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Mr. Palomar

by Italo Calvino, William Weaver (Translator)

3.88 of 5 stars 3.88 · rating details · 1,963 ratings · 95 reviews

Mr. Palomar, whose name purposely evokes that of the famous telescope, is a seeker after knowledge, a visionary in a world sublime and ridiculous. Whether contemplating a cheese, a woman’s breasts, or a gorilla’s behavior, he brings us a vision of a world familiar by consensus, fragmented by the burden of individual perception. Translated by William Weaver. A Helen and Kur...more

Paperback, 144 pages

Published September 22nd 1986 by Mariner Books (first published 1983)

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Jul 11, 2011 MJ Nicholls rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: other-parts-of-europe, oulipians, novellas

I'm not one of your starry-eyed prose-droolers who appreciates beautiful writing on its own terms. I need formal innovation or structural complexity or dazzling dialogue or knee-snapping humour to keep me amused amid the lexical contortionism. This makes Calvino an infuriating bedfellow: his Oulipo-era prose is constructed with tight mathematical rigidity, yet what comes through in this work is the shiny artifice of his prose, the sparkly poetics of the Cosmicomics. Not good.

Well . . . I don't k...more

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Oct 18, 2008 Alex Teplitzky rated it 4 of 5 stars

Every time I pick up an Italo Calvino book I am torn between two poles: on one hand, I am initially intensely disinterested: how to get involved in a book that has no overarching plot? But on the other hand, Calvino chooses his words so carefully and wisely that not one sentence seems superfluous. His love of lists for example seems to parallel the mind thinks. And, provided I give him a chance, my mind begins to think that Calvino is some kind of god who has the blue-prints to the human conditi...more

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Apr 12, 2011 mohammad rated it 5 of 5 stars

حيــن تجتمع "الفكاهة" مع "الفكر" ،، مزج رائع من الــوان الحياة ،،

لقد أدخلت في نفسي السرور يا بالومار . .
لقد أظهرت لي جوانب خفية من طرق التفكير ،،

اشتريت مرة خفين غير متجانسين كما تكرر الحدث معك
و لكن لم تراودني تلك الأفكار الرائعة المتناثرة
التي لا تتبع تصنيفا محددا

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Apr 29, 2013 Capodepedra rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. "la signora Palomar si esprime con frasi compiute ma spesso allusive e sibilline, per mettere alla prova la prontezza d'associazioni mentali del marito e la sintonia dei pensieri di lui con quelli di lei ( cosa che non sempre funziona); il signor Palomar invece lascia che dalle brume del suo monologo interiore emergano sparsi suoni articolati, confidando che ne risulti se non l'evidenza di un senso compiuto, almeno il chiaroscuro di uno stato d'animo"

"il signor Palomar spera sempre che il silen...more "la signora Palomar si esprime con frasi compiute ma spesso allusive e sibilline, per mettere alla prova la prontezza d'associazioni mentali del marito e la sintonia dei pensieri di lui con quelli di lei ( cosa che non sempre funziona); il signor Palomar invece lascia che dalle brume del suo monologo interiore emergano sparsi suoni articolati, confidando che ne risulti se non l'evidenza di un senso compiuto, almeno il chiaroscuro di uno stato d'animo"

"il signor Palomar spera sempre che il silenzio contenga qualcosa di più che il linguaggio può dire. MA se il linguaggio fosse davvero il punto di arrivo a cui tende tutto ciò che esiste? O se tutto ciò che esiste fosse linguaggio, già dal principio dei tempi? Qui il signor Palomar è ripreso dall'angoscia."

"E' una smisurata pazienza,la loro, o di una disperazione senza fine? Cosa aspettano,o cosa hanno smesso di aspettare? In quale tempo sono immersi? In quello della specie,sottratto alla corsa delle ore che precipitano dalla nascita alla morte dell'individuo? O nel tempo delle ore geologiche che sposta i continenti e rassoda la crosta delle terre emerse? O nel lento raffreddarsi dei raggi del sole? Il pensiero di un tempo fuori dalla nostra esperienza è insostenibile. Palomar si affretta ad uscire dal padiglione dei rettili, che si può frequentare di tanto in tanto e di sfuggita."

"In un'epoca e in un paese in cui tutti si fanno in quattro per proclamare opinioni o giudizi, il signor Palomar ha preso l'abitudine di mordersi la lingua tre volte prima di fare qualsiasi affermazione. Se al terzo morso di lingua è ancora convinto della cosa che stava per dire, la dice; se no sta zitto.Di fatto passa settimane e mesi interi in silenzio."

