Invisible Cities
Imaginary conversations between Marco Polo and his host, the Chinese ruler Kublai Khan, conjure up cities of magical times. ?Of all tasks, describing the contents of a book is the most difficult and in the case of a marvelous invention like Invisible Cities, perfectly irrelevant? (Gore Vidal). Translated by William Weaver. A Helen and Kurt Wolff Book
"Kublai Khan does not necessarily believe everything Marco Polo says when he describes the cities visited on his expeditions, but the emperor of the Tartars does continue listening to the young Venetian with greater attention and curiosity than he shows any other messenger or explorer of his." So begins Italo Calvino's compilation of fragmentary urban images. As Marco tells the khan about Armilla, which "has nothing that makes it seem a city, except the water pipes that rise vertically where the houses should be and spread out horizontally where the floors should be," the spider-web city of Octavia, and other marvelous burgs, it may be that he is creating them all out of his imagination, or perhaps he is recreating details of his native Venice over and over again, or perhaps he is simply recounting some of the myriad possible forms a city might take.
Invisible Cities Accessories
 If on a winter's night a traveler
Cosmicomics
Difficult Loves
The Baron in the Trees
Labyrinths: Selected Stories & Other Writings (New Directions Paperbook)
Einstein's Dreams
Six Memos for the Next Millennium/the Charles Eliot Norton Lectures 1985-86 (Vintage International)
Borges: Collected Fictions
The Poetics of Space
Italian Folktales
Invisible Cities Reviews
This book is simply amazing. This is a timeless book that could be read at any age. Italo Calvino is one of the best story tellers.
A ruler of an empire so vast he has never seen most of it, and a foreign traveler who describes for him the cities he has visited. The narrative voice is poetic, even nostalgic, and the story derives from a conversation between Kublai Khan and Marco Polo, a conversation which is interrupted by a series of vignettes describing the many fantastical cities that Marco Polo has seen, dreamed of, or invented. But readers who enjoy nostalgic, dream-like images and prose that reads like poetry will be enchanted by this short book. This book does not have a traditional plot, and readers looking for conflict and action will be disappointed.
"The bridge is not supported by one stone or anther," Marco answers, "but by the line of the arch that they form.". "Why do you speak to me of stones. Marco Polo describes a bridge, stone-by-stone. Polo answers: "Without stones there is no arch.". Unquote. Kublai Khan remains silent, reflecting. At its best, Invisible Cities could have been written by the insuperable Borges; at its worst, the insufferable Kahlil Gibran.
"But which is the stone that supports the bridge." Kublai Khan asks. The descriptions of fantastical dream-cities, which make up the bulk of this book, are wonderful, and I only have one small nit to pick: Calvino, during the mercifully short dialogues between Polo and Khan that book-end each section, tends to become a little too sententious for my liking, subjecting his patient readers to such groaning, sage-like laconicisms as, quote:. It is only the arch that matters to me.". Then he adds:.
During the course of his recollections, Kublai and Polo digress on various topics relating to those cities, the state of Kublai's empire, and the symbolic meaning of it all.
This book is unique and thought provoking, but I did find it a bit repetitive in style.
The effect is quite hypnotic, as each city in turn, through physical descriptions of it's architecture and culture presents a unique perspective on mankind.
Calvino is saying things about modern as well as ancient civilization.
A fictional Marco Polo tells a fictional Kublai Khan about the cities he has visited in his travels, all having female names and all having fantastically unique and in many cases, disturbing qualities.
Each city is a city of the mind.a city everyone knows, has known, or will know.
That's my only criticism.
Calvino's Invisible Cities is very original in concept and execution.
It kind of droned on.
"This is the book where the city is the story." That said, I was expecting more narrative than what I found here. (Call me a traditionalist but I expect a bit of characterization and plot). There is some pretty potent imagery and interesting wordplay at work in here. The expectation that had been set for me when I added this to my reading list. As a "book", I didn't much care for Invisible Cities but I would add it to my bookshelf as a good lesson in how to write about places. 5 stars for brilliance, 3 stars for enjoyment.
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