Piranesi

In the second entry, dated the 7th day of the same month, the narrator travels through halls and doorways, cataloging statues. He uses proper nouns for architectural details and natural elements. The “House” has three levels: one submerged by the “Tides,” one level in the “Clouds,” and the middle level where birds and people can exist. The protagonist sees the Other (who is later named as Valentine Ketterley)—the only other living person he has knowledge of at this point.

On the 10th, the narrator is called Piranesi by the Other (Ketterley). They meet twice a week and are on a quest for occult knowledge. The rest of the narrator’s list contains fifteen dead people who are given names based on their locations in the labyrinth: Biscuit-Box Man, Concealed Person, Folded-Up Child, and multiple skeletal People of the Alcove. Piranesi considers it his duty to care for these dead. There is also an imagined Sixteenth Person; the narrator hypothesizes the “You” of an imagined reader or perhaps another living being in the world.

On the 17th, the narrator describes his notebooks’ location and contents. He keeps a Table of Tides and Catalogue of Statues. The current journal is thought to be number 10 (but it is later revealed that this numbering is incorrect). Then, his calendaring system is discussed: previous journals were dated from 2011-2012, but after that he changes the dates to events that occur in the labyrinth, such as the albatross arrival that defines the current year. He also mentions his Index of notebooks and remarks on his titling system.

On the 18th, he lists statues he loves, such as the Woman carrying a Beehive, the Faun, a “creature half-man and half-goat” (15), the Gorilla, and a few others. He also mentions statues that make him uncomfortable, like the Horned Giants, and questions his preferences.

In a very short entry dated the 19th, the protagonist finds a leaf in the “Waters” that seemed to be “meant to live in Air” (17).