"Ogni volta che mi mordo la lingua, - conclude mentalmente il signor PAlomar- devo pensare non solo a quello che sto per dire o non dire, ma a tutto ciò che se io dico o non dico sarà detto o non detto da me o dagli altri"

"In tempi in cui tutti dicono troppo, l'importante non è tanto il dire la cosa giusta,che comunque si perderebbe nell' innondazione delle parole, quanto il dirla partendo da premesse e implicando conseguenze che diano alla cosa detta il massimo valore.Ma allora, se il valore di una singola affermazione sta nella continuità e coerenza del discorso in cui trova posto, la scelta possibile è solo tra il parlare in continuazione e il non parlare mai."

"La conoscenza del prossimo ha questo di speciale:passa necessariamente attraverso la conoscenza di se stesso;ed è proprio questa che manca a Palomar"

"Se il tempo deve finire,lo si può descrivere istante per istante,-pensa Palomar,- e ogni istante, a descriverlo, si dilata tanto che che non se ne vede più la fine"
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Oct 25, 2011 Raffaella Foresti rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Cari alieni,

il nostro viaggio alla scoperta della letteratura postmoderna e delle sue origini, guardando alla nostra Italia, non poteva che passare da Italo Calvino, grande innovatore della narrazione – e non solo – del secondo ‘900.
Tra le molte sue opere qui si tratta, in particolare, di Palomar, pubblicato dalla casa editrice Einaudi nel 1983. Un romanzo che è anche un’esperienza, il viaggio avventuroso di un uomo ossessionato dalla ricerca di una chiave di pensiero, potremmo chiamarla, che gl...more Cari alieni,

il nostro viaggio alla scoperta della letteratura postmoderna e delle sue origini, guardando alla nostra Italia, non poteva che passare da Italo Calvino, grande innovatore della narrazione – e non solo – del secondo ‘900.
Tra le molte sue opere qui si tratta, in particolare, di Palomar, pubblicato dalla casa editrice Einaudi nel 1983. Un romanzo che è anche un’esperienza, il viaggio avventuroso di un uomo ossessionato dalla ricerca di una chiave di pensiero, potremmo chiamarla, che gli consenta di svelare l’ordine che lega il mondo ai suoi elementi, e i suoi elementi tra loro.

L’opera presenta indubbiamente i caratteri del romanzo filosofico e tuttavia tradisce, nelle sue intenzioni e nella sua perfetta riuscita, quello che viene ormai da molti citato come uno dei tratti peculiari del postmodernismo: la rinuncia divertita-e-per-niente-ingenua a qualsiasi pretesa di comprensione sistematica della realtà.

Il Telescopio Palomar
La trama è molto semplice. Il signor Palomar è un uomo taciturno e solitario. Moglie, figlia, casa con giardino e vacanze al mare. Forse anche un cane, e la familiare nel box. Dal luogo di villeggiatura alla città, Palomar trascorre le sue giornate in osservazione, impegnato com’è a scrutare con maniacale precisione i fenomeni che la natura manifesta ai suoi occhi, ad intuirne gli schemi, le connessioni. Non a caso il nome del protagonista coincide con quello del celebre Mount Palomar, dov’è situato uno dei più importanti osservatori astronomici degli Stati Uniti: la rilevanza paradossale dell’omonimia è presto colta, se si considera che il nostro uomo, affetto da miopia, non riesce a mettere a fuoco gli oggetti che si trovano in lontananza e dedica tutto sé stesso alla minuta osservazione del dettaglio.

La struttura del romanzo, che si presenta in forma di brevi racconti, ci viene illustrata dallo stesso Calvino in una nota esplicativa. Si tratta un’opera divisa in tre parti di nove racconti ciascuna, a loro volta suddivisi in tre capitoli, per un totale di ventisette brevi “esperienze” che vedono il signor Palomar protagonista osservatore e pensatore. La tripartizione illustra i diversi approcci al conoscere dell’uomo: quello sensoriale, e nella specie visivo; quello antropologico, cioè mediato dall’inserimento di fattori culturali e linguistici, e quello puramente speculativo. Anche lo stile, la lingua dei racconti, varia a seconda della modalità conoscitiva in questione: dalle descrizioni per le esperienze visive, alle narrazioni per le esperienze conoscitive che abbiamo definito antropologiche, fino alle astrazioni più pure, per le speculazioni di sapore metafisico.

