Piranesi

There are nineteen journal entries in this section covering a couple months (end of 5th month into beginning of 7th month).

On the 29th, the narrator meets with Ketterley. Unbeknownst to Piranesi, Ketterley is worried that Piranesi remembers that Ketterley abducted Piranesi from London and imprisoned him in the house. Ketterley simply says Piranesi is the subject of his research this day. When questioned, Piranesi claims to “remember everything” (22), but when Ketterley says “Batter-sea” (22)—the location of Piranesi’s abduction—Piranesi doesn’t realize that the word refers to a London borough. Later, while fishing, he thinks about the phrase, still without remembering.

On the 30th, the narrator mentions a gap in a previous journal when the winter weather caused his handwriting to deteriorate. He fills in this gap with descriptions of survival techniques involving seaweed and listening to the wind-song in statues. Focusing on a specific past day, he recalls seeing a cross and an albatross landing in a hall, as well as the bird returning with another bird later. Piranesi makes them a gift of dried seaweed for their nest, and they are able to hatch a chick. He explicitly states this event is the calendar marker used in his entries for “The Year The Albatross Came To The South-Western Halls” (21).