamander is a true book lover's book, one which
intentionally evokes other books, including The Thousand and
One Nights, Robinson Crusoe, and Gulliver's
Travels. What significance do these particular books have in
the story? Were there elements in the novel that reminded you of
any other books?
10. The author seems to make a distinction between those who
would own or collect and those who would create. Insatiable
collectors, Count Ostrov, the Abbé, and the Alexandrian pasha are
constantly amassing things in a futile attempt to control what is
beyond human control. What is it that each of these men is trying
to conquer? How do their motivations differ from that of the
characters who devote their lives to the act of creation? What does
the novel have to say about the nature of desire?
11. When Flood tells Irena he can remember the past as if it was
yesterday, she tells him, "The past is who we are" [p 99]. How are
the various characters in the book haunted by the past? How does
Djinn's relationship to the past differ from those of the
others?
12. Discuss the importance of dreams in the novel.
13. When Pica reads the infinite book for the first time, the
author tells us "she suddenly understood that she might search for
these chapters but never find them. In such a book they could
remain ever out of reach, tantalizing and perfect. She thought of
how she approached other books. On the shelf or just opened, a book
was all possibility, a wondrous box of paper that could contain
anything" [p 309]. How is the theme of the endless potential of
books explored in the novel, both literally and metaphorically? The
first time Count Ostrov and Flood meet, the Count poses a riddle to
which the answer is a book [p 33]. How does the riddle embrace the
theme of the infinite possibilities contained in a book? Do you
have an "ideal" book that you'd like to read?
14. Discuss how the novel invites the reader to consider not
only the act of reading, but also the reader's ability to alter the
story by bringing his or her own experiences to the reading of the
tale.
15. Preceding each section are italicized meditations on the
nature of books and reading. In what specific ways do these
sections refer back to the act of reading Salamander
itself?
16. Why do you think Salamander begins with two key
historical battles that ultimately determined which empire would
rule over the conflicted territories? What is the author saying
about the larger narrative that is History? In what ways can the
unusual structure of the infinite book be said to parallel the
historical narrative?
17. Pica's name evokes different things for different people.
What does her name mean for Flood, Irena, the girls at the
Ospedale? How do these associations in turn reflect some element of
the relationship these people have with Pica?
18. In poring over books about infinity in the Count's library,
Flood comes across a work in which God is compared to a book: "If
you could cradle this fearful volume in your hand, and were to open
it anywhere, beginning, middle, or end, you would find that between
any two pages there would be always a third, between any two words
there would be always another, between any two letters would be an
unheard, invisible letter, a doorway to the void known only to
mystics, where reigns a silence so profound that the roar of the
entire universe rushes to fill it" [p 58]. Discuss this notion of
God in relation to Flood's infinite book. What does the author mean
when he writes "the universe is really a word, a thought thinking
itself in God''s mind" [p 166]?
19. At various points in the novel, people and machines
sometimes clash or combine in surprising ways. What are some
examples of this collision? of this union? Flood recalls that his
sister used to believe the printing press was a monster [p 45], and
at one point the Abbé mentions how the superstitious might consider
Flood's printing press a "tool of Satan" [p 199]. How does this
fear of new technology resonate in our own times?
20. The author tells us that "the philosophers of the age were
asking why or how God, perfect Being, had created an imperfect
world, a world which at the same time the new science was comparing
to an intricate machine of uncertain purpose" [p 16]. In what ways
does the Count reflect the thinking of his age? How does he try to
play God himself? The Count believes that all puzzles are related
to others by a "universal pattern" [p 16], and that the universe
itself is "a vast, unbounded book of riddles. A book written in the
elusive and unutterable language of God" [p 42]. What do you think
of this idea of there ultimately being some sort of order in
chaos?
21. What is the significance of the novel's title?
22. The idea of regeneration implicit in the book's epigraph and
Flood''s motto - "I restore life from death" - can be seen on many
levels throughout the book. What are some examples? How does the
Abbé's quest and his peculiar affliction work against this
idea?
23. When Flood stops at The Indian & Conundrum in London, he
hears of Samuel Johnson and his "endless book" - a dictionary of
the English language [p 322]. In what ways could a dictionary be
said to resemble the infinite book?
24. After sifting through the wreckage of her press, Pica refers
to the single piece of type she finds as "infinity in her pocket"
[p 368]. What is the significance of this? Why might the author
have decided to include this at the end of the book?
25. Salamander is also a story about the art of
bookmaking. The author writes that in each book there "lies a human
tale of typecutters, squinting compositors, proofreaders and
black-faced printer''s devils" [p 153], all of whom are represented
by key characters in the novel. What aspect of the bookmaking
process did you find most intriguing?
26. Discuss the connections that can be drawn between the human
body and books on both a literal and metaphoric level. In what way
does "The Legend of Seshat" [p 195] explore one aspect of this
connection?
27. In Muslim mythology, a "djinn" (also referred to as "jinn,"
"jinni," or "genie") is a spirit that ranks below angels, with the
ability to assume various forms, both human and animal. What is the
significance of Djinn's mythological name within the context of the
novel?
28. Discuss ways in which the death of Flood's sister may compel
his journey both actual and psychological.