E così, giorno dopo giorno, il nostro Palomar osserva e medita, medita e osserva. Dal gorilla albino dello zoo alla volta celeste si susseguono le sue molteplici disavventure intellettuali, con effetti comici a tratti esilaranti. Ogni racconto si conclude con un fallimento ma, per nulla scoraggiato – solo un po’ innervosito – Palomar ricomincia la sua indagine, alla ricerca perenne di un punto di vista che gli darà la comprensione del tutto.
Nel suo incedere ad excludendum il nostro eroe, e di seguito Calvino, arriveranno ad una conclusione… che non vi svelo. Per non togliervi, qualora non l’abbiate ancora provato, il piacere di questa immensa lettura.

http://www.raccontopostmoderno.com/20...(less)

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Aug 31, 2009 David rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Mr. Palomar is "a nervous man who lives in a frenzied and congested world...and to defend himself against the general neurasthenia...tries to keep his sensations under control insofar as possible." The book is a series of short pieces that narrate Palomar's attempt to carefully observe his world, to screen out distractions in order to get a clear view of things. He begins by focusing on surfaces, but has trouble getting beyond them: "it's only after you have come to know the surface of things......more

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Apr 13, 2009 Andrew rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Mr. Palomar sets out to examine every possible aspect of his life and the world around him, trying to name everything and categorise everything scientifically. Of course he fails, and it's in the episodes of life squirming away from his rigid attempts at classification that the absurd humour comes.

The arrangement of the book corresponds to Palomar's classification attempts, being broken up into sections, sub-sections and sub-sub-sections, with each section having three sub-sections and each sub...more

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Mar 13, 2013 Burkay Yalnız rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

"Kısacası, ölü olmak, sanıldığı kadar kolay değil. Her şeyden önce, ölü olmakla, burada olmamayı birbirine karıştırmamak gerekiyor; burada olmamak, doğumdan önceki sınırsız zaman bölümünü kapsadığı gibi, ölümü izleyecek yine sınırsız zamanın görünürdeki karşılığı. Gerçekten de, doğmadan önce, gerçekleşmesi söz konusu olacak ya da olmayacak sonsuz sayıda olasılık arasında bulunuyoruz, oysa bir kez ölünce, ne (artık tümüyle malı olduğumuz ama üzerinde hiçbir etkimizin kalmadığı) geçmişte, ne de (ü...more

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Feb 05, 2012 Emily O rated it 5 of 5 stars

Recommended to Emily by: European Literary Classics (ENG 202)

Shelves: college, contemporary-lit

I don't usually like blurbs. I find that they often misrepresent the books that they are supposed to be describing. That said, I don't know that there is any better way to describe Mr. Palomar than "a vision of a world familiar by consensus, fragmented by the burden of individual perception. This books isn't plot driven, or even character driven, so much as it is a book of images, thoughts, moods, and ideas. Contemplative and deliberately paced, Mr. Palomar is different from almost anything else...more I don't usually like blurbs. I find that they often misrepresent the books that they are supposed to be describing. That said, I don't know that there is any better way to describe Mr. Palomar than "a vision of a world familiar by consensus, fragmented by the burden of individual perception. This books isn't plot driven, or even character driven, so much as it is a book of images, thoughts, moods, and ideas. Contemplative and deliberately paced, Mr. Palomar is different from almost anything else I've read.

Mr. Palomar is a series of scenes or vignettes, grouped into three large categories, that are based on things that our main character, the middle-aged Mr. Palomar, sees and thinks about. From the waves on a beach to an albino gorilla in a zoo, from the stars and galaxies to the inner workings of his own mind, Mr. Palomar, like his telescope namesake, is always looking at something, and trying to divine from those individual moments the laws of the universe. Many of his musings are about perception and how we should look at things. Is a cheese shop really a museum of human civilization? What to turtles think about while mating? Is the most important part of speech actually silence? How much can we interpret the past, or physical objects, or other people, without distorting them? These sound like big weighty questions, but Mr. Palomar's thoughts are so rooted in observation and imagery that this book never becomes too abstract or loses its connection with the reader. Instead, it connects with that part of all of us that stays detached, thinking about ourselves and our place in the world.

