Under the Jaguar Sun - Softcover

Italo Calvino,William Weaver,Tim Parks,Martin McLaughlin,Patrick Creagh

Softcover

ISBN 10: 014118972X ISBN 13: 9780141189727

Publisher: Penguin Books, 2009

Synopsis

Alternate cover for this ISBN can be found here

A couple on an epicurean journey across Mexico are excited by the idea of a particular ingredient, suggested by ancient rituals of human sacrifice. Precariously balanced on his throne, a king is able only to listen to the sounds around him - sure that any deviation from their normal progression would mean the uprising of the conspirators that surround him. And three different men search desperately for the beguiling scents of lost women, from a Count visiting Madame Odile's perfumery, to a London drummer stepping over spent, naked bodies.

About this title

From the Back Cover

The thought . . . called up the flavors of an elaborate and bold cuisine, bent on making the flavors highest notes vibrate, juxtaposing them in modulations, in chords, and especially in dissonances that would assert themselves as an incomparable experience. From "Under the Jaguar Sun" These intoxicating stories delve down to the core of our senses of taste, hearing, and smell. Amid the flavors of Mexico s fiery chiles and spices, a couple on holiday discovers dark truths about the maturing of desire in the title story, Under the Jaguar Sun. In A King Listens, a gripping portrait of a frenzied mind, the menacing echoes in a huge palace spur a tyrant s thoughts to the heights of paranoid intensity. The Name, the Nose drives to a startling conclusion as men across time and space pursue the women whose aromas have enchanted them. Mordant and deliciously offbeat, this trio of tales is a treat from a master of short fiction. [Calvino is] a learned, daring, ingeniously gifted magus . . . "Under the Jaguar Sun . . . "fuses fable with neuron . . . The reader is likely to salivate. Cynthia Ozick, "New York Times Book Review" ITALO CALVINO (1923 1985) attained worldwide renown as one of the twentieth century s greatest storytellers. Born in Cuba, he was raised in San Remo, Italy, and later lived in Turin, Paris, Rome, and elsewhere. Among his many works are "Invisible Cities, ""If on a winter s night a traveler, The Baron in the Trees, " and other novels, as well as numerous collections of fiction, folktales, criticism, and essays. His works have been translated into dozens of languages. Translated from the Italian by William Weaver Cover design by Peter Mendelsund & Oliver Munday"

About the Author

Italo Calvino, one of Italy's finest postwar writers, has delighted readers around the world with his deceptively simple, fable-like stories. He was born in Cuba in 1923 and raised in San Remo, Italy; he fought for the Italian Resistance from 1943-45. His major works include Cosmicomics (1968), Invisible Cities (1972), and If on a winter's night a traveler (1979). He died in Siena in 1985. William Weaver is best known for his translations of Italo Calvino, Roberto Calasso and Umberto Eco. He won the 1971 John Florio Prize for The Heron by Giorgio Bassani, and in 1992 he won it again for The Dust Roads of Monferrato by Rosetta Loy.

Edition details

• Publisher: Penguin Books
• Publication date: 2009
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 014118972X
• ISBN 13: 9780141189727
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 96