Unexpected Discovery Reviews Book Life Map Introduction

THE BOOK OF 'INVISIBLE CITIES' IS

"In Invisible Cities one can't find cities that are recognizable. All the cities are fictional; I have given each of them a woman's name. The book is made up of short chapters, each of which should offer the opportunity to reflect on a particular city or cities in a generalized sense."

-Italo Calvino

This anthology of poetic essays captivates the reader, invoking an insatiable curiosity and stirring deep reflection. Each encounter with the text presents a celestial journey, immersing me in contemplation; however, I often find myself adrift amidst its unique imagery and abstract metaphors, endeavoring to grasp the profound insights the author endeavors to convey.

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Italo Calvino (1923-1985) was an Italian writer. He followed many of the main contemporary literary trends, from neorealism to postmodern, but always keeping a certain distance from them and pursuing a personal and coherent research path.

Invisible Cities 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.

Oulipo,a group of Parisian literati and mathematicians who experimented with language and the relations between literature and science.Italo Calvino's ingenious mathematical logic makes the structure of the book crystal-like, an evolving but stable organism

City as a metaphor, cité may be translated from French to English as meaning, literally, ‘cities’, but in a philosophical and social theoretical sense it can also carry the connotation of ‘world’ or ‘imaginary’. This double entendre forms a fruitful point of connection with Calvino’s conception of the city, since it captures the sense in which the urban connotes not only architectural bricks and mortar but also extends to embrace the notion of worldviews or life-worlds.