For people who want a books with a plot, I would not recommend this book. Though Mr. Palomar is very relatable in some ways, he is also a very introverted and detached character, and though the entire book is composed of his perceptions, I wouldn't say this is really character-driven novel either. Mr. Palomar is, if nothing else, a novel of mood, images, and thoughts. It is a book that rewards rereading, with shades of meaning and beauty in everything from the overall organization all the way down to individual sentences and word choices. Bathed in the feeling of detachment and isolation so common in modern society, Mr. Palomar is about trying to make sense of the world in which we somehow find ourselves.

Rating: 5 stars
Recommendation: Read this if you like contemplative novels built on mood, images, and ideas.

For more reviews, visit my blog: Reading While Female (less)

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Feb 12, 2012 Esther rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: italian, own-a-copy

In 27 capitoli, cerchiamo di capire il mondo del signor Palomar.
Il libro è ripartito in tre parti principali: “Le vacanze di Palomar”, “Palomar in città” e “I silenzi di Palomar” ciascuna divisa in tre capitoli, con tre storie per capitolo.

Il libro comincia in spiaggia, dove il signor Palomar osserva le onde e cerca di analizzarle.
Segue l’unico capitolo appena divertente, quando il signor Palomar passa più volte sulla spiaggia in fronte ad una donna con i seni nudi. Il signor Palomar cerca di...more

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Jan 24, 2009 Michael Mejia rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I've always loved the idea of Calvino, his books of ideas, the idea of the book in Calvino, though I've not always loved everything of his. This is a great one. I mean, there is a plot in the sense that one's life is a plot, that the evolution of Mr. Palomar's thinking is a plot. Not that plot matters much to me. Palomar is less a character than a sequence of systems of thought, subtle differentiations between them, always leaning toward the balancing of the visible and invisible, the finite and...more

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Dec 15, 2011 Brent Legault rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

If this were a novel (it isn't), it would have the rare distinction of being entirely characterless. (Which is not to say it is without character. Character it has. In fact, it's a real charmer.)

Many books lack plot (as this one does) but few find themselves without a character to follow around. Calvino, however, despite having named his book after a person (the "main character"), has made a world that is populated by things like giraffes and tortoises and waves and meat and cheese and even sta...more

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Sep 17, 2011 Ben rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: bookmooch, philosophy

While incredibly interesting, this was one of Calvino's more cerebral and dense books. Really, it is better to think of this as akin to Candide or Thus Spake Zarathustra--though written like a novel, it is really a philosophical exercise or expression of thought. I definitely enjoyed reading much of this book, but it wasn't exactly engrossing. Essentially, it is an exploration of the relationships between individuals and the world, or the cosmos, or with each other, or with themselves, through t...more

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Apr 28, 2010 Matthew rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: hilarious

Not the best Calvino, but he is always worth reading. This is similar to a Nicholson Baker novel, in that it involves a wistful man examining the details of life, struggling to put them in proper perspective.

The best vignette involves Mr. Palomar agonizing over the right attitude to take while passing a topless woman on the beach. He passes the woman many times, with a minute shift in his bearing, until she gets up and exits the beach, tired of being bothered by this "satyr".

The second best vign...more

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Jul 10, 2009 Harish Venkatesan rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This novel (can't really call it that, more like a collection of musings) reminded me why I love calvino's work- beautiful prose (intricate but light; carefully chosen words), interesting premise (a man's quest to find the Absolute by observing principles at work in the mundane world around him), and full of insight. Planning to go through it again to savor some of the observations.

at the butcher's:
"The elaborate and greedy order that he intended to make momentarily slips his mind; he stammers;...more

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Oct 12, 2010 Marc Manley rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: eurocentric-literature, post-modernism

I can't stand post-modern literature!

Mr. Palomar is a short, anxious trip through the mind of modern man, who desperately wishes to find meaning in his world. What hampers him the most is his inability to synthesize what he sees into a coherent vision; he attempts to focus on one wave; the giraffe appears to move in harmony despite its front and hind quarters; the flocking of birds; the motion of celestial bodies. Written in post-war Italy, Calvino's book is a classic example of post-war anxiety...more

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Jan 03, 2009 Shawn rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Another excellent book by Calvino. I think it should get 4-1/4 stars or so. The book is about a guy, Mr Palomar, who waxes philosophic on a number of different topics, but it's the arrangement of the book that's the key (besides the excellent writing). The book is separated into 3 main sections, each with 3 subsection. Each subsections has 3 stories. Each story/subsection/section is arranged so that the first one is descriptive, the second one is narrative, and the third one is meditative. So, n...more

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Mar 30, 2013 James rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: modern-literature

A different approach by one of Italy's greatest modern authors, Mr Palomar is Calvino's attempt to define one man's existence in a series of rigidly-contained chapters. Evidence of Calvino's days as a part of a group of writers using literary constraints, Mr Palomar is a exercise in precision: each word and sentence is carefully chosen to make an impact, and the final chapter is proof of this alone.

