Invisible Cities – Italo Calvino

In Invisible Cities Marco Polo conjures up cities of magical times for his host Kublai Khan, but gradually it becomes clear that he is actually describing one city: Venice.  As Gore Vidal wrote ‘of all tasks, describing the contents of a book is the most difficult and in the case of a marvellous invention like Invisible Cities, perfectly irrelevant.’

Given Italo Calvino’s unique way of making each of his books so stylistically distinct from each other, it’s always difficult to pick a favourite, so today I shall claim that it is this book,  as a proper scrutiny of which one is really my favourite could devolve into a complex mess that would involve copious note taking, soul searching and perhaps some prescription drugs.

I suppose then, this review should be set in place in its new category of perfectly irrelevant, at least according to Mr Vidal, but for anyone willing to take a chance on something as creative and compelling as this, then I consider the below squiggles to be perfectly relevant:

You don’t rush Calvino books, with another of his fine works Mr Palomar I spent eight days reading its 128 pages and Invisible Cities coming in at a grand 148 pages took me all of four days to read as I stopped after nearly every page to try to visualise his ideas, I also had some weird dreams too.

The synopsis seems to give little away but in fact it does the opposite, the book consists of conversations both physical as well as metaphysical, between Marco Polo and Kublai Khan. They discuss the big and small concepts of life and these are illustrated through the descriptions of a number of cities. That may not sound the most exciting concept to you dear readers but the way they are thought out and imagined is thoroughly magical.

There are plenty of books that evoke the spirit of past ages when any outlandish stories about cities, peoples and creatures would be believed but it takes a special kind of author who can bring us cynical modern folk back to that age and get us to invest a decent amount of our time in such illusory places.

Each city we are introduced to is totally different and yet they all bear subtle similarities to each other, the way each one is described and rendered in the imagination of this reader leaves a lasting impression and fascination with their inner workings.  The range of ideas and thoughts expressed on the perspectives of cities is fascinating and it is certainly one of those books that makes you ponder, not only on what the message behind each city is but the deeper meaning of the nature of our understanding of the universe.

It is extremely fun to start reading of a city and build it up only to have your viewpoint whirled around to a completely opposite way of looking at things, I suppose like the literary equivalent of M.C Escher, but further to that it also gives you a desire to explore it and potter down all the streets with unsatiated curiosity and experience the nature of the people who dwell within these dreamy worlds. Although grounded in the past, the future is allowed to bleed through in this book, making it a slightly surreal experience as it makes context elusive and lends the book a more timeless and at times haunting appeal.

The depth and Attention to detail has rarely seemed more magical than when enveloped in a calvino read, bringing everyday objects and mundane things to life in a new way that you are ashamed to not have seen for yourself.  It also gives the wider sense of ourseves just passing through something that is to big to ever be comprehended yet to experience and observe it can give you the ability to understand and know it.  Welcome to the contradictory, alluring and wonderful world of Italo Calvino.