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Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino
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Invisible Cities

by Italo Calvino

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingConversations
3,07344737 (4.21)42

Member recommendations

  1. VanishedOne recommends The Dictionary of Imaginary Places by Alberto Manguel, "One is systematic and compendious, the other flows freely from one impression to another, but both flit between windows onto imaginary vistas."
  2. VanishedOne recommends Urville by Gilles Tréhin, "One imagines many cities impressionistically, the other one city precisely, but each offers a window onto imaginary urban environments."
  3. claudiamesc recommends Altrove. Viaggio in Gran Garabagna­Nel paese della magia­Qui Poddema by Henri Michaux, "Visionario, delirante, spietato, un bellissimo libro... un viaggio attraverso popoli dell'immaginazione, per chi si è già fatto trasportare da Marco (see more) Polo..."
  4. claudiamesc recommends Altrove. Viaggio in Gran Garabagna­Nel paese della magia­Qui Poddema by Henri Michaux, "Visionario, delirante, spietato, un bellissimo libro... un viaggio attraverso popoli dell'immaginazione, per chi si è già fatto trasportare da Marco (see more) Polo..."
  5. P_S_Patrick recommends Mr. Palomar by Italo Calvino, "Thes two books are in some ways very like each other, and in some ways quite the opposite. In Mr Palomar various locations, things, and thoughts are described (see more) precisely with the utmost eloquence and detail, whereas in Invisible Cities, it is one place being described in many different ways, hazy, as if seen through lenses of different qualities, and warping mirrors. But the effect is much the same, both books give you something to think about, make you see things in different ways, and are a pleasure to read. Both books also contain no strong plot, and consist of many small and diverse sections, and in a way, could be dipped into. Where Palomar gets very much into the mind of the protagonist, and his fixed, elaborate, and definite interpretations of reality, Invisible Cities is similar in that the recollections are also told from the point of view of the narrator, but differ each time, none being tied to reality, all of them containing aspects of truth found through how you interpret them. If you enjoyed reading one of these books, you should enjoy the other."
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English (40)  Portuguese (1)  French (1)  Norwegian (1)  Catalan (1)  All languages (44)
Showing 1-5 of 40 (next | show all)
started reading today! found the book in a sale at Geants-Ibn Batuta Mall...[nearly half priced edition:] ;)හඹා ගිය පොතක්! ( )
DawsonP | Jun 29, 2009 |  
See Imagined Cities at From Word to Word
jeremylukehill | Jun 23, 2009 |  
I read Chapter 1 of this book. And then I had to backtrack. I decided to read all bookends of every chapter instead. These contain imaginary conversations between Kublai Khan and Marco Polo. This book is very well written. The several variations on the theme of the city are perfect exercises for a powerful writer. It should have been marketed as poetry and not fiction, as each snippet can be considered a prose poem. I decided to forgo reading the rest of it. There's no doubt that Italo Calvino writes beautifully. But in this case, beauty is its own weakness. You will be fed up by the painful beauty of the writing. ( )
Rise | Jun 5, 2009 |  
Beautifully confusing. Every time I would read this book I would just fall asleep. It honestly was that tiring for my mind to keep up with the imagery. Eventually I started to walk while I read. While I couldn't walk in a straight line to save my life - I started to see the pictures and understand the meanings of the extremely well-detailed places. I even bought another copy so I could mark notes in the margins of one, but still be able to go back and read with an unadulterated mind the next time. ( )
Playr4JC | May 5, 2009 |  
Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino was a book that confused me from beginning to end, and yet I am glad I read it. Calvino was trying to do something creatively strange, and I think I missed it, but the strangeness was a bit rewarding in the end: I sense a deep purpose and philosophical meaning behind it all.

More detailed, but probably just as incoherent, thoughts on my blog
rebeccareid | May 2, 2009 |  
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Kublai Khan does not necessarily believe everything Marco Polo says when he describes the cities visited on his expedition, 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.
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Amazon.com (ISBN 0156453800, Paperback)

"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.

(retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:58:12 -0400)

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