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.
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 elderly 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 fictitious cities that are narrated by Polo, many of which can be read as parables or meditations on culture, language, time, memory, death, or the general nature of human experience.
Short dialogues between Kublai and Polo are interspersed every five to ten cities discussing these topics. These interludes between the two characters are no less poetically constructed than the cities, and form a framing device that plays with the natural complexity of language and stories. In one key exchange in the middle of the book, Kublai prods Polo to tell him of the one city he has never mentioned directly—his hometown. Polo's response: "Every time I describe a city I am saying something about Venice."
Historical background
Invisible Cities deconstructs an archetypal example of the travel literature genre, The Travels of Marco Polo, which depicts the journey of the famed Venetian merchant across Asia and in Yuan China (Mongol Empire). The original 13th-century travelogue shares with Calvino's novel the brief, often fantastic accounts of the cities Polo claimed to have visited, along with descriptions of the city's inhabitants, notable imports and exports, and whatever interesting tales Polo had heard about the region.
Invisible Cities is an example of Calvino's use of combinatory literature, and shows clear influences of semiotics and structuralism. In the novel, the reader finds themselves playing a game with the author, wherein they must find the patterns hidden in the book. The book has nine chapters, but there are also hidden divisions within the book: each of the 55 cities belongs to one of eleven thematic groups (explained below). The reader can therefore play with the book's structure, and choose to follow one group or another, rather than reading the book in chronological chapters. At a 1983 conference held at Columbia University, Calvino himself stated that there is no definite end to Invisible Cities because "this book was made as a polyhedron, and it has conclusions everywhere, written along all of its edges."[1]
Structure
Over the nine chapters, Marco describes a total of fifty-five cities, all women's names. The cities are divided into eleven thematic groups of five each:
Cities & Memory
Cities & Desire
Cities & Signs
Thin Cities
Trading Cities
Cities & Eyes
Cities & Names
Cities & the Dead
Cities & the Sky
Continuous Cities
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 is an opening section and a closing section, narrating dialogues between the Khan and Marco. The descriptions of the cities lie between these two sections.
The matrix of eleven column themes and fifty-five subchapters (ten rows in chapters 1 and 9, five in all others) shows some interesting properties. Each column has five entries, rows only one, so there are fifty-five cities in all. The matrix of cities has a central element (Baucis). The pattern of cities is symmetric with respect to inversion about that center. Equivalently, it is symmetric against 180 degree rotations about Baucis. Inner chapters (2-8 inclusive) have diagonal cascades of five cities (e.g. Maurila through Euphemia in chapter 2). These five-city cascades are displaced by one theme column to the right as one proceeds to the next chapter. In order that the cascade sequence terminate (the book of cities is not infinite!) Calvino, in chapter 9, truncates the diagonal cascades in steps: Laudomia through Raissa is a cascade of four cities, followed by cascades of three, two, and one, necessitating ten cities in the final chapter. The same pattern is used in reverse in chapter 1 as the diagonal cascade of cities is born. This strict adherence to a mathematical pattern is characteristic of the Oulipo literary group to which Calvino belonged.
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[3] in October 2013 as an experimental production at Union Station in Los Angeles. In this site-specific production directed by Yuval Sharon, 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] An audio recording of the opera was released in November 2014.[7][8][9] The opera was named a finalist for the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for Music.[10]
^Mark Swed, "Review: An inward tour through 'Invisible Cities'", Los Angeles Times, October 21, 2013.
^Jeffrey Marlow, "Is This the Opera of the Future?", Wired, October 22, 2013.
^Jessica Gelt, "The Industry starts label, to hold free concert at Union Station", Los Angeles Times, October 2, 2014.
^Sandra Barrera, "'Invisible Cities' is first release for The Industry’s new record label", Los Angeles Daily News, October 24, 2014.
^Julie Baumgardner, "In a Busy Train Station, a Postmodern Opera Takes Shape", The New York Times, October 29, 2014.
^The 2014 Pulitzer Prize Winners: Music, Pulitzer.org, April 14, 2014.
