Mr. Palomar

In an interview with Gregory Lucente, Calvino stated that he began writing Mr. Palomar in 1975, making it a predecessor to earlier published works such as If on a winter's night a traveler.

The first section is concerned chiefly with visual experience; the second with anthropological and cultural themes; the third with speculations about larger questions such as the cosmos, time, and infinity.

These thoughts and others run seamlessly together, so by the end of the chapter we find Mr Palomar extending his mind far beyond his garden, and contemplating the nature of the universe itself.

Comparing the book to his other novels, Calvino noted Mr. Palomar is "a completely different work" in which he sought to respond to "the problem of non linguistic phenomena.

"[3] The character Michael Vaughn can be seen reading Mr. Palomar in "Crossings", the 12th episode of the third season of the ABC spy thriller, Alias (2000).