Connections Start to Form

Calvino already told us that his cities are related, maybe even implied the existence of only one city. “Kublai Khan had noticed that Marco Polo’s cities resembled one another, as if the passage from one another involved not a journey but a change of elements.” (pg.43) As I see it, this passage says the following: Calvino knows that the author has started to see certain connections between the cities. He did not need to travel through new ideas and inspiration for each city. Each of them is the same idea with different elements. These elements could be perspective. Maybe, the cities are meant to take live according to our interpretations. “But what enhanced for Kublai every event or piece of news reported by his inarticulate informer was the space that remained around it, a void not filled with words. The descriptions of cities Marco Polo visited had this virtue: you could wander through them in thought, become lost, stop and enjoy the cool air, or run off.” (pg.38)

I decided that I was going to look for things that connected cities with each other. I noticed small connections, like for example both Armillia and Isaura have a vertical structure and they both have pipes that rise up. Another connection I noticed is the constant presence of water in all cities. Wells, lakes, bathtubs etc. Reading Viviana Correa’s blog (http://vivianacorrea-eng10.blogspot.com/2012/06/women-in-city.html) helped me realize the connection of women. All cities are named after woman, and most of them contain a woman In their description. Is section 3, I noticed that this trend a little bit more. The section starts with Cities and Desire, a city called Zobeide, were men came chasing a dream of a perfect woman. The rest of the cities also include woman as a symbol of desire. This may be Calvino’s way of showing that the element of one city, is present in al the rest. With woman, he shows the elements of Cities and Desires are present in the other cities as well. Maybe in section 4, he will show how the elements of Cities and Signs are present in other cities as well, and so on.

Why would Calvino be describing so many cities if in the end they are only one? I think that to be able to understand this, I need to understand the figurative and Meta literary meaning of a city within this book.  I think that once we understand what cities stand for, we will understand the message of the book. Do they stand for a certain aspect of literature? For literature in general? Or do they stand for ideas?

Inception

On Friday, we discussed invisible cities in class. My previous assumptions were not really correct. I learned that this book is an example of Meta literature. This term refers to literature that talks about itself. With this idea in mind, I read the dialogues between Marco Polo and Kublai Khan all over again.  It all made so much sense now. The very first dialogue between them starts like this:  " Kublai Khan does not necessarily believe everything Marco Polo says when he describes the cities visited in 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." Who are the only two people involved in the reading of a book? The author and the reader. Therefore, we may conclude that Marco Polo stands for Calvino and Kublai Khan stands for us.  For example, the phrase I quote above, in a meta-literary way, would be telling us that we may not really believe or understand what Calvino wrote. But he assures us that we will keep reading out of curiosity and that we will pay close attention to the writing.

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The whole idea reminds me of a movie called inception. In the movie, a group of people has discovered how to extract information from other people by using their dreams. They create a dream within a dream to go deeper into the person's mind.  Just like that, Invisible cities is a story about a story. Here are some of the phrases that caught my attention and my meta-literary explanation for each:

“Marco Polo could express himself only with gestures, leaps, cries of wonder and of horror, animal barkings or hootings, or with objects he took from his knapsacks…” –Pg.21 Calvino has trouble expressing his ideas to us. He does it as good as he can, describing each city perfectly and trying to send a message.

He doesn’t expect us to make the connections right away, “The Great Khan deciphered the signs, but the connection between them and the places visited remained uncertain..”-Pg.22

 Calvino also assures us that his message will be clearer as we keep on reading the book. “As the seasons passed and his missions continued, Marco mastered the Tartar language and the national idioms and tribal dialects.”

“ “On the day when I know all the emblems,” he asked Marco, “shall I be able to possess my empire, at last?”

And the Venetian answered: “Sire, do not believe it. On that day you will be an emblem among emblems.” ” – Pg.23

Calvino clarifies that even if we manage to understand all the symbols and connections of this book, we will never conquer it. We will only be another symbol within the book. But if we think about it, Kublai Khan already symbolizes us in the book.

“The other ambassadors warn me of famines, extortions, conspiracies, or else they inform me of newly discovered turquoise mines, advantageous prices in marten furs, suggestions for supplying damascened blades. And you?” the Great Khan asked Polo “you return from lands equally distant and you can tell me only the thoughts that come to a man who sits on his doorstep at evening to enjoy the cool air. What is the use, then, of all your travelling?” Calvino understands that the reader will compare him with other authors. We will naturally question the purpose of a book like Invisible Cities. It is different from everything we have ever read. And Calvino was right to assume the reader would have this question. I myself keep wondering what all there cities will finally lead to. 

Is There a Purpose?

After reading the first section, I was a little confused with the nature of the book. It is nothing like I have ever read. I was able to understand what was written. I was able to picture the cities in my mind. But I was unable to understand the purpose of these cities, or what is the connection between them for making a story. As I finished, I realized that there was no story, no purpose. I did come up with my own understanding of the writing. I don’t know I my assumptions are correct or not, but I will share them anyway. 

The first assumption I made was inspired by this sentence "all this beauties will already be familiar to the visitor, who has seen them also in other cities." this made me think that all cities are actually one, but in the eyes of different kinds of people. Out of this thought, I concluded that the title referred to all the "invisible" cities that lie within one.  The message I got while reading was that you make your own city. According to someone’s attitude they will live their lives in cities & memory or in cities & signs etc. For example, a person who lives their lives thinking about yesterday will be trapped in cities & memory. A place where happiness is not real and where “Desires are already memories.” – pg. 8 A person who has unlimited desires would live in Cities & Desire, where its variation signifies how everyone has different desires and where people are always wanting what others have.

I am pretty sure that there is much more to this book. Just how the author gave us two different ways of reading it, there are probably different ways of interpreting its content. I can’t wait to finish this book and find out what all these cities are really about.