What do you think?
Rate this book
Mr Palomar
Mr Palomar is a delightful eccentric whose chief activity is looking at things. He is simply seeking knowledge; 'it is only after you have come to know the surface of things that you can venture to seek what is underneath'. Whether contemplating a fine cheese, a hungry gecko, a woman sunbathing topless or a flight of migrant starlings, Mr Palomar's observations render the world afresh.
118 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 1983
556 people are currently reading
7,907 people want to read
About the author
Italo Calvino
537听books8,635听followersItalo Calvino was born in Cuba and grew up in Italy. He was a journalist and writer of short stories and novels. His best known works include the Our Ancestors trilogy (1952-1959), the Cosmicomics collection of short stories (1965), and the novels Invisible Cities (1972) and If On a Winter's Night a Traveler (1979).
His style is not easy to classify; much of his writing has an air reminiscent to that of fantastical fairy tales (Our Ancestors, Cosmicomics), although sometimes his writing is more "realistic" and in the scenic mode of observation (Difficult Loves, for example). Some of his writing has been called postmodern, reflecting on literature and the act of reading, while some has been labeled magical realist, others fables, others simply "modern". He wrote: "My working method has more often than not involved the subtraction of weight. I have tried to remove weight, sometimes from people, sometimes from heavenly bodies, sometimes from cities; above all I have tried to remove weight from the structure of stories and from language."
His style is not easy to classify; much of his writing has an air reminiscent to that of fantastical fairy tales (Our Ancestors, Cosmicomics), although sometimes his writing is more "realistic" and in the scenic mode of observation (Difficult Loves, for example). Some of his writing has been called postmodern, reflecting on literature and the act of reading, while some has been labeled magical realist, others fables, others simply "modern". He wrote: "My working method has more often than not involved the subtraction of weight. I have tried to remove weight, sometimes from people, sometimes from heavenly bodies, sometimes from cities; above all I have tried to remove weight from the structure of stories and from language."
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 873 reviews
May 12, 2024
Calvino renounces here to propose a unitary, organized history. Instead, it combines 27 texts and articles written during the 1970s. Through a tenuous observation of everyday life and a serene concern for the future, Calvino analyzes the fleeting relationship that had established between the character's consciousness and a fragment of reality isolated by the gaze.
Palomar wants to be the "man of attention" and dreams of a supreme moment when, just before his death, he will envelop the whole world in an absolute glance.
Palomar wants to be the "man of attention" and dreams of a supreme moment when, just before his death, he will envelop the whole world in an absolute glance.
September 30, 2021
賳卮兀 賰丕賱冥賷賳賵 賮賷 兀爻乇丞 毓賱賲丕亍. 賵賯丿 兀卮丕乇 廿賱賶 賳賮爻賴 亘氐賮鬲賴 "丕賱丨丕賱丞 丕賱卮丕匕賾丞" 賮賷 丕賱毓丕卅賱丞 賱兀賳賴 "丕賱賵丨賷丿 丕賱匕賷 鬲毓丕胤賶 丕賱兀丿亘". 賰丕賳 賵丕賱丿賴 賷丿賷乇 賲丨胤丞 賱夭乇丕毓丞 丕賱兀夭賴丕乇貙 賵賰丕賳 賱丿賷賴 禺丕賱丕賳 賰賷賲賷丕卅賷丕賳 賲鬲夭賵噩丕賳 賲賳 毓賲賾鬲賷賳 賰賷賲賷丕卅賷鬲賷賳貙 賵毓賲賱鬲 兀賲賴 賲爻丕毓丿丞 噩丕賲毓賷丞 賮賷 毓賱賲 丕賱賳亘丕鬲.
賴匕賴 丕賱賲毓賱賵賲丞 丕賱毓乇囟賷丞 賴賷 丕賱卮賷亍 丕賱賵丨賷丿 丕賱匕賷 賷賮爻賾乇貙 亘丕賱賳爻亘丞 賱賷貙 賱睾丞 賰丕賱冥賷賳賵貨 丕禺囟乇丕乇賴丕 賵禺氐賵亘鬲賴丕 賲毓賸丕貙 廿賳賴丕 賮賷 丕賱賲噩賲賱 賱睾丞 乇丕氐賽丿丞貙 亘丕賱睾丞 丕賱丿賯丞貙 賮賷賴丕 廿賳氐丕鬲 賱賱毓丕賱賲貙 鬲卮亘賴 丕賱鬲賲毓賾賳 毓亘乇 丕賱賲噩賴乇 賱孬賳賷丞賺 毓噩賷亘丞 賮賷 噩丿丕乇 禺賱賷丞貙 兀賵 賱鬲賰鬲賾賱丕鬲 毓賳賯賵丿賷丞 禺賱賮 賵乇賯丞 爻乇禺爻.
賷賲賰賳 賱賮賯乇丞 毓賳丿 賰丕賱冥賷賳賵 兀賳 鬲鬲囟賲賳 佴 兀賵 侑 兀爻賲丕亍 賱賳亘丕鬲丕鬲貙 賳噩賵賲 賵兀噩乇丕賲 爻賲丕賵賷丞貙 兀賵 胤賷賵乇 賲賴丕噩乇丞. 賵賴匕丕 賷毓賳賷 兀賳賻賾 賰丕賱冥賷賳賵 亘氐賮鬲賴 "丕賱丨丕賱丞 丕賱卮丕匕丞 賮賷 丕賱毓丕卅賱丞"貙 賴賵 兀賷囟賸丕 廿爻賮賳噩丞 賲孬丕賱賷丞 賱匕賱賰 丕賱賮囟賵賱 丕賱毓賱賲賷 丕賱匕賷 睾賱賾賮 胤賮賵賱鬲賴貙 賱兀賳 鬲賵馗賷賮賴 賱毓賳丕氐乇 丕賱胤亘賷毓丞 賲孬賱 丕賱賵夭睾丞 賵賰賵賰亘丞 丕賱賴賱亘丞 賵 丕賱卮丨乇賵乇 賵丕賱賴賳丿亘丕亍 丕賱亘乇賷丞貙 賴賵 鬲賵馗賷賮 丕賱毓丕乇賮貙 賱丕 丕賱賲鬲賮乇賾噩 毓賱賶 丕賱賰賱賲丕鬲 賲賳 爻胤丨 丕賱賯丕賲賵爻貙 亘賱 卮賷亍 兀亘毓丿 亘賰孬賷乇貙 賷卮亘賴 禺乇賵噩 丕賱賱睾丞 丕賱亘賽賰乇 賲賳 噩賵賮 丌丿賲 丕賱匕賷 鬲毓賱賾賲 丕賱兀爻賲丕亍 賰賱賴丕.
兀鬲匕賰乇 賴賳丕 丕賯鬲亘丕爻賸丕 賱廿丿賵丕乇丿 爻毓賷丿 賷賯賵賱 賮賷賴 亘兀賳 毓馗賲丞 丕賱兀丿亘 鬲賰賲賳 賮賷 丕賲鬲夭丕噩賴 亘丕賱兀卮賷丕亍 賱丕 賮賷 賳賯丕卅賴. 賳丨賳 賳爻鬲丨囟乇 毓丕丿丞賸 丕賲鬲夭丕噩 丕賱兀丿亘 亘丕賱爻賷丕爻丞 賵丕賱鬲丕乇賷禺 賵丕賱爻賵爻賷賵賱賵噩賷丕 賵丕賱賲孬賵賱賵噩賷丕貙 賱賰賳 賱賵 兀乇丿賳丕 賲孬丕賱賸丕 賲賲鬲丕夭賸丕 毓賳 毓賱丕賯丞 丕賱兀丿亘 丕賱卮賴賵丕賳賷丞 亘丕賱亘賷賵賱賵噩賷丕.. 賮賱賳鬲匕賰賾乇 賰丕賱冥賷賳賵.
賱爻賳賵丕鬲 胤賵賷賱丞 馗賱賾 夭賵乇亘丕 賷鬲爻賷賾丿 賯丕卅賲丞 丕賱卮禺氐賷丕鬲 丕賱乇賵丕卅賷丞 丕賱賲賮囟賱丞 賱賰孬賷乇賷賳 賵兀賳丕 賲賳 亘賷賳賴賲貙 賱賰賳 賷亘丿賵 兀賳賳賷 鬲睾賷乇鬲. 廿賳 卮禺氐賷鬲賷 丕賱乇賵丕卅賷丞 丕賱賲賮囟賱丞 丕賱噩丿賷丿丞 賴賷 卮禺氐賷丞 芦听丕賱爻賷丿 倬丕賱賵賲丕乇听禄 丕賱匕賷 賷賯賵賱: 芦 賷噩亘 毓賱賷賻賾 兀賳 兀卮丕賴丿 丕賱賳賻賾噩賵賲 禄貙 賰賱賲丕 爻胤毓鬲 丕賱賳噩賵賲 賮賷 丕賱爻賲丕亍貙 賱兀賳賴 芦听賷賰乇賴 丕賱鬲亘匕賷乇 賵賷乇賶 兀賳賻賾賴 賲賳 睾賷乇 丕賱氐賻賾賵丕亘 禺爻丕乇丞 賴匕丕 丕賱賰賲賾 丕賱賰亘賷乇 賲賳 丕賱賳噩賵賲 丕賱鬲賷 賵囟毓鬲 鬲丨鬲 鬲氐乇購賾賮賴听禄.
賴匕賴 丕賱賲毓賱賵賲丞 丕賱毓乇囟賷丞 賴賷 丕賱卮賷亍 丕賱賵丨賷丿 丕賱匕賷 賷賮爻賾乇貙 亘丕賱賳爻亘丞 賱賷貙 賱睾丞 賰丕賱冥賷賳賵貨 丕禺囟乇丕乇賴丕 賵禺氐賵亘鬲賴丕 賲毓賸丕貙 廿賳賴丕 賮賷 丕賱賲噩賲賱 賱睾丞 乇丕氐賽丿丞貙 亘丕賱睾丞 丕賱丿賯丞貙 賮賷賴丕 廿賳氐丕鬲 賱賱毓丕賱賲貙 鬲卮亘賴 丕賱鬲賲毓賾賳 毓亘乇 丕賱賲噩賴乇 賱孬賳賷丞賺 毓噩賷亘丞 賮賷 噩丿丕乇 禺賱賷丞貙 兀賵 賱鬲賰鬲賾賱丕鬲 毓賳賯賵丿賷丞 禺賱賮 賵乇賯丞 爻乇禺爻.
賷賲賰賳 賱賮賯乇丞 毓賳丿 賰丕賱冥賷賳賵 兀賳 鬲鬲囟賲賳 佴 兀賵 侑 兀爻賲丕亍 賱賳亘丕鬲丕鬲貙 賳噩賵賲 賵兀噩乇丕賲 爻賲丕賵賷丞貙 兀賵 胤賷賵乇 賲賴丕噩乇丞. 賵賴匕丕 賷毓賳賷 兀賳賻賾 賰丕賱冥賷賳賵 亘氐賮鬲賴 "丕賱丨丕賱丞 丕賱卮丕匕丞 賮賷 丕賱毓丕卅賱丞"貙 賴賵 兀賷囟賸丕 廿爻賮賳噩丞 賲孬丕賱賷丞 賱匕賱賰 丕賱賮囟賵賱 丕賱毓賱賲賷 丕賱匕賷 睾賱賾賮 胤賮賵賱鬲賴貙 賱兀賳 鬲賵馗賷賮賴 賱毓賳丕氐乇 丕賱胤亘賷毓丞 賲孬賱 丕賱賵夭睾丞 賵賰賵賰亘丞 丕賱賴賱亘丞 賵 丕賱卮丨乇賵乇 賵丕賱賴賳丿亘丕亍 丕賱亘乇賷丞貙 賴賵 鬲賵馗賷賮 丕賱毓丕乇賮貙 賱丕 丕賱賲鬲賮乇賾噩 毓賱賶 丕賱賰賱賲丕鬲 賲賳 爻胤丨 丕賱賯丕賲賵爻貙 亘賱 卮賷亍 兀亘毓丿 亘賰孬賷乇貙 賷卮亘賴 禺乇賵噩 丕賱賱睾丞 丕賱亘賽賰乇 賲賳 噩賵賮 丌丿賲 丕賱匕賷 鬲毓賱賾賲 丕賱兀爻賲丕亍 賰賱賴丕.
兀鬲匕賰乇 賴賳丕 丕賯鬲亘丕爻賸丕 賱廿丿賵丕乇丿 爻毓賷丿 賷賯賵賱 賮賷賴 亘兀賳 毓馗賲丞 丕賱兀丿亘 鬲賰賲賳 賮賷 丕賲鬲夭丕噩賴 亘丕賱兀卮賷丕亍 賱丕 賮賷 賳賯丕卅賴. 賳丨賳 賳爻鬲丨囟乇 毓丕丿丞賸 丕賲鬲夭丕噩 丕賱兀丿亘 亘丕賱爻賷丕爻丞 賵丕賱鬲丕乇賷禺 賵丕賱爻賵爻賷賵賱賵噩賷丕 賵丕賱賲孬賵賱賵噩賷丕貙 賱賰賳 賱賵 兀乇丿賳丕 賲孬丕賱賸丕 賲賲鬲丕夭賸丕 毓賳 毓賱丕賯丞 丕賱兀丿亘 丕賱卮賴賵丕賳賷丞 亘丕賱亘賷賵賱賵噩賷丕.. 賮賱賳鬲匕賰賾乇 賰丕賱冥賷賳賵.
賱爻賳賵丕鬲 胤賵賷賱丞 馗賱賾 夭賵乇亘丕 賷鬲爻賷賾丿 賯丕卅賲丞 丕賱卮禺氐賷丕鬲 丕賱乇賵丕卅賷丞 丕賱賲賮囟賱丞 賱賰孬賷乇賷賳 賵兀賳丕 賲賳 亘賷賳賴賲貙 賱賰賳 賷亘丿賵 兀賳賳賷 鬲睾賷乇鬲. 廿賳 卮禺氐賷鬲賷 丕賱乇賵丕卅賷丞 丕賱賲賮囟賱丞 丕賱噩丿賷丿丞 賴賷 卮禺氐賷丞 芦听丕賱爻賷丿 倬丕賱賵賲丕乇听禄 丕賱匕賷 賷賯賵賱: 芦 賷噩亘 毓賱賷賻賾 兀賳 兀卮丕賴丿 丕賱賳賻賾噩賵賲 禄貙 賰賱賲丕 爻胤毓鬲 丕賱賳噩賵賲 賮賷 丕賱爻賲丕亍貙 賱兀賳賴 芦听賷賰乇賴 丕賱鬲亘匕賷乇 賵賷乇賶 兀賳賻賾賴 賲賳 睾賷乇 丕賱氐賻賾賵丕亘 禺爻丕乇丞 賴匕丕 丕賱賰賲賾 丕賱賰亘賷乇 賲賳 丕賱賳噩賵賲 丕賱鬲賷 賵囟毓鬲 鬲丨鬲 鬲氐乇購賾賮賴听禄.
August 11, 2014
The thought of a time outside our experience is intolerable.
Had I met someone like Mr. Palomar before reading this book, I鈥檇 have easily passed him off as just another middle aged man on the verge of senility with nothing better to do with his time or at the most a mad wannabe scientist who realized about his true calling when it was too late with no one interested about his observations or findings. But trust Mr. Calvino when it comes to make seemingly weak characters strong and one of the most dull situations interesting for his readers. The words flown from Calvino鈥檚 pen can render an act of staring at a ceiling fan as the most exciting adventure ever known to man, however, Mr. Palomar gives us something wider in scope which enshrouds not only his home or his local market but the whole universe including moon and stars (If Calvino won鈥檛 talk about celestial bodies then who will).
