Under the Jaguar Sun

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Under the Jaguar Sun is a collection of short stories by Italo Calvino. The book is comprised of three short stories that were not intended to be put together into one collection, but which are unified by their focus on the senses and love in various forms.

In the 1992 English translation by William Weaver, the works are arranged by length, beginning with "Under the Jaguar Sun" followed by "A King Listens" and "The Name, The Nose."

[edit] Under the Jaguar Sun

This short story involves a couple on vacation in Mexico, experiencing difficulties in their relationship. Mexico is presented as a country characterised by its bloody history, both in the indigenous past and in its colonised period, which includes the present.

[edit] The King Listens

This short story focuses on the sense of hearing. It is designed to be read in different ways, as it is written in the second-person. In the story, a palace becomes a giant ear and a King is obsessed by fears of rebellion which send him toward a state of restless aural surveillance. This paranoia only seems to halt when he hears the sincere love song of a woman.

[edit] The Name, The Nose

This short story is from the perspective of three different characters: a French sensualist, a prehistoric entity on the verge of becoming human, and a drug-addled musician. They are united in their quest of a captivating female scent, which is revealed in the last instance to be death.