Mr Palomar - Softcover

Calvino, Italo

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0099430878 ISBN 13: 9780099430872

Publisher: Vintage Classics, 1994

Synopsis

Mr Palomar is a delightful eccentric whose chief activity is looking at things. He is 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.

About this title

Review:

"Here, Calvino, probably Italy's leading novelist before he died, focuses a probing eye on one man's attempt to name the parts of his universe, almost as though Mr Palomar were trying to define and explain his own existence. Where the Palomar telescope points out into space, Mr Palomar points in: walking the beach, visiting the zoo, strolling in his garden. Each brief chapter reads like an exploded haiku, with Mr Palomar reading an universe into the proverbial grain of sand" (Time Out)

"Beautifully nimble, solitary feats of imagination" (Seamus Heaney)

"Calvino represents a high point of literary evolution; his skill is immense but retains a simian agility. As ever, his gaze is crystal clear and his writing has the easy beauty of clarity." (New Statesman)

Book Description:

A witty, elegant novel about looking, seeing, thinking, knowing and understanding

About this edition

• Publisher: Vintage Classics
• Publication date: 1994
• ISBN 10: 0099430878
• ISBN 13: 9780099430872
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 128