From Sapore to Sapere : the gustatory perception of elsewhere in Calvino’s ‘Under the Jaguar Sun’

Abstract

This essay seeks to show how the gustatory perception of “elsewhere” intensifies human sapience of not only the exotic Other, but also of the self. In other words, it argues that Calvino’s desire to communicate with flavours in ‘Under the Jaguar Sun’ can effectively be read as a tacit acknowledgment of the centrality of taste in comprehending the world in its totality. So, how might one employ the sense of taste to describe “elsewhere”—a place of non-belonging, that seductively nebulous region beyond the certainty of absolute knowledge? Is it possible to access ‘elsewhere’ through a purely gustatory perception? Can it be integrated into habitable place? Does it allow itself to be expressed through/represented by ancient and cryptic foodways? By exploring the erotic and linguistic entailments of the culinary sign, this essay shines a light on the systemic complexities of ‘elsewhere’ in the context of Calvino’s short-story concluding that any genuine comprehension of it naturally presupposes the resolution of the eternal and problematic dichotomy between the perceiving subject (self) and the perceived object (the exotic Other).