The book is divided into three parts and each part deals with a particular experience which helps Mr. Palomar in exploring various events and visuals in order to find answers about the bigger questions of life. Philosophical Enquiry is what it is called? It is but it鈥檚 something which carries the Calvinian trademark and gives us a whole new way to indulge in such philosophies without losing interest for a single moment. Mr. Palomar takes us to a beach where he observes the coming and going of the waves while waiting unsuccessfully for a repetition of a phenomenon and on the same beach he is trying his best about looking or not looking or looking in a most natural and decent (!) way at the naked bosom of a female bather. If you want to know how subtly the humor coated with right dose of irony can be used in a most successful fashion in fiction in very few words, then read this piece. In a similar way, Mr. Palomar observes love making between tortoises, tries to decipher the whistling of birds and makes an attempt in giving words to the silence. And when Mr. Palomar looks at the sky! The words thereof are like music to the ears. It makes you fall in love all over again with the stars in the night sky, the moon in the afternoon and the beauty of the world around us.
If the ancients had been able to see it as I see it now, Mr. Palomar thinks, they would have thought they had projected their gaze into the heaven of Plato's ideas, or in the immaterial space of the postulates of Euclid; but instead, thanks to some misdirection or other, this sight has been granted to me, who fear it is too beautiful to be true, too gratifying to my imaginary universe to belong to the real world. But perhaps it is this same distrust of our senses that prevents us from feeling comfortable in the universe. Perhaps the first rule I must impose on myself is this: stick to what I see.
Mr. Palomar journey further extends to a visit to his local supermarket, a zoo in Barcelona, Garden of rocks and sand of the Ryoanji of Kyoto in Japan and Ruins of Tula in Mexico. He looks, he observes, he contemplates, he draw conclusions but even on viewing the whole world as a museum where there鈥檚 hardly any entry charge, he鈥檚 not able to find a concrete relation of his existence with that of the universe. He feels the need of defining every moment, every instant of his being and also the need of finding a set pattern in the world which gives him the pleasure of knowing that he has lived his life the way it ought to be lived and the universe exist the way it ought to exist whether Mr. Palomar is a part of it or not. He is extremely unsure of himself and the gist of the matter is - he wants to be at peace with himself.
...the world around him moves in an unharmonious way, and he hopes always to find some pattern in it, a constant. Perhaps because he himself feels that his own advance is impelled by uncoordinated movements of the mind, which seem to have nothing to do with one another and are increasingly difficult to fit into any pattern of inner harmony.
Now, you see Calvino can鈥檛 do anything wrong in my eyes. With such books, I feel like he indulges me a lot and gladly accompany me in my insanity. He don鈥檛 even have to try to make me smile because his writing, which is carried out with a unique blend of intellect and easiness, does that effortlessly. It鈥檚 fascinating to see the extent of his observational skills and equally fascinating when those observations are given shape in form of words. But I鈥檓 reluctant in recommending this book to everyone. I can vouch for great writing but subject matter might not appeal to all, so read it when you want to read a little book with a big heart.
A person, for example, reads in adulthood a book that is important for him, and it makes him say, How could I have lived without having read it! and also, What a pity I did not read it in my youth! Well, these statements do not have much meaning, especially the second, because after he has read that book, his whole life becomes the life of a person who has read that book, and it is of little importance whether he read it early or late, because now his life before that reading also assumes a form shaped by that reading.
Italo Calvino with Jorge Luis Borges
November 28, 2017
A bit nearsighted, absent minded, introverted, he does not seem to belong temperamentally to that human type generally called an observer. And yet it has always happened that certain things 鈥� a stone wall, a seashell, a leaf, a teapot 鈥� present themselves to him as if asking him for a minute and prolonged attention: he starts observing them almost unawares and his gaze begins to run over all the details, and is then unable to detach itself.
I find it almost impossible to pick a favorite among the novels written by Italo Calvino. Each time I pick one up I get that big WOW feeling 鈥� so this is what it's like to be a true writer and poet, capable of turning your world upside down and making you fell like your IQ suddenly jumped up a couple of points . Mr Palomar is a marvelous gem of playful observation of the world that turns itself into a philosophical treatise of what it means to be human in a bewildering yet enchanting universe.
If it were not for his impatience to reach a complete, definitive conclusion of his visual operation, looking at waves would be a very restful exercise for him and could save him from neurasthenia, heart attack, and gastric ulcer. And it could perhaps be the key to mastering the world's complexity by reducing it to the simplest mechanism.
The novel is a series of vignettes, at first glance unrelated, describing the tribulations of an middle aged, middle-class family man with a curious habit of being often distracted during his daily activities by ordinary things that demand his undivided attention and lead him to flights of fancy of baroque exuberance. A garden philosopher and impromptu poet, Mr Palomar teeters on the brink between shower thoughts humour and philosophical essay, discovering universal patterns and meaning during his summer vacation at the beach, stargazing in the evening, tending his small city garden, going to the zoo or to foreign countries, shopping for meat or for cheese,going out in society or simply meditating in his easy chair. I'm not sure why, but his almost obsessive attention to detail makes me think of Richard Dreyfuss in "Close Encounters of the Third Kind", playing with his food and seeing patterns of a bigger picture.
Palomar's mind has wandered, he has stopped pulling up weeds; he no longer thinks of the lawn: he thinks of the universe. He is trying to apply to the universe everything he has thought about the lawn. The universe as regular and ordered cosmos or as chaotic proliferation. The universe perhaps finite but countless, unstable within its borders, which discloses other universes within itself.
What is Mr. Palomar's secret? What makes him special and why his insights are important? In a modern world that seems interested only in shallow appearances and speed, Mr Palomar reminds us of the need to balance sensory input with analysis, to bridge western philosophy utilitarian view wit the oriental penchant for contemplation and meditation. In a world too crowded with intransigent, partisan polemics, he stresses the need for an open mind and an eye for diversity.
Mr. Palomar's gaze remains alert, available, released from all certitude.
also,
This is how birds think, or at least this is how Mr Palomar thinks, imagining himself a bird. "It is only after you have come to know the surface of things," he concludes, "that you venture to seek what is underneath. But the surface is inexhaustible."
Mr. Palomar is not a preacher. Most of his revelations are intimate and not so easy to communicate to others. His reluctance to embrace a cause or a fashionable trend is a point in his favour in my opinion. The questing mind is more concerned with asking the right questions than with laws written on stone tablets.
If he sometimes tries to speak up, he realizes that all are too intent on the theses they are defending to pay any attention to what he is trying to clarify to himself.
The fact is that he would like not so much to affirm a truth of his own as to ask questions, and he realizes that no one wants to abandon the train of his own discourse to answer questions that, coming from another discourse, would necessitate rethinking the same things with other words, perhaps ending up on stranger ground, far from safe paths.
What else can I say about Mr. Palomar? For me, he is probably the closest the author has come to write himself into one of his novels. I have noticed this commentary on the art of writing present in other books by Italo Calvino, but Palomar has I believe more than an inquisitive mind. He has the soul, the sensibility of the poet, of a translator for us mere mortals of the language of waves, of blades of grass, of a sparrow's flight path, of a sweet shop's display window, of constellations in the night sky or of obscure antique bass-reliefs.
He knows he could never suppress in himself the need to translate, to move from one language to another, from concrete figures to abstract words, to weave and re-weave a network of analogies. Not to interpret is impossible, as refraining from thinking is impossible.
The translation aspect of poetry is to be found in the most surprising places, as I have already mentioned, but one in particular (a visit to a Toltec pyramid) made me press the highlight button on my reader:
The teacher says, "This is the wall of serpents. Each serpent has a skull in his mouth. We don't know what they mean."
Mr. Palomar's friend cannot contain himself: "Yes, we do! It's the continuity of life and death; the serpents are life, the skulls are death. Life is life because it bears death with it, and death is death because there is no life without death ..."
One of the sketches reminds me strongly of Julio Cortazar and his Axolotl story: we may look at the world, but the world is also looking back at us. Palomar goes to see an albino gorilla in a zoo:
From it he can have a glimpse of what for man is the search for an escape from the dismay of living: investing oneself in things, recognizing oneself in signs, transforming the world into a collection of symbols; a first daybreak of culture in the long biological night.
The spectacle of the outside world is a source of never ending wonder for Mr. Palomar, much better than television in his opinion. "There is no cure for curiosity" says one of my favorite 欧宝娱乐 quotes, but curiosity is just the first step on the road to illumination. Translation, interpretation, analogy, synthesis should be companions of mere observation if we are to learn anything from experience.
The choice between television and gecko is not always made without some hesitation, each of the two spectacles has some information to offer that the other does not provide: the television ranges over continents gathering luminous impulses that describe the visible face of things; the gecko, on the other hand, represents immobile concentration and the hidden side, the obverse of what is displayed to the eye.
So, towards the end of this funny yet very serious novel, Mr Palomar turns his questing eye inward and towards more abstract thought patterns:
We can know nothing about what is outside us, if we overlook ourselves, the universe is the mirror in which we contemplate only what we have learned to know in ourselves.
And thus this new phase of his itinerary in search of wisdom is also achieved. Finally his gaze can rove freely inside himself. What will he see? Will his inner world seem to him an immense, calm rotation of a luminous spiral? Will he see stars and planets navigating in silence on the parabolas and ellipses that determine character and destiny? Will he contemplate a sphere of infinite circumference that has the ego as its center and its center in every point?
Highest recommendation!
I find it almost impossible to pick a favorite among the novels written by Italo Calvino. Each time I pick one up I get that big WOW feeling 鈥� so this is what it's like to be a true writer and poet, capable of turning your world upside down and making you fell like your IQ suddenly jumped up a couple of points . Mr Palomar is a marvelous gem of playful observation of the world that turns itself into a philosophical treatise of what it means to be human in a bewildering yet enchanting universe.
If it were not for his impatience to reach a complete, definitive conclusion of his visual operation, looking at waves would be a very restful exercise for him and could save him from neurasthenia, heart attack, and gastric ulcer. And it could perhaps be the key to mastering the world's complexity by reducing it to the simplest mechanism.
The novel is a series of vignettes, at first glance unrelated, describing the tribulations of an middle aged, middle-class family man with a curious habit of being often distracted during his daily activities by ordinary things that demand his undivided attention and lead him to flights of fancy of baroque exuberance. A garden philosopher and impromptu poet, Mr Palomar teeters on the brink between shower thoughts humour and philosophical essay, discovering universal patterns and meaning during his summer vacation at the beach, stargazing in the evening, tending his small city garden, going to the zoo or to foreign countries, shopping for meat or for cheese,going out in society or simply meditating in his easy chair. I'm not sure why, but his almost obsessive attention to detail makes me think of Richard Dreyfuss in "Close Encounters of the Third Kind", playing with his food and seeing patterns of a bigger picture.
Palomar's mind has wandered, he has stopped pulling up weeds; he no longer thinks of the lawn: he thinks of the universe. He is trying to apply to the universe everything he has thought about the lawn. The universe as regular and ordered cosmos or as chaotic proliferation. The universe perhaps finite but countless, unstable within its borders, which discloses other universes within itself.
What is Mr. Palomar's secret? What makes him special and why his insights are important? In a modern world that seems interested only in shallow appearances and speed, Mr Palomar reminds us of the need to balance sensory input with analysis, to bridge western philosophy utilitarian view wit the oriental penchant for contemplation and meditation. In a world too crowded with intransigent, partisan polemics, he stresses the need for an open mind and an eye for diversity.
Mr. Palomar's gaze remains alert, available, released from all certitude.
also,
This is how birds think, or at least this is how Mr Palomar thinks, imagining himself a bird. "It is only after you have come to know the surface of things," he concludes, "that you venture to seek what is underneath. But the surface is inexhaustible."
Mr. Palomar is not a preacher. Most of his revelations are intimate and not so easy to communicate to others. His reluctance to embrace a cause or a fashionable trend is a point in his favour in my opinion. The questing mind is more concerned with asking the right questions than with laws written on stone tablets.
If he sometimes tries to speak up, he realizes that all are too intent on the theses they are defending to pay any attention to what he is trying to clarify to himself.
The fact is that he would like not so much to affirm a truth of his own as to ask questions, and he realizes that no one wants to abandon the train of his own discourse to answer questions that, coming from another discourse, would necessitate rethinking the same things with other words, perhaps ending up on stranger ground, far from safe paths.
What else can I say about Mr. Palomar? For me, he is probably the closest the author has come to write himself into one of his novels. I have noticed this commentary on the art of writing present in other books by Italo Calvino, but Palomar has I believe more than an inquisitive mind. He has the soul, the sensibility of the poet, of a translator for us mere mortals of the language of waves, of blades of grass, of a sparrow's flight path, of a sweet shop's display window, of constellations in the night sky or of obscure antique bass-reliefs.
He knows he could never suppress in himself the need to translate, to move from one language to another, from concrete figures to abstract words, to weave and re-weave a network of analogies. Not to interpret is impossible, as refraining from thinking is impossible.
The translation aspect of poetry is to be found in the most surprising places, as I have already mentioned, but one in particular (a visit to a Toltec pyramid) made me press the highlight button on my reader:
The teacher says, "This is the wall of serpents. Each serpent has a skull in his mouth. We don't know what they mean."
Mr. Palomar's friend cannot contain himself: "Yes, we do! It's the continuity of life and death; the serpents are life, the skulls are death. Life is life because it bears death with it, and death is death because there is no life without death ..."
One of the sketches reminds me strongly of Julio Cortazar and his Axolotl story: we may look at the world, but the world is also looking back at us. Palomar goes to see an albino gorilla in a zoo:
From it he can have a glimpse of what for man is the search for an escape from the dismay of living: investing oneself in things, recognizing oneself in signs, transforming the world into a collection of symbols; a first daybreak of culture in the long biological night.
The spectacle of the outside world is a source of never ending wonder for Mr. Palomar, much better than television in his opinion. "There is no cure for curiosity" says one of my favorite 欧宝娱乐 quotes, but curiosity is just the first step on the road to illumination. Translation, interpretation, analogy, synthesis should be companions of mere observation if we are to learn anything from experience.
The choice between television and gecko is not always made without some hesitation, each of the two spectacles has some information to offer that the other does not provide: the television ranges over continents gathering luminous impulses that describe the visible face of things; the gecko, on the other hand, represents immobile concentration and the hidden side, the obverse of what is displayed to the eye.
So, towards the end of this funny yet very serious novel, Mr Palomar turns his questing eye inward and towards more abstract thought patterns:
We can know nothing about what is outside us, if we overlook ourselves, the universe is the mirror in which we contemplate only what we have learned to know in ourselves.
And thus this new phase of his itinerary in search of wisdom is also achieved. Finally his gaze can rove freely inside himself. What will he see? Will his inner world seem to him an immense, calm rotation of a luminous spiral? Will he see stars and planets navigating in silence on the parabolas and ellipses that determine character and destiny? Will he contemplate a sphere of infinite circumference that has the ego as its center and its center in every point?
Highest recommendation!
July 13, 2017
Palomar = Mr. Palomar, Italo Calvino
Mr. Palomar is a 1983 novel by the Italian writer Italo Calvino. Its original Italian title is Palomar. In an interview with Gregory Lucente, Calvino stated that he began writing Mr. Palomar in 1975, making it a predecessor to earlier published works such as If on a winter's night a traveler. Mr. Palomar was published in an English translation by William Weaver in 1985.