Perhaps Mr Palomar is a book to read having already read some of Calvino's other works but it is...more

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Jun 03, 2012 John Patrick rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

"Mr Palomar" may be my favourite book and has been for twenty years. Calvino's prose is lucid and spare and magnificently pedantic and William Weaver's translation is fabulously apt. "Reading a Wave" is a perfect short story of description and "The Naked Bosom" a delicious three page comedy of manners. My favourite, however, must be "The Cheese Museum": it is perfectly written, beautifully observed and strangely moving. I come back to this book time after time. And I change, as I age, it seems r...more

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Sep 28, 2011 Natalie rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Jenelle, Derick Dupree

Shelves: travelogue, the-ocean, technical-sensual, short-stories

Book simmering with that Aristotelian flavor: endearing list-making, whimsical archiving. It can be a bit tedious and indulgent at times, like Calvino is spewing out of his vault just to spew, but I have a habit/fault of being an invested and flattering listener, anyway, so I don't mind. In any case, P.'s system of order stresses me out -- it's so intentionally myopic it is smothering. There's no motion to this book at all, but the language is so so beautiful; it was a real pleasure to luxuriate...more

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Dec 16, 2011 Erin rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

"At this point Mr. Palomar's little girl, who has long since tired of watching the giraffes, pulls him toward the penguins' cave. Mr. Palomar, in whom penguins inspire anguish, follows her reluctantly and asks himself why he is so interested in giraffes. Perhaps because 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 t...more

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Nov 14, 2010 Margherita Dolcevita rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: bookmoochati

Uomo nervoso che vive in un mondo frenetico e congestionato, il signor Palomar tende a ridurre le proprie relazioni col mondo esterno e per difendersi dalla nevrastenia generale cerca quanto più può di tenere le sensazioni sotto controllo.

...more Uomo nervoso che vive in un mondo frenetico e congestionato, il signor Palomar tende a ridurre le proprie relazioni col mondo esterno e per difendersi dalla nevrastenia generale cerca quanto più può di tenere le sensazioni sotto controllo.

Ecco come descrivere totalmente, completamente una persona. Non c'è altro da dire. Quest'uomo è Palomar, per caratterizzarlo non serve una parola di più. E Palomar è un po' anche me.
Palomar osserva il mondo. All'inizio le sue speculazioni sembrano banali, quasi inutili, vacue, fini a loro stesse; andando avanti iniziano a diventare geniali, brillanti intuizioni («l'universo è lo specchio in cui possiamo contemplare solo ciò che abbiamo imparato a conoscere in noi») che forse alla fine potranno portare alla Conoscenza, alla Verità ultima.
Calvino è mirabile in questo processo, così come è strepitoso nel descrivere. In moltissimi romanzi si leggono descrizioni noiose, banali, ecco, gli autori di questi romanzi si comprino "Palomar" e si leggano il capitolo in cui viene descritto un geco, 5 o 6 pagine per descrivere un geco. Ecco, se le leggano e imparino come si (de)scrive
A qualcuno viene in mente una descrizione migliore per parlare di una giraffa?

La giraffa sembra un meccanismo costruito mettendo insieme pezzi provenienti da macchine eterogenee, ma che pur tuttavia funziona perfettamente. Il signor Palomar, continuando a osservare le giraffe in corsa, si rende conto d'una complicata armonia che comanda quel trepestio disarmonico, d'una proporzione interna che lega tra loro le più vistose sproporzioni anatomiche, d'una grazia naturale che vien fuori da quelle movenze sgraziate. L'elemento unificatore è dato dalle macchie del pelo, disposte in figure irregolari ma omogenee, dai contorni netti e angolosi; esse si accordano come un esatto equivalente grafico ai movimenti segmentati dell'animale. Più che di macchie si dovrebbe parlare d'un manto nero la cui uniformità è spezzata da nervature chiare che s'aprono seguendo un disegno a losanghe; una discontinuità di pigmentazione che già annuncia la discontinuità dei movimenti.

