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==Description==
==Description==


The book explores imagination and the imaginable through the descriptions of cities by an explorer, [[Marco Polo]]. The book is framed as a conversation between the aging and busy emperor [[Kublai Khan]], who constantly has merchants coming to describe the state of his expanding and vast empire, and Polo. The majority of the book consists of brief [[prose poetry|prose poems]] describing 55 cities, apparently narrated by Polo. Short dialogues between the two characters are interspersed every five to ten cities and are used to discuss various ideas presented by the cities on a wide range of topics including [[linguistics]] and [[human nature]]. The book is structured around an interlocking pattern of numbered sections, while the length of each section's title graphically outlines a continuously oscillating [[sine wave]], or perhaps a city [[skyline]]. The interludes between Khan and Polo are no less poetically constructed than the cities, and form a [[framing device]], a story within a story, that plays with the natural complexity of language and stories.
The book explores imagination and the imaginable through the descriptions of cities by an explorer, [[Marco Polo]]. The book is framed as a conversation between the aging and busy emperor [[Kublai Khan]], who constantly has merchants coming to describe the state of his expanding and vast empire, and Polo. The majority of the book consists of brief [[prose poetry|prose poems]] describing 55 cities, apparently narrated by Polo. Short dialogues between the two characters are interspersed every five to ten cities and are used to discuss various ideas presented by the cities on a wide range of topics including [[linguistics]] and [[human nature]]. The book is structured around an interlocking pattern of numbered sections, while the length of each section's title graphically outlines a continuously oscillating [[sine wave]], or perhaps a city [[skyline]]. The interludes between Khan and Polo are no less poetically constructed than the cities, and form a [[framing device]] that plays with the natural complexity of language and stories.


Marco Polo and Kublai Khan do not speak the same language. When Polo is explaining the various cities, he uses objects from the city to tell the story. The implication is that that each character understands the other through their own interpretation of what they are saying. They literally are not speaking the same language, which leaves many decisions for the individual reader.
Marco Polo and Kublai Khan do not speak the same language. When Polo is explaining the various cities, he uses objects from the city to tell the story. The implication is that that each character understands the other through their own interpretation of what they are saying. They literally are not speaking the same language, which leaves many decisions for the individual reader.

Revision as of 16:03, 6 April 2014

Invisible Cities
First edition
AuthorItalo Calvino
Original titleLe città invisibili
TranslatorWilliam Weaver
Cover artistRené Magritte, The Castle in the Pyrenees, 1959
LanguageItalian
PublisherGiulio Einaudi
Publication date
1972
Publication placeItaly
Published in English
1974
Media typePrint (Hardcover & Paperback)
Pages165 pp (first English edition)
ISBNISBN 0-15-145290-3 (first English edition) Parameter error in {{ISBNT}}: invalid character
OCLC914835
853/.9/14
LC ClassPZ3.C13956 In PQ4809.A45

Invisible Cities (Italian: Le città invisibili) is a novel by Italian writer Italo Calvino. It was published in Italy in 1972 by Giulio Einaudi Editore.

Description

The book explores imagination and the imaginable through the descriptions of cities by an explorer, Marco Polo. The book is framed as a conversation between the aging and busy emperor Kublai Khan, who constantly has merchants coming to describe the state of his expanding and vast empire, and Polo. The majority of the book consists of brief prose poems describing 55 cities, apparently narrated by Polo. Short dialogues between the two characters are interspersed every five to ten cities and are used to discuss various ideas presented by the cities on a wide range of topics including linguistics and human nature. The book is structured around an interlocking pattern of numbered sections, while the length of each section's title graphically outlines a continuously oscillating sine wave, or perhaps a city skyline. The interludes between Khan and Polo are no less poetically constructed than the cities, and form a framing device that plays with the natural complexity of language and stories.

Marco Polo and Kublai Khan do not speak the same language. When Polo is explaining the various cities, he uses objects from the city to tell the story. The implication is that that each character understands the other through their own interpretation of what they are saying. They literally are not speaking the same language, which leaves many decisions for the individual reader.

The book, because of its approach to the imaginative potentialities of cities, has been used by architects and artists to visualize how cities can be,[1] their secret folds, where the human imagination is not necessarily limited by the laws of physics or the limitations of modern urban theory. It offers an alternative approach to thinking about cities, how they are formed and how they function.

Historical background

The Travels of Marco Polo, Polo's travel diary depicting his purported journey across Asia and in Yuan Dynasty (Mongol Empire) China, written in the 13th century, shares with Invisible Cities the brief, often fantastic accounts of the cities Polo claimed to have visited, accompanied by descriptions of the city's inhabitants, notable imports and exports, and whatever interesting tales Polo had heard about the region.

Structure

Over the nine chapters, Marco describes a total of fifty-five cities. The cities are divided into eleven thematic groups of five each:

  1. Cities & Memory
  2. Cities & Desire
  3. Cities & Signs
  4. Thin Cities
  5. Trading Cities
  6. Cities & Eyes
  7. Cities & Names
  8. Cities & the Dead
  9. Cities & the Sky
  10. Continuous Cities
  11. Hidden Cities

He moves back and forth between the groups, while moving down the list, in a rigorous mathematical structure. The table below lists the cities in order of appearance, along with the group they belong to:

Chapter No. Memory Desire Signs Thin Trading Eyes Names Dead Sky Continuous Hidden
1 Diomira
Isidora
Dorothea
Zaira
Anastasia
Tamara
Zora
Despina
Zirma
Isaura
2 Maurilia
Fedora
Zoe
Zenobia
Euphemia
3 Zobeide
Hypatia
Armilla
Chloe
Valdrada
4 Olivia
Sophronia
Eutropia
Zemrude
Aglaura
5 Octavia
Ersilia
Baucis
Leandra
Melania
6 Esmeralda
Phyllis
Pyrrha
Adelma
Eudoxia
7 Moriana
Clarice
Eusapia
Beersheba
Leonia
8 Irene
Argia
Thekla
Trude
Olinda
9 Laudomia
Perinthia
Procopia
Raissa
Andria
Cecilia
Marozia
Penthesilea
Theodora
Berenice

In each of the nine chapters, there's an opening section and a closing section, narrating dialogues between the Khan and Marco. The descriptions of the cities lie between these two sections.

Awards

The book was nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1976.

Opera

Invisible Cities (and in particular the chapters about Isidora, Armilla, and Adelma), is the basis for an opera by composer Christopher Cerrone, first produced by The Industry[2] in October 2013 as an experimental production at Union Station in Los Angeles. In this site-specific production directed by Yuval Sharon,[3] the performers, including eleven musicians, eight singers, and eight dancers, were located in (or moved through) different parts of the train station, while the station remained open and operating as usual. The performance could be heard by about 200 audience members, who wore wireless headphones and were allowed to move through the station at will.[4][5][6]

See also

Wikiquote has quotations related to Italo Calvino.

References

  1. ^ rodcorp: Illustrated Invisible Cities
  2. ^ http://www.TheIndustryLA.org
  3. ^ http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/culture/la-et-cm-yuval-sharon-20131013,0,5048602.story#axzz2jE2T0Hjo
  4. ^ Reed Johnson, "Union Station the platform for the opera 'Invisible Cities': The Industry opera company and L.A. Dance Project are presenting 'Invisible Cities' on a unique platform — Union Station train terminal — and beaming it through headphones." Los Angeles Times, October 19, 2013.
  5. ^ Mark Swed, "Review: An inward tour through 'Invisible Cities'", Los Angeles Times, October 21, 2013.
  6. ^ Jeffrey Marlow, "Is This the Opera of the Future?", Wired, October 22, 2013.
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