鬲丕乇蹖禺 賳禺爻鬲蹖賳 禺賵丕賳卮: 卮丕賳夭丿賴賲 賲丕賴 賳賵丕賲亘乇 爻丕賱 2012 賲蹖賱丕丿蹖
毓賳賵丕賳: 丌賯丕蹖 倬丕賱賵賲丕乇貨 丕蹖鬲丕賱賵 讴丕賱賵蹖賳賵貨 賲鬲乇噩賲: 丌乇夭賵 丕賯鬲丿丕乇蹖貨 鬲賴乇丕賳貙 讴鬲丕亘 禺賵乇卮蹖丿貙 1389貙 丿乇 131 氐貨 卮丕亘讴: 9789647081801貨 賲賵囟賵毓: 丿丕爻鬲丕賳賴丕蹖 賳賵蹖爻賳丿诏丕賳 丕蹖鬲丕賱蹖丕蹖蹖 賯乇賳 20 賲
丕蹖賳 丿丕爻鬲丕賳 賳禺爻鬲蹖賳 亘丕乇 亘丕 毓賳賵丕賳 芦丿賵 丿丕爻鬲丕賳 丿乇 蹖讴 讴鬲丕亘 丌賯丕蹖 倬丕賱賵賲丕乇 賵 賳賵賴 趩賳鬲賵禄 丿乇 爻丕賱 1377 丿乇 220 氐 鬲賴乇丕賳貙 丕賳鬲卮丕乇丕鬲 賲賵爻爻賴 丕蹖乇丕賳貨 賲賳鬲卮乇 卮丿賴 丕爻鬲. 丕賱亘鬲賴 讴賴 丿丕爻鬲丕賳 丿賵賲 丕孬乇: 丕賱爻丕賳丿乇賵 亘乇蹖讴賵 賴爻鬲
讴丕賱賵蹖賳賵 丕蹖賳 丿丕爻鬲丕賳 禺賵蹖卮 乇丕 丿乇 丕蹖賳 噩賲賱賴 禺賱丕氐賴 讴乇丿賴: 芦賲乇丿蹖 亘乇丕蹖 賳蹖賱 亘賴 丌诏丕賴蹖 诏丕賲 亘賴 诏丕賲 亘賴 乇丕賴 賲蹖鈥徹з佖� 丕賲賾丕 賴賳賵夭 亘賴 丌賳 賳乇爻蹖丿賴 丕爻鬲.禄貨
賳賯賱 丕夭 賲鬲賳: 賵賯鬲 卮賳丕蹖 睾乇賵亘 丌賯丕蹖 倬丕賱賵賲丕乇 丕爻鬲貨 賵丕乇丿 丌亘 卮丿賴 丕夭 爻丕丨賱 丿賵乇 賲蹖鈥徹促堌�.貨 丕賳毓讴丕爻 禺賵乇卮蹖丿 丿乇 丌亘貙 卮賲卮蹖乇 丿乇禺卮丕賳蹖 賲蹖鈥徹促堌� 讴賴 丿乇 丕賮賯 丕賲鬲丿丕丿 賲蹖鈥徾屫жㄘ� 賵 亘賴 丕賵 賲蹖鈥徹必池�. 丌賯丕蹖 倬丕賱賵賲丕乇 丿乇 丿乇賵賳 卮賲卮蹖乇 卮賳丕 賲蹖鈥徻┵嗀� 賵 亘賴 毓亘丕乇鬲蹖貙 卮賲卮蹖乇 賴賲蹖卮賴 賲賯丕亘賱 丕賵 賯乇丕乇 丿丕乇丿貙 賴乇趩賳丿 讴賴 亘丕 丨乇讴鬲 丿爻鬲 丌賯丕蹖 倬丕賱賵賲丕乇 禺賵丿 乇丕 毓賯亘 賲蹖鈥徻┴簇� 賵 丕夭 氐蹖丿 鈥徹簇� 賲蹖鈥徻臂屫藏�. 倬丕蹖丕賳 賳賯賱. 丕. 卮乇亘蹖丕賳蹖
Mr. Palomar is a 1983 novel by the Italian writer Italo Calvino. Its original Italian title is Palomar. In an interview with Gregory Lucente, Calvino stated that he began writing Mr. Palomar in 1975, making it a predecessor to earlier published works such as If on a winter's night a traveler. Mr. Palomar was published in an English translation by William Weaver in 1985.
鬲丕乇蹖禺 賳禺爻鬲蹖賳 禺賵丕賳卮: 卮丕賳夭丿賴賲 賲丕賴 賳賵丕賲亘乇 爻丕賱 2012 賲蹖賱丕丿蹖
毓賳賵丕賳: 丌賯丕蹖 倬丕賱賵賲丕乇貨 丕蹖鬲丕賱賵 讴丕賱賵蹖賳賵貨 賲鬲乇噩賲: 丌乇夭賵 丕賯鬲丿丕乇蹖貨 鬲賴乇丕賳貙 讴鬲丕亘 禺賵乇卮蹖丿貙 1389貙 丿乇 131 氐貨 卮丕亘讴: 9789647081801貨 賲賵囟賵毓: 丿丕爻鬲丕賳賴丕蹖 賳賵蹖爻賳丿诏丕賳 丕蹖鬲丕賱蹖丕蹖蹖 賯乇賳 20 賲
丕蹖賳 丿丕爻鬲丕賳 賳禺爻鬲蹖賳 亘丕乇 亘丕 毓賳賵丕賳 芦丿賵 丿丕爻鬲丕賳 丿乇 蹖讴 讴鬲丕亘 丌賯丕蹖 倬丕賱賵賲丕乇 賵 賳賵賴 趩賳鬲賵禄 丿乇 爻丕賱 1377 丿乇 220 氐 鬲賴乇丕賳貙 丕賳鬲卮丕乇丕鬲 賲賵爻爻賴 丕蹖乇丕賳貨 賲賳鬲卮乇 卮丿賴 丕爻鬲. 丕賱亘鬲賴 讴賴 丿丕爻鬲丕賳 丿賵賲 丕孬乇: 丕賱爻丕賳丿乇賵 亘乇蹖讴賵 賴爻鬲
讴丕賱賵蹖賳賵 丕蹖賳 丿丕爻鬲丕賳 禺賵蹖卮 乇丕 丿乇 丕蹖賳 噩賲賱賴 禺賱丕氐賴 讴乇丿賴: 芦賲乇丿蹖 亘乇丕蹖 賳蹖賱 亘賴 丌诏丕賴蹖 诏丕賲 亘賴 诏丕賲 亘賴 乇丕賴 賲蹖鈥徹з佖� 丕賲賾丕 賴賳賵夭 亘賴 丌賳 賳乇爻蹖丿賴 丕爻鬲.禄貨
賳賯賱 丕夭 賲鬲賳: 賵賯鬲 卮賳丕蹖 睾乇賵亘 丌賯丕蹖 倬丕賱賵賲丕乇 丕爻鬲貨 賵丕乇丿 丌亘 卮丿賴 丕夭 爻丕丨賱 丿賵乇 賲蹖鈥徹促堌�.貨 丕賳毓讴丕爻 禺賵乇卮蹖丿 丿乇 丌亘貙 卮賲卮蹖乇 丿乇禺卮丕賳蹖 賲蹖鈥徹促堌� 讴賴 丿乇 丕賮賯 丕賲鬲丿丕丿 賲蹖鈥徾屫жㄘ� 賵 亘賴 丕賵 賲蹖鈥徹必池�. 丌賯丕蹖 倬丕賱賵賲丕乇 丿乇 丿乇賵賳 卮賲卮蹖乇 卮賳丕 賲蹖鈥徻┵嗀� 賵 亘賴 毓亘丕乇鬲蹖貙 卮賲卮蹖乇 賴賲蹖卮賴 賲賯丕亘賱 丕賵 賯乇丕乇 丿丕乇丿貙 賴乇趩賳丿 讴賴 亘丕 丨乇讴鬲 丿爻鬲 丌賯丕蹖 倬丕賱賵賲丕乇 禺賵丿 乇丕 毓賯亘 賲蹖鈥徻┴簇� 賵 丕夭 氐蹖丿 鈥徹簇� 賲蹖鈥徻臂屫藏�. 倬丕蹖丕賳 賳賯賱. 丕. 卮乇亘蹖丕賳蹖
February 14, 2021
鬲噩乇亘賴 讴鬲丕亘 丌賯丕蹖 倬丕賱賵賲丕乇 亘乇丕蹖 賲賳 賲孬賱 鬲噩乇亘賴 讴鬲丕亘 丿賳蹖丕蹖 爻賵賮蹖 亘賵丿.
讴鬲丕亘蹖 讴賴 爻毓蹖 讴乇丿賴 亘賵丿 丿乇 賯丕賱亘 丿丕爻鬲丕賳貙 亘丨孬 賴丕蹖 賮賱爻賮蹖 蹖丕丿 丌丿賲 亘丿賴! 賵賱蹖 丿乇 賳賴丕蹖鬲 賴賲 丿乇 丿丕爻鬲丕賳 爻乇丕蹖蹖 卮讴爻鬲 禺賵乇丿賴 亘賵丿 賴賲 丿乇 賮賱爻賮賴.
丌賯丕蹖 倬丕賱賵賲丕乇貙 丿丕爻鬲丕賳 賳蹖爻鬲貙 乇賲丕賳 賳蹖爻鬲貙 禺胤 丿丕爻鬲丕賳蹖 賳丿丕乇賴 賵 讴賱丕 丕賮讴丕乇 匕賴賳蹖 蹖讴 倬蹖乇賲乇丿賴! 丕賱亘鬲賴 丕诏乇 亘卮賴 丕爻賲卮賵 诏匕丕卮鬲 倬蹖乇賲乇丿.
丕诏乇 丿賳亘丕賱 蹖讴 丿丕爻鬲丕賳 禺賵亘 丕夭 讴丕賱賵蹖賳賵 賴爻鬲蹖丿貙 丕蹖賳 讴鬲丕亘 乇賵 賳禺賵賳蹖丿.
讴丕賱賵蹖賳賵 乇賲丕賳 禺賵亘 賴賲 丿丕乇賴貙 讴賴 丕賱亘鬲賴 賲賳 禺賵丿賲 賴賲 丕卮鬲亘丕賴 讴乇丿賲 賵 亘賴 毓賳賵丕賳 丕賵賱蹖賳 讴鬲丕亘 丕夭 讴丕賱賵蹖賳賵 丕蹖賳賵 禺賵賳丿賲! 賵賱蹖 亘賴 夭賵丿蹖 賲蹖乇賲 爻乇丕睾 乇賲丕賳 賴丕卮. 禺賱丕氐賴貙 亘乇丕蹖 蹖讴 丿丕爻鬲丕賳 禺賵亘 丕夭 丕蹖賳 賳賵蹖爻賳丿賴貙 丕蹖賳 讴鬲丕亘 乇賵 賳禺賵賳蹖丿.
丕诏乇 丿賳亘丕賱 蹖丕丿 诏乇賮鬲賳 賮賱爻賮賴 夭賳丿诏蹖 賵 丿蹖丿 噩賴丕賳 亘蹖賳蹖 賵 丕蹖賳 丿丕爻鬲丕賳 賴丕 賴賲 賴爻鬲蹖丿貙 亘丕夭 丕蹖賳 讴鬲丕亘 乇賵 賳禺賵賳蹖丿! 丕蹖賳 讴鬲丕亘 丿乇 丕蹖賳 夭賲蹖賳賴 賴賲 卮讴爻鬲 禺賵乇丿賴 賵 賳鬲賵賳爻鬲賴 禺賵亘 丨賯 賲胤賱亘 乇賵 丕丿丕 讴賳賴.
鬲賳賴丕 賳讴鬲賴 賲孬亘鬲 讴鬲丕亘貙 噩賲賱賴 賴丕蹖蹖 亘賵丿 讴賴 卮丕蹖丿 丕夭 賴乇 丿賴 氐丨賮賴貙 蹖讴 倬丕乇丕诏乇丕賮 賵丕賯毓丕 禺賵亘 亘賵丿 賵 賲蹖卮丿 亘賴卮 賮讴乇 讴乇丿.
丕诏乇 賵賯鬲 夭蹖丕丿 丿丕乇蹖丿貙 賵 丕蹖賳 讴鬲丕亘 賴賲 禺蹖賱蹖 丕乇夭賵賳 亘賴 倬爻鬲鬲賵賳 禺賵乇丿貙 亘禺賵賳蹖丿. 賵诏乇賳賴 丕诏乇 亘禺賵丕賲 賳馗乇 卮禺氐蹖賲 乇賵 亘诏賲貙 丕蹖賳 讴鬲丕亘 趩蹖夭蹖 亘賴 賲賳 丕囟丕賮賴 賳讴乇丿貙 賲鬲丕爻賮丕賳賴貙 丨鬲蹖 丨爻乇鬲 賱匕鬲 亘乇丿賳 丕夭 蹖讴 丿丕爻鬲丕賳 禺賵亘 乇賵 賴賲 亘賴 丿賱賲 賳卮賵賳丿!
丕賲鬲蹖丕夭 讴鬲丕亘 蹖讴 賵 賳蹖賲 爻鬲丕乇賴! 讴賴 賲賳 乇賳丿卮 讴乇丿賲 亘賴 丿賵 爻鬲丕乇賴貙 亘賴 丕丨鬲乇丕賲 丕爻賲 讴丕賱賵蹖賳賵.
讴鬲丕亘蹖 讴賴 爻毓蹖 讴乇丿賴 亘賵丿 丿乇 賯丕賱亘 丿丕爻鬲丕賳貙 亘丨孬 賴丕蹖 賮賱爻賮蹖 蹖丕丿 丌丿賲 亘丿賴! 賵賱蹖 丿乇 賳賴丕蹖鬲 賴賲 丿乇 丿丕爻鬲丕賳 爻乇丕蹖蹖 卮讴爻鬲 禺賵乇丿賴 亘賵丿 賴賲 丿乇 賮賱爻賮賴.
丌賯丕蹖 倬丕賱賵賲丕乇貙 丿丕爻鬲丕賳 賳蹖爻鬲貙 乇賲丕賳 賳蹖爻鬲貙 禺胤 丿丕爻鬲丕賳蹖 賳丿丕乇賴 賵 讴賱丕 丕賮讴丕乇 匕賴賳蹖 蹖讴 倬蹖乇賲乇丿賴! 丕賱亘鬲賴 丕诏乇 亘卮賴 丕爻賲卮賵 诏匕丕卮鬲 倬蹖乇賲乇丿.
丕诏乇 丿賳亘丕賱 蹖讴 丿丕爻鬲丕賳 禺賵亘 丕夭 讴丕賱賵蹖賳賵 賴爻鬲蹖丿貙 丕蹖賳 讴鬲丕亘 乇賵 賳禺賵賳蹖丿.
讴丕賱賵蹖賳賵 乇賲丕賳 禺賵亘 賴賲 丿丕乇賴貙 讴賴 丕賱亘鬲賴 賲賳 禺賵丿賲 賴賲 丕卮鬲亘丕賴 讴乇丿賲 賵 亘賴 毓賳賵丕賳 丕賵賱蹖賳 讴鬲丕亘 丕夭 讴丕賱賵蹖賳賵 丕蹖賳賵 禺賵賳丿賲! 賵賱蹖 亘賴 夭賵丿蹖 賲蹖乇賲 爻乇丕睾 乇賲丕賳 賴丕卮. 禺賱丕氐賴貙 亘乇丕蹖 蹖讴 丿丕爻鬲丕賳 禺賵亘 丕夭 丕蹖賳 賳賵蹖爻賳丿賴貙 丕蹖賳 讴鬲丕亘 乇賵 賳禺賵賳蹖丿.