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Apr 07, 2013 Ensiform rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, italian

I tried to read this a couple of years before, and got through a considerable amount, but stopped. It's a quite hermetic, cryptic work. Anyway, I tried again and this time I plowed all the way through. A definitely different work, it's extremely well-written (and translated into a smooth, perfect English admirably by the great William Weaver), and a great intellectual exercise into questions on the relation of self to the mind, self to the world, language and symbols. The last chapter, on "learn...more

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Jan 23, 2009 baggyparagraphs rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This novel by Italo Calvino is barely a novel, with only the title character and no plot. Susan says she knows of a movie version, but even Calvino, with his prodigious imagination, probably couldn’t imagine selling screen rights to a story like this. Mr. Palomar mainly gazes and sometimes just ponders. He is anxious and withdrawn and avoids interacting with other people. Instead, he devotes himself to trying to quantify the unquantifiable, to deterimine the infinite from the finite.

In the open...more This novel by Italo Calvino is barely a novel, with only the title character and no plot. Susan says she knows of a movie version, but even Calvino, with his prodigious imagination, probably couldn’t imagine selling screen rights to a story like this. Mr. Palomar mainly gazes and sometimes just ponders. He is anxious and withdrawn and avoids interacting with other people. Instead, he devotes himself to trying to quantify the unquantifiable, to deterimine the infinite from the finite.

In the opening chapter, Mr. Palomar stands on a tongue of sand at the edge of the sea, reading the waves. He tries to see a single wave all the way to its end but finds himself distracted by complications. Waves inconveniently run into each other, foam mixes up the picture, the surge carries onto the beach and disappears. He watches until the waves seem to run backward from the shore. Is he trying to “make the waves run in the opposite direction, to overturn time, to perceive the true substance of the world beyond sensory and mental habits?” Can he extrapolate what he learns to the entire universe? No, he can’t, for he is tense and nervous and loses patience and goes away “even more unsure about everything.”

The effect is comical. In fact, “Mr. Palomar” is a metaphysical cartoon. It marches along beside Calvino’s “Cosmicomics.” We follow Mr. Palomar along the beach as he tries to find the proper way of passing a topless sunbather. Should he stare into the void? Look straight ahead and take in her presence as part of the whole scene? Neutrally glance at her? Stare at her boobs? On his fourth pass, when the sunbather should be feeling reassured that his intentions are just right, she jumps up, covering herself, and runs away. “The dead weight of an intolerant tradition prevents anyone’s properly understanding the most enlightened intentions, Palomar bitterly concludes.”

A recurring idea is that if only the ego could be “canceled,” he could see without impediment. If only he could drop the cultural messages that have accumulated! He listens to a blackbird, which proves overwhelming. Close scrutiny of his lawn reveals a “lawless jungle.” (This fits with my assessment of my own lawn as a miscellaneous collection of plants.) Turning from “that place of superfluous complications and confused approximations”—namely, the earth—he looks at the moon, the planets, the stars, finding they’re just the opposite of the luminous impressions he sees upon closing his eyelids. Back in Rome on his terrace, he loses himself in details that are discernible in the surrounding rooftops and concludes that surfaces are “inexhaustible.”

The best part is when he does the shopping and stands in line at a cheese counter. He would like to “establish the simplicity of a direct physical relationship between man and cheese” but instead finds himself suffused with cheesy concepts and histories. He can imagine the salty brine in a seaside pasture, which affected the flavor of one cheese, whereas the next was partly flavored by dry winds of another region. When it’s time to order, he crumbles before “a young cheese-girl, dressed in pink” and selects some disappointingly ordinary cheeses. Later he finds himself wearing a pair of mismatched slippers, sold at an eastern bazaar. He concocts a scenario in which someone else got the other odd slipper. It would all even out in the end, except that the other odd slipper might have been sold centuries ago (the merchant goes on forever in the bazaar) and the symmetry is extended across centuries.

Finally he goes mute. “Good opportunities for keeping quiet are never in short supply.” He has no real authority to speak, and the model he devises for dealing with the world works better as the model for other models. Insignificant objects beg to be minutely observed, and he tries to comprehend the seashell, the leaf, while also being mindful of astronomical reality, the supernova in a distant galaxy. This same serene approach could be applied to humanity, his neighbors, if only they would cooperate and quit elbowing their way through the world.

