Repetitive Cities Unmasked

I look at a violin and see wood and strings. I take a peek again and see how smooth the wood is, how tight the strings are pulled, and I try to imagine what it must mean to the person it belongs to. Every object, person, and building on this earth looks different at second glance. How then, one might ask while reading Invisible Cities, could anyone possibly know that Marco Polo is not simply traveling around the same city and describing it from several different perspectives.

Could Marco Polo just be acting lazy by only traveling to one city? Is he just trying to boost Kublai Kahn's ego by telling all of the elaborate details. Marco Polo seems to be trying to ease Kahn's fears about his "destructed" kingdom. By telling the ruler about how well his cities look he is boosting his moral and easing his way into the end of his empire.

It is strange however that Marco Polo never mentions the people of these cities that he supposedly visits. Perhaps it is because the people are no longer in favor of their ruler. Perhaps it is because the faces of the inhabitants portray a more bleak nature than Polo is willing to share. Perhaps it is because Polo wants to preserve the natural beauty that Kahn would have seen in his younger age.

I wonder what could have possibly possessed Italo Calvino to write about these cities in such a way, however, as always, I have a theory.

I believe, as many others have already studied, that Calvino wrote about these cities in such an order that it shows the repetition of Polo's views on said cities. For example Dorthea, a real human woman's name, is one of those cities that Polo ventures to. He divides the city into several views; Memories and Desire are two of those sections. Going back and describing those cities in sections is representative of Marco Polo reviewing the cities that he visits.

Though I am not thrilled with reading the novel, I am learning so much from it. The writing style is phenomenally convoluted which fits in perfectly with the nature of Italian Culture. It is a blend of intuitive and underhanded writing techniques.

Below is a YouTube Video entitled Italian Art and Architecture, a little something I have left you to think about. Try to look and relook at the buildings and surroundings and see if you can notice something that you didn't before. Become Marco Polo.