丕诏乇 丿賳亘丕賱 蹖丕丿 诏乇賮鬲賳 賮賱爻賮賴 夭賳丿诏蹖 賵 丿蹖丿 噩賴丕賳 亘蹖賳蹖 賵 丕蹖賳 丿丕爻鬲丕賳 賴丕 賴賲 賴爻鬲蹖丿貙 亘丕夭 丕蹖賳 讴鬲丕亘 乇賵 賳禺賵賳蹖丿! 丕蹖賳 讴鬲丕亘 丿乇 丕蹖賳 夭賲蹖賳賴 賴賲 卮讴爻鬲 禺賵乇丿賴 賵 賳鬲賵賳爻鬲賴 禺賵亘 丨賯 賲胤賱亘 乇賵 丕丿丕 讴賳賴.
鬲賳賴丕 賳讴鬲賴 賲孬亘鬲 讴鬲丕亘貙 噩賲賱賴 賴丕蹖蹖 亘賵丿 讴賴 卮丕蹖丿 丕夭 賴乇 丿賴 氐丨賮賴貙 蹖讴 倬丕乇丕诏乇丕賮 賵丕賯毓丕 禺賵亘 亘賵丿 賵 賲蹖卮丿 亘賴卮 賮讴乇 讴乇丿.
丕诏乇 賵賯鬲 夭蹖丕丿 丿丕乇蹖丿貙 賵 丕蹖賳 讴鬲丕亘 賴賲 禺蹖賱蹖 丕乇夭賵賳 亘賴 倬爻鬲鬲賵賳 禺賵乇丿貙 亘禺賵賳蹖丿. 賵诏乇賳賴 丕诏乇 亘禺賵丕賲 賳馗乇 卮禺氐蹖賲 乇賵 亘诏賲貙 丕蹖賳 讴鬲丕亘 趩蹖夭蹖 亘賴 賲賳 丕囟丕賮賴 賳讴乇丿貙 賲鬲丕爻賮丕賳賴貙 丨鬲蹖 丨爻乇鬲 賱匕鬲 亘乇丿賳 丕夭 蹖讴 丿丕爻鬲丕賳 禺賵亘 乇賵 賴賲 亘賴 丿賱賲 賳卮賵賳丿!
丕賲鬲蹖丕夭 讴鬲丕亘 蹖讴 賵 賳蹖賲 爻鬲丕乇賴! 讴賴 賲賳 乇賳丿卮 讴乇丿賲 亘賴 丿賵 爻鬲丕乇賴貙 亘賴 丕丨鬲乇丕賲 丕爻賲 讴丕賱賵蹖賳賵.
October 18, 2024
Ogni volta che inizio un libro di Calvino, 猫 come se stessi entrando in un mondo sconosciuto. Potr脿 sembrare banale, ma la particolarit脿 delle storie, sta nel forte impatto riflessivo, che l'autore impregna le pagine. Autore unico ed ineguagliabile, qui penso che arrivi al suo culmine.
Palomar, ultimo romanzo che scrisse, raggiunge picchi di riflessione sociale ed ambientale, che poche volte ho letto, soprattutto per la particolarit脿 del come sia stato scritto, del come sia stato ideato. Perch猫 se stessimo parlando di un classico libro come spunti di riflessione, allora potremmo essere di fronte a molti autori, anche stupefacenti, ma Calvino 猫 un'altra storia, 猫 qualcosa che travalica il senso stesso di romanzo, di opera letteraria. Qui, ormai autore con alle spalle varie e tra le pi霉 straordinarie opere letterarie di tutti i tempi, per esempio I nostri antenati, Calvino in l脿 con l'et脿, si mette, come se fosse ad un balcone che dia sul mondo intero che lo circonda, a speculare sul perch猫, sul come e sul cosa sia il mondo e contemporaneamente se stesso e...
Capolavoro unico!
Palomar, ultimo romanzo che scrisse, raggiunge picchi di riflessione sociale ed ambientale, che poche volte ho letto, soprattutto per la particolarit脿 del come sia stato scritto, del come sia stato ideato. Perch猫 se stessimo parlando di un classico libro come spunti di riflessione, allora potremmo essere di fronte a molti autori, anche stupefacenti, ma Calvino 猫 un'altra storia, 猫 qualcosa che travalica il senso stesso di romanzo, di opera letteraria. Qui, ormai autore con alle spalle varie e tra le pi霉 straordinarie opere letterarie di tutti i tempi, per esempio I nostri antenati, Calvino in l脿 con l'et脿, si mette, come se fosse ad un balcone che dia sul mondo intero che lo circonda, a speculare sul perch猫, sul come e sul cosa sia il mondo e contemporaneamente se stesso e...
Capolavoro unico!
February 9, 2017
This is a sprightly and accessible tour of the mind of an ordinary man on a quest to see the world in simpler, truer terms and thereby reduce his anxiety with its confusion and paradoxes. In a series of 27 vignettes, he takes his common experience from the natural and human world as a series of problems in looking and interpreting the nature of reality. These little episodes or essays sometimes have the flavor of whimsy, sometimes of spiritual mediation, and other times of what you could be considered natural language philosophy. The character often seems brave in his dedication and other times foolish for proceeding with no attempt at recourse to accomplishments of scientists and philosophers.
For some reason Calvino put the table of contents and information about a pattern to its segments at the back of the book. Maybe he expects the reader will get a special pleasure from discovering that on his own. Thus, in simplified terms I say only that a prospective reader should expect a progression with each three vignettes from a perceptual issue, to one concerned with human meanings and symbols, and ending with one that focuses on an abstract topic dealing with time, the cosmos, or relations between the self and the world.
Settings for the reveries are diverse, including the beach on vacation, his garden and terrace in Rome, a trip to the zoo, shopping for food in Paris, a visit to a Zen garden in Japan, and a stop with tourists at an archeological site with carvings related to human sacrifice in Mexico. In most cases he ends with lessons learned about the contrasting realities of different perspectives and the challenges in harmonizing the relativity of truth.
In one of my favorite pieces, he experiences while swimming at dusk the a sword of light sparkling in the water that moves with him.
鈥淭his is a special homage the sun pays to me personally,鈥� Mr. Palomar is tempted to think, or rather, the egocentric megalomaniac ego that dwells in him is tempted to think. But the depressive and self-wounding ego that dwells with the other in the same container, rebuts, 鈥淓veryone with eyes sees the reflection that follows him; illusion of the senses and of the mind holds us all prisoners, always.鈥� A third tenant, a more even-handed ego, speaks up: 鈥淭his means that, no matter what, I belong to the feeling and thinking subjects, capable of establishing a relationship with the sun鈥檚 rays, and of interpreting and evaluating perceptions and illusions.
鈥淎ll this is happening not on the sea, but in the sun,鈥� the swimmer Mr.Palomar thinks, but inside my head, in the circuits between eyes and brain. I am swimming in my mind; this sword of light exists only there; and this is precisely what attracts me. This is my element. The only one I can know in some way鈥�.
That may be a little abstract and dreamy for your taste, though I believe most of us have experienced a comparable satori without putting it in words. In one of the pieces I like that sheds light on human elements, he touched my heart over his innocence and the lonely isolation he is putting himself into. In this one he is dwelling on the possible meanings of the two-note calls of blackbirds to each other and the potential significance of the silence between calls. He recognizes how the telegraphic utterances between him and his wife (she says 鈥淗ere they are鈥� and he follows with 鈥淪shh鈥�) may share a lot of comparable hidden meanings. As usual, he has no easy summary of the knowledge he gains from his efforts:
The equal whistle of man and blackbird seems to him a bridge thrown over the abyss
鈥etween what and what? Nature and culture? Silence and speech? Mr.Palomar always hopes that silence contains more than language can say. But what if language was really the goal toward which everything in existence tends? Or what if everything that exists were language and has been since the beginning of time? Here Mr. Palomar is again gripped by anguish.
As an example on one of his whimsical pieces, a visit to a Paris cheese shop has him torn between wanting to taste everything and the urge to home exactly the cheese that somehow is his alone. Each one seems the 鈥渓egacy of a knowledge accumulated by a civilization through all its history and geography.鈥� I empathize with this reflection:
There is a reciprocal relationship between cheese and customer: each cheese awaits its customer, poses so as to attract him, with a firmness or somewhat hauty graininess, or, on the contrary, by melting in submissive abandon.
Toward the end he begins to question his own enterprise. The looking at the world through the windows of his eyes as a source of true knowledge is undermined by his own mind being part of that world. And the uncertain veracity of the world looking at the world depends on his choice of what to look at and the timing of the looking. Looking at the stars uplifts him with a sense of infinite space and timelessness, but renders his own life as insignificant. An epiphany about connectedness of it all leads him to the absurdity that a compression in the Andromeda Galaxy might influence the freshness of his watercress. Still, it seems clear that knowledge of the larger reality depends on knowledge of his own self and that he needs to learn to be more social to achieve the ease of special people who always seem to know the right things to say and be able to help others do the same. They seem to truly be in harmony with the world: 鈥淭o the man who is the friend of the universe, the universe is a friend鈥�. By comparison 鈥渆verything he says or does proves clumsy, jarring, irresolute鈥�, and in turn comforts of looking at the starry sky begins to acquire the perspective of a 鈥渟talled mechanism, which jerks and creaks in all its unoiled joints, outposts of and endangered universe, twisted, restless as he is. He turns to the ultimate task of imagining the harmony of being dead, an ultimate irony for Mr. Palomar鈥檚 admirable quest and suitable conclusion to this elegant parable about the human journey.
For some reason Calvino put the table of contents and information about a pattern to its segments at the back of the book. Maybe he expects the reader will get a special pleasure from discovering that on his own. Thus, in simplified terms I say only that a prospective reader should expect a progression with each three vignettes from a perceptual issue, to one concerned with human meanings and symbols, and ending with one that focuses on an abstract topic dealing with time, the cosmos, or relations between the self and the world.
Settings for the reveries are diverse, including the beach on vacation, his garden and terrace in Rome, a trip to the zoo, shopping for food in Paris, a visit to a Zen garden in Japan, and a stop with tourists at an archeological site with carvings related to human sacrifice in Mexico. In most cases he ends with lessons learned about the contrasting realities of different perspectives and the challenges in harmonizing the relativity of truth.
In one of my favorite pieces, he experiences while swimming at dusk the a sword of light sparkling in the water that moves with him.
鈥淭his is a special homage the sun pays to me personally,鈥� Mr. Palomar is tempted to think, or rather, the egocentric megalomaniac ego that dwells in him is tempted to think. But the depressive and self-wounding ego that dwells with the other in the same container, rebuts, 鈥淓veryone with eyes sees the reflection that follows him; illusion of the senses and of the mind holds us all prisoners, always.鈥� A third tenant, a more even-handed ego, speaks up: 鈥淭his means that, no matter what, I belong to the feeling and thinking subjects, capable of establishing a relationship with the sun鈥檚 rays, and of interpreting and evaluating perceptions and illusions.
鈥淎ll this is happening not on the sea, but in the sun,鈥� the swimmer Mr.Palomar thinks, but inside my head, in the circuits between eyes and brain. I am swimming in my mind; this sword of light exists only there; and this is precisely what attracts me. This is my element. The only one I can know in some way鈥�.
That may be a little abstract and dreamy for your taste, though I believe most of us have experienced a comparable satori without putting it in words. In one of the pieces I like that sheds light on human elements, he touched my heart over his innocence and the lonely isolation he is putting himself into. In this one he is dwelling on the possible meanings of the two-note calls of blackbirds to each other and the potential significance of the silence between calls. He recognizes how the telegraphic utterances between him and his wife (she says 鈥淗ere they are鈥� and he follows with 鈥淪shh鈥�) may share a lot of comparable hidden meanings. As usual, he has no easy summary of the knowledge he gains from his efforts:
The equal whistle of man and blackbird seems to him a bridge thrown over the abyss
鈥etween what and what? Nature and culture? Silence and speech? Mr.Palomar always hopes that silence contains more than language can say. But what if language was really the goal toward which everything in existence tends? Or what if everything that exists were language and has been since the beginning of time? Here Mr. Palomar is again gripped by anguish.
As an example on one of his whimsical pieces, a visit to a Paris cheese shop has him torn between wanting to taste everything and the urge to home exactly the cheese that somehow is his alone. Each one seems the 鈥渓egacy of a knowledge accumulated by a civilization through all its history and geography.鈥� I empathize with this reflection:
There is a reciprocal relationship between cheese and customer: each cheese awaits its customer, poses so as to attract him, with a firmness or somewhat hauty graininess, or, on the contrary, by melting in submissive abandon.
Toward the end he begins to question his own enterprise. The looking at the world through the windows of his eyes as a source of true knowledge is undermined by his own mind being part of that world. And the uncertain veracity of the world looking at the world depends on his choice of what to look at and the timing of the looking. Looking at the stars uplifts him with a sense of infinite space and timelessness, but renders his own life as insignificant. An epiphany about connectedness of it all leads him to the absurdity that a compression in the Andromeda Galaxy might influence the freshness of his watercress. Still, it seems clear that knowledge of the larger reality depends on knowledge of his own self and that he needs to learn to be more social to achieve the ease of special people who always seem to know the right things to say and be able to help others do the same. They seem to truly be in harmony with the world: 鈥淭o the man who is the friend of the universe, the universe is a friend鈥�. By comparison 鈥渆verything he says or does proves clumsy, jarring, irresolute鈥�, and in turn comforts of looking at the starry sky begins to acquire the perspective of a 鈥渟talled mechanism, which jerks and creaks in all its unoiled joints, outposts of and endangered universe, twisted, restless as he is. He turns to the ultimate task of imagining the harmony of being dead, an ultimate irony for Mr. Palomar鈥檚 admirable quest and suitable conclusion to this elegant parable about the human journey.
March 28, 2014
Calvino's bittersweet final "novel": a series of reflections on humanity's relationship to the universe, to the world, to itself. Mr. Palomar, named of a telescope is a perfect observer, always alert and alert to his own alertness, seeking a maximum of receptivity to his surroundings, attempting with a modest diligence to make sense of existence. The question of how best to do this is, of course, complicated -- its nuances, broken in so many sub-examples, compose this book. Encyclopedic and rigorously-structured in a 3 x 3 x 3 lattice, Mr. Palomar and his musings are nonetheless much more human than mechanical. In fact, fact, this may be Calvino's most unrestrainedly philosophic work.
As the trajectory moves slowly from exterior to interior and from observation to introspection, we also move from the minutia of daily life to a quietly cosmic scale, in the face of which there is little place for grand statements or gestures (for what could the real significance of such a motion be in the face of the entire universe?) But even the universe is ultimately finite, in breadth and length. And so there is an endpoint to all contemplation, to this book, and sadly, two years after this was published in 1983, to the life of Italo Calvino.
As the trajectory moves slowly from exterior to interior and from observation to introspection, we also move from the minutia of daily life to a quietly cosmic scale, in the face of which there is little place for grand statements or gestures (for what could the real significance of such a motion be in the face of the entire universe?) But even the universe is ultimately finite, in breadth and length. And so there is an endpoint to all contemplation, to this book, and sadly, two years after this was published in 1983, to the life of Italo Calvino.
December 27, 2017
Palomar " tende a ridurre le proprie relazioni con il mondo esterno e per difendersi dalla nevrastenia generale cerca quanto pi霉 pu貌 di tenere le sue sensazioni sotto controllo".
Chi 猫 Palomar?
E' un personaggio fuori dai canoni anche se 猫 lui l'indiscusso protagonista in un susseguirsi di azioni (minime ed essenziali ) ma soprattutto di riflessioni. Il suo nome 猫 quello di un famoso osservatorio astronomico in California. Il suo ragionamento continuo gli rovina il piacere di alcuni gesti ma ci regala infinite possibilit脿 di pensare.
Muovendoci in un insieme di nove racconti per tre sezioni, per un totale di ventisette bozzetti, tutti rigorosamente senza cornice, ci affidiamo al suo essere pensante.