External links
Excerpts from Invisible Cities
Review by Jeannette Winterson 2015-01-07 at the Wayback Machine
Italo Calvino sparks obsessions
Erasing the Invisible Cities - essay by John Welsh, University of Virginia
Fabulous Calvino by Gore Vidal in The New York Review of Books (Subscription Required)
Calvino's Urban Allegories by Franco Ferrucci in The New York Times
Invisible Cities Illustrated
Fällt - Invisible Cities - Portraits of the world's cities painted with sound
Silvestri, Paolo, "After-word. 'Invisible cities': which (good-bad) man? For which (good-bad) polity?", in P. Heritier, P. Silvestri (eds.), Good government, Governance and Human Complexity. Luigi Einaudi’s Legacy and Contemporary Society, Leo Olschki, Firenze, 2012, pp. 313–332. After-word. 'Invisible cities': which (good-bad) man? For which (good-bad) polity?
May 19, 2023
invisible, cities, this, article, about, novel, italo, calvino, album, same, name, album, this, article, multiple, issues, please, help, improve, discuss, these, issues, talk, page, learn, when, remove, these, template, messages, this, article, needs, addition. This article is about the novel by Italo Calvino For the album of the same name see Invisible Cities album This article has multiple issues Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page Learn how and when to remove these template messages This article needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources Invisible Cities news newspapers books scholar JSTOR October 2011 Learn how and when to remove this template message This article is written like a personal reflection personal essay or argumentative essay that states a Wikipedia editor s personal feelings or presents an original argument about a topic Please help improve it by rewriting it in an encyclopedic style October 2011 Learn how and when to remove this template message Learn how and when to remove this template message Invisible Cities Italian Le citta invisibili is a novel by Italian writer Italo Calvino It was published in Italy in 1972 by Giulio Einaudi Editore Invisible CitiesFirst editionAuthorItalo CalvinoOriginal titleLe citta invisibiliTranslatorWilliam WeaverCover artistRene Magritte The Castle in the Pyrenees 1959CountryItalyLanguageItalianPublisherGiulio EinaudiPublication date1972Published in English1974Media typePrint hardcover amp paperback Pages165 pp first English edition ISBN0 15 145290 3 first English edition OCLC914835Dewey Decimal853 9 14LC ClassPZ3 C13956 In PQ4809 A45 Contents 1 Description 2 Historical background 3 Structure 4 Awards 5 Opera 6 See also 7 References 8 External linksDescription EditThe 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 elderly 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 fictitious cities that are narrated by Polo many of which can be read as parables or meditations on culture language time memory death or the general nature of human experience Short dialogues between Kublai and Polo are interspersed every five to ten cities discussing these topics These interludes between the two characters are no less poetically constructed than the cities and form a framing device that plays with the natural complexity of language and stories In one key exchange in the middle of the book Kublai prods Polo to tell him of the one city he has never mentioned directly his hometown Polo s response Every time I describe a city I am saying something about Venice Historical background EditInvisible Cities deconstructs an archetypal example of the travel literature genre The Travels of Marco Polo which depicts the journey of the famed Venetian merchant across Asia and in Yuan China Mongol Empire The original 13th century travelogue shares with Calvino s novel the brief often fantastic accounts of the cities Polo claimed to have visited along with descriptions of the city s inhabitants notable imports and exports and whatever interesting tales Polo had heard about the region Invisible Cities is an example of Calvino s use of combinatory literature and shows clear influences of semiotics and structuralism In the novel the reader finds themselves playing a game with the author wherein they must find the patterns hidden in the book The book has nine chapters but there are also hidden divisions within the book each of the 55 cities belongs to one of eleven thematic groups explained below The reader can therefore play with the book s structure and choose to follow one group or another rather than reading the book in chronological chapters At a 1983 conference held at Columbia University Calvino himself stated that there is no definite end to Invisible Cities because