Invisible Cities

I just finished reading Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities, and I can safely say this book fits in perfectly with all of the other works we’ve looked at so far. The premise is fairly straight forward: it depicts Marco Polo at Kublai Khan’s court, detailing the various cities within the domain of Kublai’s empire. Quickly however it becomes apparent that many of these cities do not exist. They contain impossible architecture and inhabitants that defy basic laws of nature. Almost every single page is a new city, with new quirks and characteristics. It quickly becomes difficult to keep apart the various cities, and several times it is suggested that all cities are one.

There are also suggestions that Kublai Khan never actually converse. The method of communication between the two quickly becomes confused: “At this point Kublai Khan interrupted him or imagined interrupting him or Marco Polo imagined himself interrupted” (28). At one point it is even speculated that neither of the two are in Kublai Khan’s court, but rather both imagine coming to that court during their journeys and are possibly connected in this dream-state. The illusory nature of the book, from the frame story to the various stories told through the descriptions of the cities, was more frustrating than any of the other “falsehoods” that I’ve encountered throughout the course. Perhaps it is because I’m reading this book outside of any course, but I just couldn’t get it. In the end, Kublai Khan and Marco Polo look through an Atlas, which showcases cities existing in the future and in fiction. Marco Polo brings the novel to a close by stating that the “inferno” caused by cities can be avoided in two ways, by joining the oblivion that is the city and ceasing to notice it at all, or by paying attention to all things that “are not inferno”. It is a decent message, and it is emphasized by the oblivion created from the many cities that have thoroughly blended together by the end of the novel. I think I understand this aspect of the novel, at least. There are so many other parts, however, that left me confused and wondering: why? The lack of any sort of overarching plot was strange and left me feeling dazed by the end. Was this intentional? What was Calvino trying to accomplish?