A. INTRODUCTION
1. Why Mrs. Palomar?
Mr. Palomar introduces a number of intriguing ideas as to the very nature of human subjectivity. The character of Palomar indeed reads allegorically, as if his own musings on the possibilities and limitations of perception are intended to be representative of an entire philosophical school of thought. The reasonable, systematic, organized approach to observation that Palomar attempts to employ is precisely the goal of the Enlightenment project, the tradition of Western philosophy in modernity.
The impracticality of this model within the context of the new millenium does not, however, escape Calvino. Palomar's journeys of the body and mind are told with a parodic sense of characterization and setting that, within his encyclopedic mindframe, emphasizes the subject's neurosis, the inevitable vertiginous conflict between his obsession with the specific and his grand philosophical generalizations. A sardonic use of metaphor, for example, suggests an undermining of Palomar's authority as observer and philosopher. Noticing the bosom of a naked female bather, he remarks, "I create a kind of mental brassiere suspended between my eyes and that bosom, which, from the flash that reached the edge of my visual field, seemed to me fresh and pleasing to the eye." (Mr. Palomar, pg. 10.) Thus, using a comic-ironic metaphor to call our attention to Palomar's ludicrous form of discretion, Calvino acknowledges the limited scope of the character's subjectivity based on the particulars of his personality.
In light of this extreme parodic characterization of Mr. Palomar, presented alongside his almost archetypical Western philosophical approach to subjective observation, I am interested in compiling a project that rewrites the Palomar narrative from the perspective of an entirely different subject: Mrs. Palomar. Mrs. Palomar is introduced briefly in the "Mr. Palomar in the Garden" section of Calvino's novel, and in fact her own subjective inklings and observational talents are hinted at throughout her few scenes. As the couple looks at their resident blackbirds, the narrator comments parenthetically that "[Mrs. Palomar] was the first to discover them and to point out their habits to her husband" (pg. 25).
More, however, than the character of Mrs. Palomar specifically, what interests me is the possibility of exploring a Palomar-esque narrative from the perspective of a female subject. Women's subjectivity is a primary concern of many "narratives for the next millenium," as later twentieth century women writers have attempted to assert traditionally objectified female characters as independent subjects. The subtle indications toward Mrs. Palomar's observational superiority over her husband, the self-proclaimed human telescope, inspired me to consider how a Mrs. Palomar, married to such a man, might view her own world and his.
2. Critical Questions
The Mrs. Palomar narrative inevitably takes into account the question of how Calvino's discourse on Western philosophical method might reconcile with the marked absence of women's subjectivity from the inquiries of the Enlightenment and the modern project. Some particular critical questions I address by way of my Mrs. Palomar narratives and their hyper-structure:
a. The term "women's subjectivity" suggests a kind of specified collective consciousness open to examination by the philosophical observer, in this case Mrs. Palomar herself. Does a Mrs. Palomar narrative therefore inevitably limit itself to a specific discourse? How might it participate in the discourse within which Mr. Palomar presumably belongs, one which has traditionally excluded the female subject? In order to locate Mrs. Palomar simultaneously within this discourse and elsewhere, I have attempted to preserve Calvino's sense of parody and his "three kinds of experience and inquiry." I have altered these to an end which ultimately mirrors the undermining of Mr. Palomar's philosophy that the author achieves, redefining them as outlined in section B, below. A parodic consciousness of Mrs. Palomar's character serves to indicate the inevitability of participation in Western philosophical discourse, while allowing Mrs. Palomar's distinctive female subjectivity to function independently within the three "levels" determined by Calvino. The hyper-structure of the project, whose short narratives are connected by way of links among themselves, serves to emphasize the use of Calvino's different realms of reality.
b. Being that, in the footsteps of many later twentieth century women thinkers, Mrs. Palomar's observational method might not ascribe as vehemently to traditional Western philosophical models as does Mr. Palomar, how might it specifically depart from or rupture these? I have attempted to explore the notion of a Mrs. Palomar obsessed by metaphor. The implications of the use of resonant metaphor in philosophical discourse are interesting to consider in terms of the possibilities of hypernarrative, which can convey several meanings simultaneously within a vertical or horizontal physical structure.
c. How does the ideal reader of Mr. Palomar differ from that of a Mrs. Palomar narrative? Does the emphasis on the female subjectivity assume an active woman reader, or might it ideally beg a male audience?
B. THE STRUCTURE OF THE PROJECT
As indicated, I will use Calvino's own triadic classification device to organize the narratives. The logic to which I've adhered in my classification system is as follows:
Those marked "1" generally involves memories of association or relationship. Those marked "2" are concerned with Mrs. Palomar's struggle for an independent subjectivity, and those marked "3" involve extended metaphor or analogy, the metaphorically obsessed subject.
The web-based format of the project allows the reader to participate actively in the non-linearity of the text, moving freely among the three levels via internal links and accessing the index at any time by way of a link at the bottom of each page. In the interest of time, the index I've created is scaled down to three narratives for each of three major parts of the book (1. Mrs. Palomar's Vacation, 2. Mrs. Palomar in the City, 3. The Silences of Mrs. Palomar).
I've left certain headings the same under the assumption that they are essential to the Palomar narrative, whether it be Mr. or Mrs. The index below is designed so that others might in the future add their own Mrs. Palomar narratives, perhaps completing Calvino's 27-narrative structure, or expanding the hypertext beyond even his imagination.
C. INDEX
MRS. PALOMAR: Index
1. Mrs. Palomar's Vacation
1.1. MRS. PALOMAR IN THE HOTEL
1.1.1. Drifting aromas
1.2. MRS. PALOMAR AT THE CARNIVAL
1.2.2. On the carousel
1.3. MRS. PALOMAR IN THE GARDEN
1.3.3. Of an anthill
2. Mrs. Palomar in the City
2.1. MRS. PALOMAR IN THE SHOWER
2.1.1. The dust
2.2. MRS. PALOMAR DOES THE SHOPPING
2.2.2. Ruby red
2.3. MRS. PALOMAR LOOKS AT ART
2.3.3. Still life with pearls
3. The Silences of Mrs. Palomar
3.1. MRS. PALOMAR'S JOURNEYS
3.1.1. The volcano
3.2. MRS. PALOMAR AND HER CHILDREN
3.2.2. Role reversal
3.3. MRS. PALOMAR CONSIDERS
3.3.3. Learning to be dead