Word: reader
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Instead of precise instruments and control dials guiding man's ordered observations, Mr. Palomar performs an awkward ritual, blinding himself with his flashlight and fumbling with charts of the heavens. This image is itself the only stable reference point for the Reader, the riveted audience of Calvino's quest. Unbeknownst to Mr. Palomar absorbed in his charts, a little crowd of onlookers gathers, whispering and observing "his movements like the convulsions of a madman." Unbeknownst to the Reader absorbed in the book, Calvino has manipulated him out into the open, where he can observe his Reader, placed among Mr. Palomar...
What better locale for high-speed writing on the symbol-strewn walls of modern culture than in a cheese shop in Paris? Calvino enters wielding pen like bludgeon or scalpel, a bull in a cheese shop, breaking all the codes. He leaves the Reader with a picture of Mr. Palomar, balancing notebook on knee, pen on paper, scribbling down names, sizes, colors, mold formations, as if his frantic doodling could create another map of the stars, a gastronomy of everyday life. Mr. Palomar does take on a persona, and at the same time becomes a recognizable character, when he sonic...
...CHAPTER-SKETCHES of "Mr. Palomar" compose a fancy scheme for all possible permutations of human experience. At the end of the book, Calvino decides to let the Reader in on his secret. He has thrown in an "Index" at the end of a collection of stories. The index looks like a table of contents in which Calvino reveals that what had seemed like a zigzag wandering from beach to shop to zoo is actually a highly formalized pattern. Calvino assigns to each chapter a combination of the numbers one, two, and three, like the combination of a lock. Each number...
...forsakes the intrusive shapes of modernism for structures that blend with a community's character and history. The Souweine house is Greek Revival accented with designer windows and a red roof. Kidder provides floor plans and a few sketches of detail, but no elevations that could show the reader the front, back and sides of the building. Yet the message is clear: the spacious, functional and comfortable place is the home of good, unpretentious citizens...
Interests: Save at least one line for a list in series of avocational interests such as, "Reading, playing guitar, running, and choral singing." Even a brief list rounds out your presentation and may establish an initial bond of common interest with the reader...