Gustiamo la certezza dell' illusione dei sensi e della mente nei tortuosi suoi pensieri e cerchiamo di cogliere tutte le considerazioni verso le quali Calvino ha voluto che ci soffermassimo.
Coni e bastoncelli e teoria del colore, rilettura dell' EROS, considerazioni ambientaliste, fine semiologia.
Il ritratto di un Io molteplice: l'Io megalomane, l'Io egocentrico, l'Io depressivo, L' Io autolesionista, l'Io parziale....
Una perla di rara e raffinata intelligenza, una scrittura poetica, un saggio sull'animo umano che ti strappa anche momenti (quasi tutti nei finali) di squisita ironia. Spesso la discrepanza tra ci貌 che Palomar fa e ci貌 che appare stia facendo genera ilarit脿 in chi lo vede all' azione- contemplazione.
Una efficace e sintetica guida alla lettura 猫 contenuta prima dell'indice e aiuta a capire il tenore delle aree tematiche affrontate e la tipologia di scrittura verso la quale tendono.
Ho gustato tutto prediligendo l'area dell'esperienza visiva ( "Le vacanze di Palomar" ) ma mi sono divertita maggiormente tra Roma e Parigi in " Palomar in citt脿 (" Palomar fa la spesa" 猫 squisito!!).
Lo consiglio anche perch茅 猫 un'opera d'arte, nascosta dallo strano destino e dall' ingiusta Fortuna, che merita di essere conosciuta e, spero, apprezzata.
Chi 猫 Palomar?
E' un personaggio fuori dai canoni anche se 猫 lui l'indiscusso protagonista in un susseguirsi di azioni (minime ed essenziali ) ma soprattutto di riflessioni. Il suo nome 猫 quello di un famoso osservatorio astronomico in California. Il suo ragionamento continuo gli rovina il piacere di alcuni gesti ma ci regala infinite possibilit脿 di pensare.
Muovendoci in un insieme di nove racconti per tre sezioni, per un totale di ventisette bozzetti, tutti rigorosamente senza cornice, ci affidiamo al suo essere pensante.
Gustiamo la certezza dell' illusione dei sensi e della mente nei tortuosi suoi pensieri e cerchiamo di cogliere tutte le considerazioni verso le quali Calvino ha voluto che ci soffermassimo.
Coni e bastoncelli e teoria del colore, rilettura dell' EROS, considerazioni ambientaliste, fine semiologia.
Il ritratto di un Io molteplice: l'Io megalomane, l'Io egocentrico, l'Io depressivo, L' Io autolesionista, l'Io parziale....
Una perla di rara e raffinata intelligenza, una scrittura poetica, un saggio sull'animo umano che ti strappa anche momenti (quasi tutti nei finali) di squisita ironia. Spesso la discrepanza tra ci貌 che Palomar fa e ci貌 che appare stia facendo genera ilarit脿 in chi lo vede all' azione- contemplazione.
Una efficace e sintetica guida alla lettura 猫 contenuta prima dell'indice e aiuta a capire il tenore delle aree tematiche affrontate e la tipologia di scrittura verso la quale tendono.
Ho gustato tutto prediligendo l'area dell'esperienza visiva ( "Le vacanze di Palomar" ) ma mi sono divertita maggiormente tra Roma e Parigi in " Palomar in citt脿 (" Palomar fa la spesa" 猫 squisito!!).
Lo consiglio anche perch茅 猫 un'opera d'arte, nascosta dallo strano destino e dall' ingiusta Fortuna, che merita di essere conosciuta e, spero, apprezzata.
August 15, 2019
Adorei, uma leitura diferente daquilo que estou habituada a ler, mas adorei. Quero ler mais de Italo Calvino.
Que narrativa fascinante.
Recomendo 5 猸�'s.
Que narrativa fascinante.
Recomendo 5 猸�'s.
Read
July 18, 2016Mr. Palomar, as the name suggests, is an observant soul. When he goes on vacation, to the beach, he contemplates a wave, thoroughly. He notices a woman sunbathing topless, and strolls back and forth in front of her, trying out different postures to appear not to be observing her. She is ultimately not amused. He then waits till the sun starts to sink, and observes himself dive in, and knife toward the horizon.
He observes his lawn, an albino gorilla, a gecko. He, Calvino, is at his best when Mr. Palomar observes two blackbirds whistling, maybe at each other, at the same time that Mrs. Palomar starts chirping at him, a juxtaposition I am half acquainted with.
He looks upwards to the stars, the planets, as he surely must, and eventually looks at his own death.
This is often profound but sometimes trite, and as the picture on the cover of my edition suggests, ....
.... can be a little creepy at times.
He observes his lawn, an albino gorilla, a gecko. He, Calvino, is at his best when Mr. Palomar observes two blackbirds whistling, maybe at each other, at the same time that Mrs. Palomar starts chirping at him, a juxtaposition I am half acquainted with.
He looks upwards to the stars, the planets, as he surely must, and eventually looks at his own death.
This is often profound but sometimes trite, and as the picture on the cover of my edition suggests, ....
.... can be a little creepy at times.
April 30, 2020
Her ne kadar 眉zerinde roman yazsa da bu incecik kitap bir roman de臒il, hatta novella bile de臒il. Bir otobiyografi denemesi ama Calvino鈥檝ari. Bay Palomar yazar谋n ta kendisi. Hayat谋n谋n belli kesitlerini, farkl谋 mekanlardaki d眉艧眉nce ve davran谋艧lar谋n谋 o keskin g枚zlem g眉c眉n眉n yaratt谋臒谋 m眉kemmel betimlemelerle anlat谋yor.
D眉艧眉nceleriyle birlikte ruh halini de aktar谋yor Calvino. Bazen denizdeki bir dalgay谋 bazen g枚ky眉z眉ndeki y谋ld谋zlar谋 g枚zlemliyor ve d眉艧眉nce ak谋艧谋 i莽inde bir sonuca varmaya 莽abal谋yor. Kaplumba臒alar谋n sevi艧mesini izliyor, karatavu臒un 谋sl谋臒谋n谋 dinliyor ve sorguluyor. Kasap, peynirci, hayvanat bah莽esi, kumsallar gezdi臒i mekanlardan birka莽谋.
Zen tap谋na臒谋na, Aztek tap谋naklar谋na gidiyor ve g枚rd眉klerini d眉艧眉n眉yor. Onun d眉艧眉nce sistemati臒ini 鈥渉er peynirin ard谋nda, de臒i艧ik bir g枚k alt谋ndaki de臒i艧ik ye艧illi bir otlak vard谋r鈥� c眉mlesiyle, kendi s枚zleriyle tan谋mlayabiliriz. Belki de fark谋nda olmadan bilgelik pe艧inde ko艧uyor. Sonunda i艧i 枚lm眉艧 gibi davranmaya kadar g枚t眉r眉yor. 脰l眉 olman谋n zorlu臒unu da g枚r眉yor. Kendini tan谋mak i莽in g枚sterdi臒i bunca gayretin ya艧amda kar艧谋l谋臒谋 olmad谋臒谋n谋 farkediyor.
Italo Calvino okumak isteyenlere ilk okunacak kitab谋n Palomar olmad谋臒谋n谋 谋srarla vurgular谋m. Calvino鈥檡u severseniz okumak i莽in bu kitab谋 sonlara b谋rak谋n.
D眉艧眉nceleriyle birlikte ruh halini de aktar谋yor Calvino. Bazen denizdeki bir dalgay谋 bazen g枚ky眉z眉ndeki y谋ld谋zlar谋 g枚zlemliyor ve d眉艧眉nce ak谋艧谋 i莽inde bir sonuca varmaya 莽abal谋yor. Kaplumba臒alar谋n sevi艧mesini izliyor, karatavu臒un 谋sl谋臒谋n谋 dinliyor ve sorguluyor. Kasap, peynirci, hayvanat bah莽esi, kumsallar gezdi臒i mekanlardan birka莽谋.
Zen tap谋na臒谋na, Aztek tap谋naklar谋na gidiyor ve g枚rd眉klerini d眉艧眉n眉yor. Onun d眉艧眉nce sistemati臒ini 鈥渉er peynirin ard谋nda, de臒i艧ik bir g枚k alt谋ndaki de臒i艧ik ye艧illi bir otlak vard谋r鈥� c眉mlesiyle, kendi s枚zleriyle tan谋mlayabiliriz. Belki de fark谋nda olmadan bilgelik pe艧inde ko艧uyor. Sonunda i艧i 枚lm眉艧 gibi davranmaya kadar g枚t眉r眉yor. 脰l眉 olman谋n zorlu臒unu da g枚r眉yor. Kendini tan谋mak i莽in g枚sterdi臒i bunca gayretin ya艧amda kar艧谋l谋臒谋 olmad谋臒谋n谋 farkediyor.
Italo Calvino okumak isteyenlere ilk okunacak kitab谋n Palomar olmad谋臒谋n谋 谋srarla vurgular谋m. Calvino鈥檡u severseniz okumak i莽in bu kitab谋 sonlara b谋rak谋n.
May 18, 2024
I came to Calvino late. As a curious/voracious young adult I read If on a winter鈥檚 night a traveller, thought it pointless, and aside from fragments didn鈥檛 try him again for twenty years. The density, the language, the playful intellectualness 鈥� none of that was the problem. But I was a Borges fan and I demanded some heartshock with my mindgames 鈥� some dizzying vertigo or glimpse of the abyss. Whether, in other works, Calvino offers this I can鈥檛 say: since my two-decades hiatus I鈥檝e read only Mr Palomar and a few stories from his much earlier Adam, One Afternoon (which seemed empty and over-slick and almost put me off all over again). But, perhaps owing to my mellowing with middle-age, I realise the fear and trembling stemming from Poe through Kafka to Borges is not the be-all and end-all 鈥� that, in light of my more recent love affair with his younger countryman , Calvino鈥檚 鈥� at least in Mr Palomar 鈥� is in some ways a perfect temperament for me, so long as he鈥檚 balanced with grittier writers to offset his arch impersonality.
Reasons Mr Palomar suits my current state of mind:
1. It鈥檚 a travel-book, by an author who isn鈥檛 travelling. Or let鈥檚 say he鈥檚 travelling 鈥� to and from the shops, the zoo, the beach 鈥� but with the gaze of a visitor, a stranger, which makes of even his stepping outside to the garden a minor revelation.
2. It鈥檚 a meditation. It tempts us not (like Poe/Kafka/Borges) to search in dreams and fantasy for paradox, but to find it here, in the everyday: 鈥溾€業t is only after you have come to know the surface of things,鈥� he concludes, 鈥榯hat you venture to seek what is underneath. But the surface is inexhaustible.鈥欌€�
3. It鈥檚 a writing-guide, a series of exercises, a catalogue. It bears testament to no extraordinary life of any kind, save the special skill in looking and describing possessed by its author. Like the late works of Beckett, it shows what can be cultivated in a void, at least as that term 鈥渧oid鈥� applies to common forms of inspiration. Characters? Barely. Plot? None. 鈥淒rama鈥� stemming from 鈥渆xperience鈥� in the histrionic/melodramatic sense? Not at all. It makes of growing old, of 鈥渓osing the fire鈥�, of pottering in the garden 鈥� of all these things, a virtue.
All of this I need to hear and see and believe right now, when my young man鈥檚 wander- and experience-lust is no longer something I can integrate into my chosen lifestyle. That Mr Palomar is also episodic, discontinuous, made of 20+ (27, to be exact 鈥� 9x3) miniature fragments which speak to and enhance each other but are nevertheless self-contained 鈥� that too suits my current state of mind. With 12 (never more than 12; that way lies madness) part-finished books piled by my bedside, Mr Palomar is a powerful anchor, always reliable, its 27 prongs gripping deep into what is actual. To inhabit only its world might be a trial, even suffocating. This is a book for in-between states, for 鈥渁lso鈥� moments. I鈥檓 reading Emma Tennant, Danilo Kis, Karapanou鈥檚 The Sleepwalker and also Mr Palomar. But in that 鈥渁lso鈥� is the distinction of the other. In the world of books, too, Mr Palomar is a stranger. One of a kind.
Reasons Mr Palomar suits my current state of mind:
1. It鈥檚 a travel-book, by an author who isn鈥檛 travelling. Or let鈥檚 say he鈥檚 travelling 鈥� to and from the shops, the zoo, the beach 鈥� but with the gaze of a visitor, a stranger, which makes of even his stepping outside to the garden a minor revelation.
2. It鈥檚 a meditation. It tempts us not (like Poe/Kafka/Borges) to search in dreams and fantasy for paradox, but to find it here, in the everyday: 鈥溾€業t is only after you have come to know the surface of things,鈥� he concludes, 鈥榯hat you venture to seek what is underneath. But the surface is inexhaustible.鈥欌€�
3. It鈥檚 a writing-guide, a series of exercises, a catalogue. It bears testament to no extraordinary life of any kind, save the special skill in looking and describing possessed by its author. Like the late works of Beckett, it shows what can be cultivated in a void, at least as that term 鈥渧oid鈥� applies to common forms of inspiration. Characters? Barely. Plot? None. 鈥淒rama鈥� stemming from 鈥渆xperience鈥� in the histrionic/melodramatic sense? Not at all. It makes of growing old, of 鈥渓osing the fire鈥�, of pottering in the garden 鈥� of all these things, a virtue.
All of this I need to hear and see and believe right now, when my young man鈥檚 wander- and experience-lust is no longer something I can integrate into my chosen lifestyle. That Mr Palomar is also episodic, discontinuous, made of 20+ (27, to be exact 鈥� 9x3) miniature fragments which speak to and enhance each other but are nevertheless self-contained 鈥� that too suits my current state of mind. With 12 (never more than 12; that way lies madness) part-finished books piled by my bedside, Mr Palomar is a powerful anchor, always reliable, its 27 prongs gripping deep into what is actual. To inhabit only its world might be a trial, even suffocating. This is a book for in-between states, for 鈥渁lso鈥� moments. I鈥檓 reading Emma Tennant, Danilo Kis, Karapanou鈥檚 The Sleepwalker and also Mr Palomar. But in that 鈥渁lso鈥� is the distinction of the other. In the world of books, too, Mr Palomar is a stranger. One of a kind.
July 14, 2018
丕賱賯乇丕亍丞 丕賱兀賵賱賷 賱賭 廿賷鬲丕賱賵 賰丕賱賮賷賳賵 .. 賵賱賰賳
...
毓賱賷 丕賱乇睾賲 賲賳 賰賵賳賴丕 乇賵丕賷丞 鬲兀賲賱賷丞 賵賮賱爻賮賷丞 賱賱睾丕賷丞 .. 廿賱丕 兀賳賳賷 氐乇丕丨丞 賱賲 丕賳丿賲噩 賰孬賷乇丕賸 賲毓 兀賮賰丕乇 丕賱爻賷丿 亘丕賱賵賲丕乇 !!
賮丕賱乇賵丕賷丞 亘兀賰賲賱賴丕 鬲鬲丨丿孬 毓賳 乇噩賱 賷丨賷丕 賮賷 毓丕賱賲賴 丕賱禺丕氐 .. 賵鬲兀賲賱丕鬲賴 丕賱卮禺氐賷丞 丕賱鬲賷 賱丕 鬲丿毓 賱賴 賲噩丕賱丕 賱賱鬲賮賰賷乇 賮賷 卮卅 兀禺乇 爻賵賷 賴匕賴 丕賱兀賮賰丕乇 丕賱賮賱爻賮賷丞 賵丕賱鬲爻丕丐賱丕鬲 丕賱鬲賷 賱丕 賷噩丿 賱賴丕 廿噩丕亘丕鬲 卮丕賮賷丞 !