At last he decides to act dead and see how the world does without him. “For some while he has realized that things between him and the world are no longer proceeding as they used to…” But being dead isn’t so easy—not even for one as feckless as Mr. Palomar. Being dead must be distinguished from not being, for one thing, and it doesn’t seem to lead to the end of his anxiety. His observations continue but it’s a difficult adjustment as he finds himself trapped in his own ambiguous history. Anyway, if you left behind a genetic heritage, you’re not exactly dead. And even an idiot creates a historical heritage that is perpetuated “in the memory and language of those who go on living…” The ending of the human race will merely postpone its absolute extinction, as “the memory…is reborn from its ashes and is spread through the inhabited zones of the universe.” Ultimately, though, this memory will crystallize. And then time will end. Mr. Palomar decides to prepare by describing each moment of his life, which will expand infinitely, and “until he has described them all he will no longer think of being dead. At that moment he dies.”
(less)

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Feb 09, 2011 Zach rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is a very late work of Calvino's (I believe it's the last book published before his death, though Under the Jaguar Sun was published posthumously, but is incomplete, and was worked on for about 20 years). It is basically his final thoughts on existence, and, ultimately, death. It lacked the "enchantment" factor of my favorite Calvino books, but as always reveals a keen mind offering up, in this case, philosophy more than narrative. It is a story of regret, not much of hope, and innocence.

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Feb 16, 2012 C. Hollis Crossman rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Calvino's particular brand of literary play is close to its most mature in Mr. Palomar, but it's not quite as delightful for the reader as in masterpieces like If on a winter's night a traveler or The Baron in the Trees. He gets a bit abstruse at times, but other moments (particularly his observation of the blackbird) are incredible. This is a must for fans of Calvino, and highly recommended for everyone else; if you haven't read anything by him, however, you should probably start elsewhere.

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Sep 18, 2012 d. rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

mnogo volim ovakve stvari, kada se mnogo pricha/pishe niokochega/svachega.
volim da pratim tudj sled misli koje se tichu sasvim *i samoj meni* interesantnih stvari;
posebno se dobro osecam kada se prepoznam u palomarovim/kalvinovim razmishljanjima toliko da me chak nasmeju stvari kojih bi se neki drugi ljudi/chitaoci grozili :)dobro, ima i nekih koje mi nisu toliko bliske i ne prepoznajem se u njima nego se dosadjujem dok prelazim preko tih redova, ali to je zanemarljivo u odnosu na sushtinu..
ova...more

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Aug 02, 2011 Ryan Solski rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A fun read from start to finish. Read this book at the right time. There wasn't much dilema in it, and the descriptive prose really helped build a clear vision of the story. A journey to the boat from the shore, to relax on a boat and float to a river stream.... Landing at a house surrounded by exotic animals. The journeys around the house. Trees and foliage, sunbathing, stargazing. Enjoying homelife and the wonder of creating a perfect place to live.

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Jun 10, 2009 Matt is currently reading it · review of another edition

I picked this up and found the first chapter intriguing. It seemed to promise a modern philosophical novel. The second chapter was hillarious. Sounds good, but then I ground to a halt. There was something a little thin about the drama and, perhaps, the philosophy. I realize that I haven't given this one much of a chance yet, so I plan on returning to it as the mood strikes me. It is short, so a couple of philosophical hours should do the trick.

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Feb 26, 2013 Manda Keeton rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Beautifully written with carefully crafted prose, Calvino, through his subject Mr. Palomar, attempts to find meaning by systematically analyzing the smallest wonders of life. With his findings, Palomar attempts to use his observations to answer greater existential questions, effectively weaving a narrative akin to Indra's net. Like Calvino's other works, the prose is deeply spiritual, touching on issues & fears that form the core of humanness.

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About Italo Calvino

Italo 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 easily classified; much of his writing has an air of the fantastic...more

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Quotes from Mr. Palomar

“A person's life consists of a collection of events,
the last of which could also change the meaning of the whole,
not because it counts more than the previous ones
but because once they are included in a life,
events are arranged in an order that is not chronological but, rather,
corresponds to an inner architecture.” — 10 people liked it

“La conoscenza del prossimo ha questo di speciale: passa necessariamente attraverso la conoscenza di se stesso.” — 3 people liked it

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