Invisible Cities
Book Review
In 'Invisible Cities', Italo Calvino deals with the major crises of contemporary cities. Creating an imaginary world, the author seeks to delineate man's creative genius and to emphasize the complex challenges posed by our concept of modern cities.
The author devises an allegorical world set in the reign of the imperator Tartaro Kublai Khan, who establishes a relationship with Marco Polo, the great Venetian merchant. Written in the tradition of travel literature, this book can be compared to classics such as Virgil or Homer, who also told their stories through the great heroes of Greek myths.
In fact, Calvino portrays Marco Polo as a man endowed with an extraordinary talent for telling the spellbinding adventures he has experienced in the course of his journeys in the Far East. The imperator is fascinated with these awesome worlds and a very special relationship develops between the two of them. All descriptions of the cities begin with a dialogue, written in italics, between Marco Polo and the imperator. These dialogues are reminiscent of 'Thousand nights and one night'.
The author devises an allegorical world set in the reign of the imperator Tartaro Kublai Khan, who establishes a relationship with Marco Polo, the great Venetian merchant. Written in the tradition of travel literature, this book can be compared to classics such as Virgil or Homer, who also told their stories through the great heroes of Greek myths.
In fact, Calvino portrays Marco Polo as a man endowed with an extraordinary talent for telling the spellbinding adventures he has experienced in the course of his journeys in the Far East. The imperator is fascinated with these awesome worlds and a very special relationship develops between the two of them. All descriptions of the cities begin with a dialogue, written in italics, between Marco Polo and the imperator. These dialogues are reminiscent of 'Thousand nights and one night'.
As Marco Polo describes each new city, starting with Diomira and concluding with Berenice, he explains to Genghis what it is that he observed about a city. Prominent themes include the first look, first encounter, the occupants, the way cities are put together, and what makes a city what it is or will become. The two spend hours fascinated over Kublai Khan's atlas. Eventually, the conversation boils down to whether or not a person can be separated from the city in which he lives.
The plot is subtle, with complications arising between who the men are and what they do for a living. The language is dreamy as if one drank wine while watching the sunset. A reader will more likely read a short piece and muse on it for a time rather than read it for the excitement. The dialogue between the two men is philosophical and meta-physical and requires attention to absorb.
The book features 155 cities, all of which are bear female names and not to be found in an atlas. The cities symbolically represent themes such as love, death and our relationship with technology. At times, they also reflect our unattainable anxieties or desires.
The plot is subtle, with complications arising between who the men are and what they do for a living. The language is dreamy as if one drank wine while watching the sunset. A reader will more likely read a short piece and muse on it for a time rather than read it for the excitement. The dialogue between the two men is philosophical and meta-physical and requires attention to absorb.
The book features 155 cities, all of which are bear female names and not to be found in an atlas. The cities symbolically represent themes such as love, death and our relationship with technology. At times, they also reflect our unattainable anxieties or desires.
Despite its brevity, the book takes days to read -- at least, when read properly. After each story you have to stop; to think; to contemplate on the piece of poetry-in-prose that you have just encountered. Many a story hits a nerve. For me it was impossible, after such stories, just to turn the page and read on.
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