賮丕賱毓丕賱賲 賰賱賴 亘賰賱 賲丕 賮賷賴 賲賳 賰丕卅賳丕鬲 賵兀氐賵丕鬲 賵賲賵丕賯賮 賴賵 睾丕亘丞 賲賳 丕賱鬲爻丕丐賱丕鬲 丕賱賲鬲卮丕亘賰丞 ... 賵賱賰賳賴丕 賷丕 爻賷丿賷 賱賲 鬲噩毓賱賳賷 兀鬲卮丕亘賰 賲毓賴丕 賮賷 丿賵丕賲丕鬲 丕賱賮賰乇 賵丕賱鬲兀賲賱 ..
賮賱賯丿 賰賳鬲 亘毓賷丿丞 胤賵丕賱 丕賱賰鬲丕亘 . 兀賯乇兀 毓賳賰 .. 賵賱丕 兀賯乇兀 賲毓賰 !!
賰賳鬲 兀卮丕賴丿賰 賲賳 亘毓賷丿 .. 賰賲賳 賷卮丕賴丿 卮禺氐丕賸 賷賱賵丨 賱賴 賲賳 禺賱賮 賱賵丨 夭噩丕噩賷 ...
賷卮丕賴丿賴 .. 賵賱丕 賷爻賲毓賴 ... !
賵賱賰賳 ..
賱賳 鬲賰賵賳賷 賯乇丕亍鬲賷 丕賱賵丨賷丿丞 賱賰丕賱賮賷賳賵 ..
賮賱賳 兀丨賰賲 毓賱賷賴 賲賳 賴匕賴 丕賱賯乇丕亍丞 賮賯胤
June 25, 2021
Ultima opera pubblicata in vita da Italo Calvino, questo romanzo espone le descrizioni, le sensazioni e le meditazioni del signor Palomar, un uomo introverso, taciturno, puntiglioso, talvolta ansioso e d'animo irrequieto, un uomo come tanti che passa la propria esistenza alternandosi tra l'abitazione cittadina e la casa al mare, tra i viaggi intorno al mondo e le visite alle botteghe alimentari. A differenza di molti, tuttavia, Palomar 猫 capace di soffermarsi su ci貌 che gli sta intorno, 猫 in grado di osservare gli oggetti materiali ed i fenomeni fisici, ma anche di analizzare e di astrarre con il ragionamento le molteplici scene di vita quotidiana. Volendo evitare, senza peraltro riuscirci pienamente, le sensazioni vaghe, motivo di angoscia, Palomar rivolge le sue attenzioni su oggetti limitati e precisi: per dirla con le parole di Calvino, 鈥淧alomar, il cui nome viene dal famoso osservatorio astronomico californiano, tende verso l'alto, il fuori, i multiformi aspetti dell'universo, vede i fatti minimi della vita quotidiana in prospettiva cosmica鈥� e ancora, 鈥渋l nome richiama un potente telescopio, ma l'attenzione di questo personaggio pare si posi solo sulle cose che gli capitano sotto gli occhi nella vita quotidiana, scrutate nei minimi dettagli con un ossessivo scrupolo di precisione鈥�.
Nelle sue osservazioni, Palomar non giunge mai a delle conclusioni certe, ma tutto ci貌 che sembra trovare nei suoi ragionamenti 猫 mutevole, allo stesso tempo attendibile e confutabile, e l'assenza di una verit脿 assoluta, questa condizione di vaghezza, 猫 perenne fonte di angoscia, di turbamento. Nonostante tutto, Palomar continua nella sua ricerca, si concentra su nuovi oggetti, li analizza e li scompone, distrugge le sue ipotesi e giunge sempre alle stesse conclusioni, ed ogni volta ricomincia da capo. Ed ogni volta, l'unica risposta cui sembra giungere con il suo pensiero 猫 che la realt脿 che lo circonda sia insondabile nella sua completezza, e che i suoi strumenti conoscitivi di essere umano siano necessariamente limitati e inadatti, e che sempre egli sar脿 impossibilitato a conoscere la totalit脿 dell'universo e ad esprimerlo col suo linguaggio. Palomar stesso conclude, in uno dei suoi ragionamenti: 鈥淪olo dopo aver conosciuto la superficie delle cose, ci si pu貌 spingere a cercare quel che c'猫 sotto. Ma la superficie delle cose 猫 inesauribile鈥�. L'uomo non 猫 affatto centro e padrone dell'universo, la verit脿 猫 dunque irraggiungibile, la realt脿 insondabile e incomunicabile, ma non per questo Palomar si d脿 per vinto, persistendo nella sua attivit脿 di osservazione e di speculazione, nel suo percorso di conoscenza e di esercizio della ragione e del dubbio.
Quest'opera potrebbe ben definirsi come la somma di diverse scene di vita quotidiana di Palomar: in particolare, come la somma di 27 episodi, organizzati, con un criterio che fonde rigore scientifico e creativit脿 intellettuale, armonia matematica e bellezza speculativa, in tre parti numerate (鈥�1. Le vacanze di Palomar鈥�, 鈥�2. Palomar in citt脿鈥� e 鈥�3. I silenzi di Palomar鈥�), dove i numeri 1, 2 e 3 hanno un significato preciso per l'autore. A sua volta, ogni parte consta di tre capitoli (indovinate?, anch'essi numerati con 1, 2 e 3), ed ogni capitolo di tre episodi (manco a dirlo, anch'essi numerati con 1, 2 e 3), disposti in modo che il primo (contrassegnato dal numero 1) descriva un'esperienza sensoriale, il secondo (contrassegnato dal numero 2) indaghi un aspetto antropologico o culturale in senso lato, il terzo (contrassegnato dal numero 3) si occupi di una considerazione speculativa, un'attivit脿 mentale. Oltre agli episodi, i numeri 1, 2 e 3 rimandano a questo triplice ordine anche per quanto riguarda i capitoli e le parti del romanzo. Ecco che dunque la narrazione proceder脿 gradualmente dall'ambito fisico e sensoriale verso quello mentale e speculativo. Questo elemento paratestuale 猫 dunque fondamentale nell'opera, rendendola un caposaldo tra i romanzi psicologico-filosofici, una delle migliori opere della letteratura italiana del secondo Novecento, che ha saputo sperimentare ed osare sia nella forma che nel contenuto, e che ha fornito nuovi spunti al movimento postmoderno. Palomar, opera breve ma non facile, 猫 una di quelle rare letture in grado di cambiare il modo di vedere e di pensare le cose, anche quelle piccole ed apparentemente insignificanti.
Che si soffermi a studiare la propagazione di un'onda marina o che sia indeciso su come comportarsi di fronte ad una bagnante a seno scoperto, che si trovi a riflettere sulla vita amorosa delle tartarughe o che cerchi di decifrare il linguaggio fischiettante dei merli, che si sforzi di definire i confini e la composizione di un prato o che contempli i corpi celesti, che si estranei a pensare alle implicazioni culturali del cibo, base materiale dell'esistenza umana, o che si domandi cosa ci sia dietro una forma di formaggio francese o che rapporto sussista tra l'uomo e il bovino, che si trovi a constatare l'impossibilit脿 di raggiungere la felicit脿 dei monaci zen o di definire il significato di una statua tolteca, che si angosci e si arrovelli su cosa e su quando sia opportuno dire o tacere, o che rimugini sul vivere e sul morire, Palomar ci fa sorridere della sua involontaria comicit脿 (e qui Calvino usa l'ironia, che 猫 anche autoironia dal momento che l'autore si immedesima in Palomar, in modo sublime), ma ci fa anche riflettere profondamente e ci fa interrogare sulla nostra condizione, rendendoci partecipi dei suoi pensieri, dei suoi dubbi e delle sue incertezze. Ed 猫 proprio questa imperfezione che rende umano Palomar, proprio questa consapevolezza di essere limitato a renderlo desideroso di conoscere, bisognoso di porsi domande e di tentare ostinatamente di giungere a delle difficili, se non impossibili, risposte. Quello che importa, del resto, non 猫 il punto di arrivo ma il percorso per arrivarci e, come ebbe a dire lo stesso Calvino, 鈥渓a storia di Palomar si pu貌 riassumere in due frasi: un uomo si mette in marcia per raggiungere, passo a passo, la saggezza. Non 猫 ancora arrivato鈥�.
Nelle sue osservazioni, Palomar non giunge mai a delle conclusioni certe, ma tutto ci貌 che sembra trovare nei suoi ragionamenti 猫 mutevole, allo stesso tempo attendibile e confutabile, e l'assenza di una verit脿 assoluta, questa condizione di vaghezza, 猫 perenne fonte di angoscia, di turbamento. Nonostante tutto, Palomar continua nella sua ricerca, si concentra su nuovi oggetti, li analizza e li scompone, distrugge le sue ipotesi e giunge sempre alle stesse conclusioni, ed ogni volta ricomincia da capo. Ed ogni volta, l'unica risposta cui sembra giungere con il suo pensiero 猫 che la realt脿 che lo circonda sia insondabile nella sua completezza, e che i suoi strumenti conoscitivi di essere umano siano necessariamente limitati e inadatti, e che sempre egli sar脿 impossibilitato a conoscere la totalit脿 dell'universo e ad esprimerlo col suo linguaggio. Palomar stesso conclude, in uno dei suoi ragionamenti: 鈥淪olo dopo aver conosciuto la superficie delle cose, ci si pu貌 spingere a cercare quel che c'猫 sotto. Ma la superficie delle cose 猫 inesauribile鈥�. L'uomo non 猫 affatto centro e padrone dell'universo, la verit脿 猫 dunque irraggiungibile, la realt脿 insondabile e incomunicabile, ma non per questo Palomar si d脿 per vinto, persistendo nella sua attivit脿 di osservazione e di speculazione, nel suo percorso di conoscenza e di esercizio della ragione e del dubbio.
Quest'opera potrebbe ben definirsi come la somma di diverse scene di vita quotidiana di Palomar: in particolare, come la somma di 27 episodi, organizzati, con un criterio che fonde rigore scientifico e creativit脿 intellettuale, armonia matematica e bellezza speculativa, in tre parti numerate (鈥�1. Le vacanze di Palomar鈥�, 鈥�2. Palomar in citt脿鈥� e 鈥�3. I silenzi di Palomar鈥�), dove i numeri 1, 2 e 3 hanno un significato preciso per l'autore. A sua volta, ogni parte consta di tre capitoli (indovinate?, anch'essi numerati con 1, 2 e 3), ed ogni capitolo di tre episodi (manco a dirlo, anch'essi numerati con 1, 2 e 3), disposti in modo che il primo (contrassegnato dal numero 1) descriva un'esperienza sensoriale, il secondo (contrassegnato dal numero 2) indaghi un aspetto antropologico o culturale in senso lato, il terzo (contrassegnato dal numero 3) si occupi di una considerazione speculativa, un'attivit脿 mentale. Oltre agli episodi, i numeri 1, 2 e 3 rimandano a questo triplice ordine anche per quanto riguarda i capitoli e le parti del romanzo. Ecco che dunque la narrazione proceder脿 gradualmente dall'ambito fisico e sensoriale verso quello mentale e speculativo. Questo elemento paratestuale 猫 dunque fondamentale nell'opera, rendendola un caposaldo tra i romanzi psicologico-filosofici, una delle migliori opere della letteratura italiana del secondo Novecento, che ha saputo sperimentare ed osare sia nella forma che nel contenuto, e che ha fornito nuovi spunti al movimento postmoderno. Palomar, opera breve ma non facile, 猫 una di quelle rare letture in grado di cambiare il modo di vedere e di pensare le cose, anche quelle piccole ed apparentemente insignificanti.
Che si soffermi a studiare la propagazione di un'onda marina o che sia indeciso su come comportarsi di fronte ad una bagnante a seno scoperto, che si trovi a riflettere sulla vita amorosa delle tartarughe o che cerchi di decifrare il linguaggio fischiettante dei merli, che si sforzi di definire i confini e la composizione di un prato o che contempli i corpi celesti, che si estranei a pensare alle implicazioni culturali del cibo, base materiale dell'esistenza umana, o che si domandi cosa ci sia dietro una forma di formaggio francese o che rapporto sussista tra l'uomo e il bovino, che si trovi a constatare l'impossibilit脿 di raggiungere la felicit脿 dei monaci zen o di definire il significato di una statua tolteca, che si angosci e si arrovelli su cosa e su quando sia opportuno dire o tacere, o che rimugini sul vivere e sul morire, Palomar ci fa sorridere della sua involontaria comicit脿 (e qui Calvino usa l'ironia, che 猫 anche autoironia dal momento che l'autore si immedesima in Palomar, in modo sublime), ma ci fa anche riflettere profondamente e ci fa interrogare sulla nostra condizione, rendendoci partecipi dei suoi pensieri, dei suoi dubbi e delle sue incertezze. Ed 猫 proprio questa imperfezione che rende umano Palomar, proprio questa consapevolezza di essere limitato a renderlo desideroso di conoscere, bisognoso di porsi domande e di tentare ostinatamente di giungere a delle difficili, se non impossibili, risposte. Quello che importa, del resto, non 猫 il punto di arrivo ma il percorso per arrivarci e, come ebbe a dire lo stesso Calvino, 鈥渓a storia di Palomar si pu貌 riassumere in due frasi: un uomo si mette in marcia per raggiungere, passo a passo, la saggezza. Non 猫 ancora arrivato鈥�.
October 23, 2018
賱丕 賷卮鬲乇胤 毓賱賶 丕賱噩賲賷毓 丕賳 賷鬲匕賵賯賵丕 丕毓賲丕賱 賰丕賱賮賷賳賵 兀賵 賷賮賴賲賵丕 賲丕 賷氐亘賵 丕賱賷賴貙 賱賷爻 賱兀賳 兀毓賲丕賱賴 氐毓亘丞 丕賵 睾賷乇 賲爻鬲爻丕睾丞.. 亘丕賱毓賰爻貙 亘賱 賱兀賳賴丕 丿賯賷賯丞 賵毓賲賷賯丞. 賮鬲乇丕賴 賲孬賱丕賸 賷賯賮 毓賱賶 丕賱卮乇賮丞 兀賵 毓賱賶 丕賱卮丕胤卅 賵賷卮乇毓 亘鬲禺賷賱 賵鬲氐賵賾乇 賲丕 賱丕 賷賵噩丿 亘丕賱丨爻亘丕賳 賲賳 禺賷丕賱丕鬲
賯乇兀鬲 丕賱賰鬲丕亘 鬲乇噩賲丞 賷丕爻賷賳 胤賴 丨丕賮馗 賵丨賷賳 賯丕乇賳鬲賴丕 亘鬲乇噩賲丞 亘爻丕賲 丕賱丨噩丕乇 賱賲 兀噩丿 丕賱賮乇賯 丕賱賰亘賷乇貙 賰賱丕 丕賱鬲丕乇噩賲 乇丕卅毓丞 賵丕丨鬲乇丕賮賷丞
賯乇兀鬲 丕賱賰鬲丕亘 鬲乇噩賲丞 賷丕爻賷賳 胤賴 丨丕賮馗 賵丨賷賳 賯丕乇賳鬲賴丕 亘鬲乇噩賲丞 亘爻丕賲 丕賱丨噩丕乇 賱賲 兀噩丿 丕賱賮乇賯 丕賱賰亘賷乇貙 賰賱丕 丕賱鬲丕乇噩賲 乇丕卅毓丞 賵丕丨鬲乇丕賮賷丞
May 10, 2019
Nessuno meglio di Palomar porta a risvegliare il pensiero. Da rendere obbligatorio nelle scuole.
