hrough Fabrizio Mario, "contrary to all he laws of logic, never felt separated from Fabrizio"(10). "Thus, without ever leaving home, Mario visited distant cities, sailed . . .rode horseback . . . and went mushroom-picking up in the Val Gardena," a description that sounds exactly like the experience of reading books (11).
The quality of elegance that so fascinated others stems from Fabrizio's own assumptions, just as a book's impression is made by its own contents. But Fabrizio's assumptions were entirely out of synch with the real world. The clear superiority of a world in which Fabrizio was a wealthy, cultured dilettante is the major assumption. Everyone he meets adopts his assumptions--whether for a fleeting second of involuntary reaction--as with Colombo--or over the long term--as with the indulgence he receives from Mario and from his sister Teodora. But they would never consciously concur with this conception of Fabrizio and they, therefore, flourish. Teodora, who "possessed a lust for life that he lacked," married a wealthy man and was bet
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