Mr. Palomar

I just finished reading Mr. Palomar by Italo Calvino. 

Mr. Palomar Does the Shopping (The cheese museum)

"It is a language made up of things; its nomenclature is only an external aspect, instrumental; but for Mr. Palomar, learning a bit of nomenclature still remains the first measure to be taken if he wants to stop for a moment the things that were flowing before his eyes."

 

Mr. Palomar's Journeys (Serpents and skulls)

"Mr. Palomar's friend cannot contain himself: 'Yes, we do (know what the Wall of Serpents means)! 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 not life without death..."

Mr. Palomar in Society (On biting the tongue)

"Mr. Palomar has made a habit of biting his tongue three times before saying anything.  After the third bite, if he is still convinced of what he was going to say, he says it.  If not, he keeps his mouth shut.....

....In fact, silence can also be considered a kind of speech, since it is a rejection of the use to which others put words; but the meaning of this silence-speech lies in its interruptions in what is, from time to time, actually said, giving a meaning to what is unsaid."