June 14, 2017
Calvino, Kendi Yer ve G枚k tanr谋s谋n谋 yaratma fikrini fazla 眉topik bulmu艧 olacak ki
Palomar
ile yetinmi艧. Bu bile fazlas谋yla yetiyor asl谋nda. Palomar, kitap boyunca size do臒adan hayvanlara, yemek k眉lt眉r眉nden seyahate kadar t眉rl眉 mecraya kendi g枚zlem ve ele艧tiriyle anlatmak istiyor ama kendi 莽al谋p kendi s枚yl眉yor da diyebiliriz.
B枚l眉mler, al谋nt谋lar karmakar谋艧谋k bir anlat谋ma sahip. Palomar'谋n durduk yere yerden t眉reyen bir dervi艧 edas谋 var ki o en komik olan. Son b枚l眉mde bir serbest fikir ge莽i艧i var o biraz k谋p谋rt谋 yapacakken kitap bitiyor. Okunmamas谋 b眉y眉k bir kay谋p de臒il.
B枚l眉mler, al谋nt谋lar karmakar谋艧谋k bir anlat谋ma sahip. Palomar'谋n durduk yere yerden t眉reyen bir dervi艧 edas谋 var ki o en komik olan. Son b枚l眉mde bir serbest fikir ge莽i艧i var o biraz k谋p谋rt谋 yapacakken kitap bitiyor. Okunmamas谋 b眉y眉k bir kay谋p de臒il.
January 17, 2020
I had to read this for university and I must say I quite enjoyed it. The book is composed by a variety of observations and reflections made by the protagonist Palomar. Some of them definitely offered me some insightful and interesting topics to think about.
Even though I prefer other works by Calvino, I still recommend this book.
Even though I prefer other works by Calvino, I still recommend this book.
September 3, 2023
This is quite a strange little book, but I think I enjoyed it.
September 18, 2022
袝褌芯 芯褌 褌芯蟹懈 褔芯胁械泻 - 谐芯褋锌芯写懈薪 袩邪谢芯屑邪褉, 懈屑邪褏 薪褍卸写邪. 袙谐谢褗斜械薪, 谢械泻芯 褋屑邪褏薪邪褌, 屑褗谢褔邪谢懈胁, 邪薪邪谢懈蟹懈褉邪褖 胁褋褟泻芯 薪邪 锌褉褗胁 锌芯谐谢械写 薪械蟹邪斜械谢械卸懈屑芯 薪械褖芯 芯褌 胁褋械泻懈写薪械胁懈械褌芯, 芯锌谢懈褌邪褖 褋械 胁 屑懈褋谢芯胁械薪 锌芯褌芯泻, 薪邪 谐褉邪薪懈褑邪褌邪 屑械卸写褍 谐械薪懈邪谢薪芯 锌褉芯蟹褉械薪懈械 懈 芯褌泻褉芯胁械薪 薪芯薪褋械薪褋.
孝胁褗褉写懈 褋械, 褔械 褋懈屑锌邪褌懈褔薪懈褟褌 褔懈褔泻芯 (泻邪蟹邪薪芯 褋 褑褟谢芯褌芯 褍屑懈谢械薪懈械, 薪邪 泻芯械褌芯 褋褗屑 褋锌芯褋芯斜薪邪) 械 邪谢褌械褉-械谐芯 薪邪 褋邪屑懈褟 袠褌邪谢芯 袣邪谢胁懈薪芯 懈 褔械 胁 褌邪蟹懈 泻薪懈谐邪 褌芯泄 芯锌懈褋胁邪 谐芯谢褟屑邪 褔邪褋褌 芯褌 褋械斜械 褋懈. 袛邪谢懈 写芯泻邪褌芯 械 薪邪 锌谢邪卸邪 懈 薪邪斜谢褞写邪胁邪 械写薪邪 泻芯薪泻褉械褌薪邪 胁褗谢薪邪, 褋 泻芯褟褌芯 懈褋泻邪 写邪 褋懈 芯斜褟褋薪懈 屑懈褋褌械褉懈懈褌械 薪邪 袙褋械谢械薪邪褌邪 懈 写邪 褋懈 锌芯写褉械写懈 褋胁械褌邪, 写邪谢懈 写芯泻邪褌芯 胁 蟹芯芯锌邪褉泻邪 薪邪斜谢褞写邪胁邪 褋褌褉邪薪薪懈褌械 卸械褋褌芯胁械 薪邪 卸懈褉邪褎懈褌械, 懈谢懈 写芯泻邪褌芯 械 薪邪 芯锌邪褕泻邪 胁 屑邪谐邪蟹懈薪邪 蟹邪 褋懈褉械薪械, 褉邪蟹屑懈褕谢褟胁邪泄泻懈 写邪谢懈 褔芯胁械泻 懈蟹斜懈褉邪 褋懈褉械薪械褌芯 褋懈, 懈谢懈 械 懈蟹斜褉邪薪 芯褌 薪械谐芯, 袩邪谢芯屑邪褉 懈蟹泻褍褋薪芯 薪懈 锌芯写褏胁褗褉谢褟 褎懈谢芯褋芯褎褋泻懈 蟹邪写邪褔懈, 屑邪褋泻懈褉邪薪懈 蟹邪写 锌褉懈胁懈写薪芯 斜懈褌芯胁懈 锌褉械卸懈胁褟胁邪薪懈褟.
袝褌芯 褌邪泻懈胁邪 斜懈褋械褉褔械褌邪 懈屑邪 胁 泻薪懈谐邪褌邪:
"袙 械写薪芯 胁褉械屑械 懈 械写薪邪 褋褌褉邪薪邪, 泻褗写械褌芯 胁褋懈褔泻懈 褋械 薪邪写锌褉械胁邪褉胁邪褌 写邪 懈蟹褉邪蟹褟胁邪褌 褋胁芯懈褌械 屑薪械薪懈褟 懈 芯褑械薪泻懈, 谐芯褋锌芯写懈薪 袩邪谢芯屑邪褉 械 胁褗蟹锌褉懈械谢 薪邪胁懈泻邪 写邪 褋懈 锌褉械褏邪锌胁邪 褌褉懈 锌褗褌懈 械蟹懈泻邪, 锌褉械写懈 写邪 懈蟹谢芯卸懈 泻邪泻胁芯褌芯 懈 写邪 械 褋胁芯械 褌胁褗褉写械薪懈械. 袗泻芯 锌褉懈 褌褉械褌芯褌芯 锌褉械褏邪锌胁邪薪械 薪邪 械蟹懈泻邪 胁褋械 芯褖械 械 褍斜械写械薪 胁 芯薪芯胁邪, 泻芯械褌芯 褋械 械 谐芯褌胁械谢 写邪 泻邪卸械, 褌芯泄 谐芯 懈蟹褉懈褔邪. 袠薪邪褔械 屑褗谢褔懈. 肖邪泻褌懈褔械褋泻懈 锌褉械泻邪褉胁邪 褑械谢懈 褋械写屑懈褑懈 懈 屑械褋械褑懈 胁 屑褗谢褔邪薪懈械."
"袧懈泻芯泄 薪械 锌芯谐谢械卸写邪 褋谢械写芯斜械写薪邪褌邪 谢褍薪邪, 邪 胁 褌芯蟹懈 屑芯屑械薪褌 褌褟 懈屑邪 薪邪泄-谐芯谢褟屑邪 薪褍卸写邪 芯褌 薪邪褕械褌芯 胁薪懈屑邪薪懈械, 褌褗泄 泻邪褌芯 薪械泄薪芯褌芯 褋褗褖械褋褌胁褍胁邪薪械 械 胁褋械 芯褖械 锌芯写 胁褗锌褉芯褋. 小械谐邪 锌褉械写褋褌邪胁谢褟胁邪 斜械谢械蟹薪懈泻邪胁邪 褋褟薪泻邪, 泻芯褟褌芯 褋械 芯褌泻褉芯褟胁邪 薪邪 褟褉泻芯褋懈薪褜芯褌芯 薪械斜械, 懈蟹锌褗谢薪械薪芯 褋褗褋 褋谢褗薪褔械胁邪 褋胁械褌谢懈薪邪. 袣芯泄 屑芯卸械 写邪 薪懈 褍胁械褉懈, 褔械 懈 褌芯蟹懈 锌褗褌 褖械 褍褋锌械械 写邪 褋械 褋写芯斜懈械 褋 褎芯褉屑邪 懈 斜谢褟褋褗泻?"
孝胁褗褉写懈 褋械, 褔械 褋懈屑锌邪褌懈褔薪懈褟褌 褔懈褔泻芯 (泻邪蟹邪薪芯 褋 褑褟谢芯褌芯 褍屑懈谢械薪懈械, 薪邪 泻芯械褌芯 褋褗屑 褋锌芯褋芯斜薪邪) 械 邪谢褌械褉-械谐芯 薪邪 褋邪屑懈褟 袠褌邪谢芯 袣邪谢胁懈薪芯 懈 褔械 胁 褌邪蟹懈 泻薪懈谐邪 褌芯泄 芯锌懈褋胁邪 谐芯谢褟屑邪 褔邪褋褌 芯褌 褋械斜械 褋懈. 袛邪谢懈 写芯泻邪褌芯 械 薪邪 锌谢邪卸邪 懈 薪邪斜谢褞写邪胁邪 械写薪邪 泻芯薪泻褉械褌薪邪 胁褗谢薪邪, 褋 泻芯褟褌芯 懈褋泻邪 写邪 褋懈 芯斜褟褋薪懈 屑懈褋褌械褉懈懈褌械 薪邪 袙褋械谢械薪邪褌邪 懈 写邪 褋懈 锌芯写褉械写懈 褋胁械褌邪, 写邪谢懈 写芯泻邪褌芯 胁 蟹芯芯锌邪褉泻邪 薪邪斜谢褞写邪胁邪 褋褌褉邪薪薪懈褌械 卸械褋褌芯胁械 薪邪 卸懈褉邪褎懈褌械, 懈谢懈 写芯泻邪褌芯 械 薪邪 芯锌邪褕泻邪 胁 屑邪谐邪蟹懈薪邪 蟹邪 褋懈褉械薪械, 褉邪蟹屑懈褕谢褟胁邪泄泻懈 写邪谢懈 褔芯胁械泻 懈蟹斜懈褉邪 褋懈褉械薪械褌芯 褋懈, 懈谢懈 械 懈蟹斜褉邪薪 芯褌 薪械谐芯, 袩邪谢芯屑邪褉 懈蟹泻褍褋薪芯 薪懈 锌芯写褏胁褗褉谢褟 褎懈谢芯褋芯褎褋泻懈 蟹邪写邪褔懈, 屑邪褋泻懈褉邪薪懈 蟹邪写 锌褉懈胁懈写薪芯 斜懈褌芯胁懈 锌褉械卸懈胁褟胁邪薪懈褟.
袝褌芯 褌邪泻懈胁邪 斜懈褋械褉褔械褌邪 懈屑邪 胁 泻薪懈谐邪褌邪:
"袙 械写薪芯 胁褉械屑械 懈 械写薪邪 褋褌褉邪薪邪, 泻褗写械褌芯 胁褋懈褔泻懈 褋械 薪邪写锌褉械胁邪褉胁邪褌 写邪 懈蟹褉邪蟹褟胁邪褌 褋胁芯懈褌械 屑薪械薪懈褟 懈 芯褑械薪泻懈, 谐芯褋锌芯写懈薪 袩邪谢芯屑邪褉 械 胁褗蟹锌褉懈械谢 薪邪胁懈泻邪 写邪 褋懈 锌褉械褏邪锌胁邪 褌褉懈 锌褗褌懈 械蟹懈泻邪, 锌褉械写懈 写邪 懈蟹谢芯卸懈 泻邪泻胁芯褌芯 懈 写邪 械 褋胁芯械 褌胁褗褉写械薪懈械. 袗泻芯 锌褉懈 褌褉械褌芯褌芯 锌褉械褏邪锌胁邪薪械 薪邪 械蟹懈泻邪 胁褋械 芯褖械 械 褍斜械写械薪 胁 芯薪芯胁邪, 泻芯械褌芯 褋械 械 谐芯褌胁械谢 写邪 泻邪卸械, 褌芯泄 谐芯 懈蟹褉懈褔邪. 袠薪邪褔械 屑褗谢褔懈. 肖邪泻褌懈褔械褋泻懈 锌褉械泻邪褉胁邪 褑械谢懈 褋械写屑懈褑懈 懈 屑械褋械褑懈 胁 屑褗谢褔邪薪懈械."
"袧懈泻芯泄 薪械 锌芯谐谢械卸写邪 褋谢械写芯斜械写薪邪褌邪 谢褍薪邪, 邪 胁 褌芯蟹懈 屑芯屑械薪褌 褌褟 懈屑邪 薪邪泄-谐芯谢褟屑邪 薪褍卸写邪 芯褌 薪邪褕械褌芯 胁薪懈屑邪薪懈械, 褌褗泄 泻邪褌芯 薪械泄薪芯褌芯 褋褗褖械褋褌胁褍胁邪薪械 械 胁褋械 芯褖械 锌芯写 胁褗锌褉芯褋. 小械谐邪 锌褉械写褋褌邪胁谢褟胁邪 斜械谢械蟹薪懈泻邪胁邪 褋褟薪泻邪, 泻芯褟褌芯 褋械 芯褌泻褉芯褟胁邪 薪邪 褟褉泻芯褋懈薪褜芯褌芯 薪械斜械, 懈蟹锌褗谢薪械薪芯 褋褗褋 褋谢褗薪褔械胁邪 褋胁械褌谢懈薪邪. 袣芯泄 屑芯卸械 写邪 薪懈 褍胁械褉懈, 褔械 懈 褌芯蟹懈 锌褗褌 褖械 褍褋锌械械 写邪 褋械 褋写芯斜懈械 褋 褎芯褉屑邪 懈 斜谢褟褋褗泻?"
October 31, 2021
I read the Finnish translation, bought by my father in 1988 (I can see easily why he would鈥檝e gotten it now that I have read it :) ). This was the last novel released in the author's lifetime. I felt that I should read another Calvino novel, so I read this one because it was the slimmer one of my two unread Calvino ones on my shelf.
Here is the story of how Mr Palomar observes the world, one part at a time, trying to form a bigger pictures of the world that would make the world make more sense, and give him a better peace of mind of being in it. He is married with a daughter, travels occasionally (here in an Italian seaside town, Barcelona, Paris, Kyoto, Tala (Mexico), and some Orient country where he buys slippers), smokes a pipe, wears glasses, lives in Rome in an upper-floor flat with a view over the city, and is more of a thinker than a speaker. In the last chapter he seems .
The book is laid out in a certain way, explained in the back of the book here. Mains are: on a vacation, in the city, and quiet thoughts. Then smaller mains: on a beach, in a garden, looking at the sky; on a roof terrace, food shopping, at a zoo; traveling, talking with people; philosophical pondering.
He views each object of his attention in length, as a whole, in its details and variations. Occasionally this lead to embarrassment, which can be amusing sometimes, but you do sometimes think he was just asking for trouble (see the chapter about ). But it鈥檚 nice to see how some humor enters the stories here and there. He鈥檚 more learning towards being an introvert; he wants to make sense of the world, wants it to have some sense and rules, but the world isn鈥檛 really like that.
My favorite chapters: the one about the waves was a good start for the book; the three chapters about looking at the night sky; the starlings in Rome; the cheese shop. The book reminded me of 鈥淚nvisible Cities鈥� - another Calvino book, about various imagined cities 鈥� the observation of various things was quite rich, with a view on how Mr Palomar tried to make sense of things, what his attitudes and feelings were about each, and so on. The places and the times of year when each scene happens also vary nicely.
While a bit plain (and in some cases I didn鈥檛 agree with him, thus 3.5 stars), it was interesting to see what sort of wholes, details, and variations he could find in each chapter, and this might make the reader want to sometimes same kind of observation on things one meets in life, and ponder on the meanings of things. A great read.