this book was made as a polyhedron and it has conclusions everywhere written along all of its edges 1 Structure EditOver the nine chapters Marco describes a total of fifty five cities all women s names The cities are divided into eleven thematic groups of five each Cities amp Memory Cities amp Desire Cities amp Signs Thin Cities Trading Cities Cities amp Eyes Cities amp Names Cities amp the Dead Cities amp the Sky Continuous Cities Hidden CitiesHe 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 Hidden1 DiomiraIsidoraDorotheaZairaAnastasiaTamaraZoraDespinaZirmaIsaura2 MauriliaFedoraZoeZenobiaEuphemia3 ZobeideHypatiaArmillaChloeValdrada4 OliviaSophroniaEutropiaZemrudeAglaura5 OctaviaErsiliaBaucisLeandraMelania6 EsmeraldaPhyllisPyrrhaAdelmaEudoxia7 MorianaClariceEusapiaBeershebaLeonia8 IreneArgiaTheklaTrudeOlinda9 LaudomiaPerinthiaProcopiaRaissaAndriaCeciliaMaroziaPenthesileaTheodoraBereniceIn each of the nine chapters there is an opening section and a closing section narrating dialogues between the Khan and Marco The descriptions of the cities lie between these two sections The matrix of eleven column themes and fifty five subchapters ten rows in chapters 1 and 9 five in all others shows some interesting properties Each column has five entries rows only one so there are fifty five cities in all The matrix of cities has a central element Baucis The pattern of cities is symmetric with respect to inversion about that center Equivalently it is symmetric against 180 degree rotations about Baucis Inner chapters 2 8 inclusive have diagonal cascades of five cities e g Maurila through Euphemia in chapter 2 These five city cascades are displaced by one theme column to the right as one proceeds to the next chapter In order that the cascade sequence terminate the book of cities is not infinite Calvino in chapter 9 truncates the diagonal cascades in steps Laudomia through Raissa is a cascade of four cities followed by cascades of three two and one necessitating ten cities in the final chapter The same pattern is used in reverse in chapter 1 as the diagonal cascade of cities is born This strict adherence to a mathematical pattern is characteristic of the Oulipo literary group to which Calvino belonged Awards EditThe book was nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1975 2 Opera EditInvisible 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 3 in October 2013 as an experimental production at Union Station in Los Angeles In this site specific production directed by Yuval Sharon 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 An audio recording of the opera was released in November 2014 7 8 9 The opera was named a finalist for the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for Music 10 See also Edit Novels portal Wikiquote has quotations related to Italo Calvino Roland Barthes The Decameron Aarati Kanekar Oulipo Structuralism SurrealismReferences Edit Elpis Bruno 2016 Le Citta Invisibili di Italo Calvino Bruno Elpis a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint url status link 1975 The Industry theindustryla org 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 Mark Swed Review An inward tour through Invisible Cities Los Angeles Times October 21 2013 Jeffrey Marlow Is This the Opera of the Future Wired October 22 2013 Jessica Gelt The Industry starts label to hold free concert at Union Station Los Angeles Times October 2 2014 Sandra Barrera Invisible Cities is first release for The Industry s new record label Los Angeles Daily News October 24 2014 Julie Baumgardner In a Busy Train Station a Postmodern Opera Takes Shape The New York Times October 29 2014 The 2014 Pulitzer Prize Winners Music Pulitzer org April 14 2014 External links EditExcerpts from Invisible Cities Review by Jeannette Winterson Archived 2015 01 07 at the Wayback Machine Italo Calvino sparks obsessions Erasing the Invisible Cities essay by John Welsh University of Virginia Fabulous Calvino by Gore Vidal in The New York Review of Books Subscription Required Calvino s Urban Allegories by Franco Ferrucci in The New York Times Invisible Cities Illustrated Fallt Invisible Cities Portraits of the world s cities painted with sound Silvestri Paolo After word Invisible cities which good bad man For which good bad polity in P Heritier P Silvestri eds Good government Governance and Human Complexity Luigi Einaudi s Legacy and Contemporary Society Leo Olschki Firenze 2012 pp 313 332 After word Invisible cities which good bad man For which good bad polity Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Invisible Cities amp oldid 1145948625, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