Here is the story of how Mr Palomar observes the world, one part at a time, trying to form a bigger pictures of the world that would make the world make more sense, and give him a better peace of mind of being in it. He is married with a daughter, travels occasionally (here in an Italian seaside town, Barcelona, Paris, Kyoto, Tala (Mexico), and some Orient country where he buys slippers), smokes a pipe, wears glasses, lives in Rome in an upper-floor flat with a view over the city, and is more of a thinker than a speaker. In the last chapter he seems .
The book is laid out in a certain way, explained in the back of the book here. Mains are: on a vacation, in the city, and quiet thoughts. Then smaller mains: on a beach, in a garden, looking at the sky; on a roof terrace, food shopping, at a zoo; traveling, talking with people; philosophical pondering.
He views each object of his attention in length, as a whole, in its details and variations. Occasionally this lead to embarrassment, which can be amusing sometimes, but you do sometimes think he was just asking for trouble (see the chapter about ). But it鈥檚 nice to see how some humor enters the stories here and there. He鈥檚 more learning towards being an introvert; he wants to make sense of the world, wants it to have some sense and rules, but the world isn鈥檛 really like that.
My favorite chapters: the one about the waves was a good start for the book; the three chapters about looking at the night sky; the starlings in Rome; the cheese shop. The book reminded me of 鈥淚nvisible Cities鈥� - another Calvino book, about various imagined cities 鈥� the observation of various things was quite rich, with a view on how Mr Palomar tried to make sense of things, what his attitudes and feelings were about each, and so on. The places and the times of year when each scene happens also vary nicely.
While a bit plain (and in some cases I didn鈥檛 agree with him, thus 3.5 stars), it was interesting to see what sort of wholes, details, and variations he could find in each chapter, and this might make the reader want to sometimes same kind of observation on things one meets in life, and ponder on the meanings of things. A great read.
December 29, 2019
Mr. Palomar, Calvino mentions elsewhere, is another one of his literary exercises. It is not as fascinating or developed as Cosmicomics or Winter's Night, but a worthwhile read. Mr. Palomar observes various phenomena, draws cosmic and personal connections, and then moves on. He is more a mouthpiece or a device for the author than a character. The observations are astute and frequently fascinating, though disconnected, arbitrary and exotic. Whether he is examining the sunset or an albino gorilla, our narrator always has a skewed and charming perspective. There is less knowledge and more humor and pathos in these contrived scenes.
An enjoyable, languorous atmosphere beset with gem-like set-pieces. A metaphorical journey through the mind of a literary master and more polished than his other books of reminiscences.
This is still a minor work of slight literary interest, and I would recommend The Cloven Viscount or Nonexistent Knight for those new to the author.
An enjoyable, languorous atmosphere beset with gem-like set-pieces. A metaphorical journey through the mind of a literary master and more polished than his other books of reminiscences.
This is still a minor work of slight literary interest, and I would recommend The Cloven Viscount or Nonexistent Knight for those new to the author.
April 4, 2022
.
鈥淟'universo forse pu貌 andar tranquillo per i fatti suoi; lui certamente no.鈥�
Il signor Palomar, cerca in tutti i modi una via di fuga da quel mondo che si 猫 dimenticato di prendersi una pausa, troppo preso dalla smania del chiacchiericcio quotidiano
La fuga la trova nella contemplazione attraverso le esperienze sensoriali: visive, uditive, intellettuali che lo accompagnano ovunque.
Ed 猫 cos矛 che il signor Palomar passeggia fra i giardini di uno zoo e osserva, insieme a moglie e figlia, giraffe, scimpanz茅 e tartarughe.
Resta affascinato anche dalla quiete del suo giardino dove il tempo 猫 scandito dal canto dei merli 鈥淢a 猫 un dialogo, oppure ogni merlo fischia per s茅 e non per l'altro?鈥� e fra la gente in coda dal macellaio.
Ma passeggiando riflette anche sul tab霉 della nudit脿, come sulla spiaggia quando getta fugaci occhiate al seno scoperto di una giovane donna e medita su come fare per non mostrarsi troppo invadente o indifferente, volendo apprezzare ma con pudore e senza malintesi , ci貌 che 猫 piacevole e fresco alla sua vista.
Non c鈥櫭� nulla di male a rendere giustizia alla bellezza, nella vita 猫 importante osservare
Ma il signor Palomar traduce in riflessioni l鈥檃tto del posare gli occhi sulle piccole cose che la natura offre e di cui pochi si accorgono andando oltre il guardare, piuttosto pensare alle differenze tra le foglie, al vento e ai pollini 鈥�
脠 cos矛, che di fronte a un prato, smette di strappare le erbacce e ragiona sull鈥檜niverso, regolare ma caotico, dai confini instabili, capace di accogliere altri universi
Il signor Paloma mai smetter脿 di vedere, di conoscere il mondo, gli altri e s茅 stesso , mai sar脿 appagato, perch茅 l鈥檃pparenza della semplicit脿 猫 una sfida alla comprensione profonda, da affrontare con leggerezza
Calvino, ha ancora una volta compiuto un piccolo miracolo: dall鈥� intreccio tra finzione e realt脿, ha celebrato il singolare nella sua unicit脿, mettendolo a confronto con la disarmonia del mondo.
La parte pi霉 affascinante di Palomar resta per me la riflessione sul silenzio, l鈥檃rte del tacere, la pi霉 difficile: una lotta, tanto vana quanto essenziale, contro la morte.
鈥淟'universo forse pu貌 andar tranquillo per i fatti suoi; lui certamente no.鈥�
Il signor Palomar, cerca in tutti i modi una via di fuga da quel mondo che si 猫 dimenticato di prendersi una pausa, troppo preso dalla smania del chiacchiericcio quotidiano
La fuga la trova nella contemplazione attraverso le esperienze sensoriali: visive, uditive, intellettuali che lo accompagnano ovunque.
Ed 猫 cos矛 che il signor Palomar passeggia fra i giardini di uno zoo e osserva, insieme a moglie e figlia, giraffe, scimpanz茅 e tartarughe.
Resta affascinato anche dalla quiete del suo giardino dove il tempo 猫 scandito dal canto dei merli 鈥淢a 猫 un dialogo, oppure ogni merlo fischia per s茅 e non per l'altro?鈥� e fra la gente in coda dal macellaio.
Ma passeggiando riflette anche sul tab霉 della nudit脿, come sulla spiaggia quando getta fugaci occhiate al seno scoperto di una giovane donna e medita su come fare per non mostrarsi troppo invadente o indifferente, volendo apprezzare ma con pudore e senza malintesi , ci貌 che 猫 piacevole e fresco alla sua vista.
Non c鈥櫭� nulla di male a rendere giustizia alla bellezza, nella vita 猫 importante osservare
Ma il signor Palomar traduce in riflessioni l鈥檃tto del posare gli occhi sulle piccole cose che la natura offre e di cui pochi si accorgono andando oltre il guardare, piuttosto pensare alle differenze tra le foglie, al vento e ai pollini 鈥�
脠 cos矛, che di fronte a un prato, smette di strappare le erbacce e ragiona sull鈥檜niverso, regolare ma caotico, dai confini instabili, capace di accogliere altri universi
Il signor Paloma mai smetter脿 di vedere, di conoscere il mondo, gli altri e s茅 stesso , mai sar脿 appagato, perch茅 l鈥檃pparenza della semplicit脿 猫 una sfida alla comprensione profonda, da affrontare con leggerezza
Calvino, ha ancora una volta compiuto un piccolo miracolo: dall鈥� intreccio tra finzione e realt脿, ha celebrato il singolare nella sua unicit脿, mettendolo a confronto con la disarmonia del mondo.
La parte pi霉 affascinante di Palomar resta per me la riflessione sul silenzio, l鈥檃rte del tacere, la pi霉 difficile: una lotta, tanto vana quanto essenziale, contro la morte.
September 15, 2023
When I was writing in school we were encouraged towards 'iceberg' fiction, that minimalist mode of Checkov and Hemingway that approaches big, weighty subjects with head bowed and eyes turned away. This is, thankfully, the exact opposite of that. Take some tiny-nothing and expand and elaborate and extrapolate until it encompasses the whole world.
Mr. Palomar is the ontological Mr. Bean. Mr. Bean rides around in that little golf cart having elaborate adventures trying to get his socks on; similarly, Mr. Palomar will make a spectacle of himself simply sitting on a deck chair and looking up at the stars or looking at cheese behind a deli counter. His life is small and quiet, his world (much to his frustration) is huge, ungraspable. I identify greatly with Mr. Palomar. Long live Mr. Palomar!
Mr. Palomar is the ontological Mr. Bean. Mr. Bean rides around in that little golf cart having elaborate adventures trying to get his socks on; similarly, Mr. Palomar will make a spectacle of himself simply sitting on a deck chair and looking up at the stars or looking at cheese behind a deli counter. His life is small and quiet, his world (much to his frustration) is huge, ungraspable. I identify greatly with Mr. Palomar. Long live Mr. Palomar!
September 10, 2024
L'universo 猫 lo specchio in cui possiamo contemplare solo ci貌 che abbiamo imparato a conoscere di noi.
April 7, 2018
Cu峄憂 n脿y l岷� ra n锚n 膽峄峜 ch岷璵 v脿 膽峄峜 li峄乶 m岷h. L岷� ra n锚n v峄玜 膽峄峜 v峄玜 u峄憂g tr脿 nh瓢 m岷 v峄� hi峄乶 tri岷縯 x瓢a. V脿 n岷縰 c贸 th峄�, ch岷痗 n锚n d峄眓g ch貌i tr锚n n煤i m脿 膽峄峜.
(m矛nh 膽霉a 膽岷)
岷 th岷� m脿 m矛nh 膽峄峜 n贸 gi峄痑 l煤c cu峄檆 膽峄漣 x么 b峄�, gi峄痑 l煤c m矛nh ng脿y 膽锚m coi phim si锚u anh h霉ng cute h峄檛 me. ._. Th脿nh th峄� ra, m矛nh ch岷硁g th峄眂 hi峄噉 膽瓢峄 膽i峄乽 n脿o k峄� tr锚n.
Tr峄� l岷 cu峄憂 s谩ch, Mr Palomar h岷硁 l脿 m峄檛 ng瓢峄漣 nh岷 c岷 qu谩 膽峄梚, m峄檛 ng峄峮 gi贸 l瓢峄泃 qua c农ng 膽峄� l脿m ch脿ng ng岷璸 ch矛m suy t瓢. Ch瓢a k峄�, c岷h 2 con r霉a m岷 nhau c农ng 膽瓢峄 nhu峄憁 m脿u tri岷縯 h峄峜 : ))))
C貌n n岷縰 kh么ng nh岷 c岷 th矛 Mr Palomar hay Italo Calvino h岷硁 ph岷 l脿 m峄檛 nh脿 quan s谩t 膽岷 t脿i. Nh峄痭g s峄� v岷璽, hi峄噉 t瓢峄g b矛nh th瓢峄漬g trong cu峄檆 s峄憂g, ki峄僽 ta d峄� d脿ng ph岷 tay m脿 b岷 'x峄漣, c贸 g矛 膽岷穋 bi峄噒 ch峄�', qua l膬ng k铆nh c峄 Palomar m脿 ch峄� m瓢u l脿 Italo th岷璽...h岷 n茫o. H岷 n茫o nh瓢ng kh么ng d峄﹖ 膽瓢峄 ._. nh瓢 m峄檛 lo岷 thu峄慶 phi峄噉 膽贸ng t岷璸.
Ch岷痗 m矛nh b峄� qu谩 li峄乽 r峄搃. ._.
(m矛nh 膽霉a 膽岷)
岷 th岷� m脿 m矛nh 膽峄峜 n贸 gi峄痑 l煤c cu峄檆 膽峄漣 x么 b峄�, gi峄痑 l煤c m矛nh ng脿y 膽锚m coi phim si锚u anh h霉ng cute h峄檛 me. ._. Th脿nh th峄� ra, m矛nh ch岷硁g th峄眂 hi峄噉 膽瓢峄 膽i峄乽 n脿o k峄� tr锚n.
Tr峄� l岷 cu峄憂 s谩ch, Mr Palomar h岷硁 l脿 m峄檛 ng瓢峄漣 nh岷 c岷 qu谩 膽峄梚, m峄檛 ng峄峮 gi贸 l瓢峄泃 qua c农ng 膽峄� l脿m ch脿ng ng岷璸 ch矛m suy t瓢. Ch瓢a k峄�, c岷h 2 con r霉a m岷 nhau c农ng 膽瓢峄 nhu峄憁 m脿u tri岷縯 h峄峜 : ))))
C貌n n岷縰 kh么ng nh岷 c岷 th矛 Mr Palomar hay Italo Calvino h岷硁 ph岷 l脿 m峄檛 nh脿 quan s谩t 膽岷 t脿i. Nh峄痭g s峄� v岷璽, hi峄噉 t瓢峄g b矛nh th瓢峄漬g trong cu峄檆 s峄憂g, ki峄僽 ta d峄� d脿ng ph岷 tay m脿 b岷 'x峄漣, c贸 g矛 膽岷穋 bi峄噒 ch峄�', qua l膬ng k铆nh c峄 Palomar m脿 ch峄� m瓢u l脿 Italo th岷璽...h岷 n茫o. H岷 n茫o nh瓢ng kh么ng d峄﹖ 膽瓢峄 ._. nh瓢 m峄檛 lo岷 thu峄慶 phi峄噉 膽贸ng t岷璸.
Ch岷痗 m矛nh b峄� qu谩 li峄乽 r峄搃. ._.
April 6, 2021
As I have stated before, I don鈥檛 write reviews. I write only about books, or add books to my list that are important to me, that have influenced my writing in some form or another, and as such they are tributes. Sometimes that influence is more directly apparent, in style or subject matter. Others are indirect and more about the exploration and learning about the craft itself.
Italo Calvino鈥檚 Mr. Palomar (English translation) falls into the latter category. It is a work of fiction, but reads more like a philosophical interpretation of the world. There is no plot per se, rather organized accounts of various observations by the main character, Mr. Palomar.
The words are absolutely beautiful, or at least the translation is. I can鈥檛 read Italian so I must trust the interpretation is an accurate representation of the original text. Even as a writer, I am still fascinated that we all can put words on a page, and often much of the same words. Yet there are those few writers that, as if using some secret alchemy, are able to take those same words and somehow transform them into something other and of true art. That鈥檚 Calvino.
What I take from Calvino as a student of the craft, besides his obviously superior and alchemic abilities, is how he can find complexity and wonder in the mundane. It is a reminder to me to not only focus on writing the bigger things to help convey a message and drive a story, sometimes it is the little everyday things that get a story closer to a depiction of humanity.
Italo Calvino鈥檚 Mr. Palomar (English translation) falls into the latter category. It is a work of fiction, but reads more like a philosophical interpretation of the world. There is no plot per se, rather organized accounts of various observations by the main character, Mr. Palomar.
The words are absolutely beautiful, or at least the translation is. I can鈥檛 read Italian so I must trust the interpretation is an accurate representation of the original text. Even as a writer, I am still fascinated that we all can put words on a page, and often much of the same words. Yet there are those few writers that, as if using some secret alchemy, are able to take those same words and somehow transform them into something other and of true art. That鈥檚 Calvino.
What I take from Calvino as a student of the craft, besides his obviously superior and alchemic abilities, is how he can find complexity and wonder in the mundane. It is a reminder to me to not only focus on writing the bigger things to help convey a message and drive a story, sometimes it is the little everyday things that get a story closer to a depiction of humanity.
December 7, 2024
Sublime. Definitely tied with If On A Winter's Night a Traveler for my favourite Calvino.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 873 reviews
Can't find what you're looking for?
Get help and learn more about the design.