Invisible Words

Ephemeral (Pg. 111)

Adjective. Short Lived, Lasting a very short time

Carats (Pg. 112) 

Noun. A unit of weight for gemstones, 1 Carat = 200 milligrams

Opulence (Pg. 114)

Noun. Wealth, Riches abundance

Gulley or Gully (Pg. 124) 

Noun. Channel or small valley

Concentric (Pg. 129) 
Adjective. That has a common center as in spirals and spheres. 

Benevolent(Pg. 135) 

Adjective. Desire of helping others, expressing goodwill and kindness

Medlars (Pg. 146)
Noun. a small tree, of the rose family. Its fruit resembles a crab apple. 























Mangy (Pg. 153)
Adjective. squalid, shabby, mean 

Menace ( Pg. 164) 
Noun. something or someone who is considered a threat (Harmful, injury, evil or dangerous). An extremely annoying person.

Titles and Cities

In class we had discussed on how similar yet different all the cities named in Invisible Cities were. Physically and visually they were quite different. However, if the book was read according to sections, by this I mean reading all the five sections of "Cities and Memory" and then all the five sections of "Cities and Desire" amongst others, we would be able to find that the cities were all quite similar.

In order to truly understand the book we have to interpret it in a simbolic way, by this meaning in a non literal form. If this is true, then the figurative meaning of the cities would be the knowledge that is out there in the world. Having this hypothesis in mind I started searching for similarities in between the cities, and those   that belonged in each section. For instance, in "Cities and The Dead" 2, " On the dock the sailor who caught the rope and tied it to the bollard resembled a man who had soldiered with me and was dead...The girl was identical with one in my village who had gone mad for love and killed herself" (Pg. 94) or for example in "Cities and The Dead 5", "It is the Laudomia of the dead, the cemetery. But Laudomia's special faculty is that of being not only double, but triple; it comprehends, in short, a third Laudomia, the city of the unborn." 

It can be seen that in both cases the author is speaking about cities who have the same characteristics, those who relate to death, or in "Cities and Desire" those related to human desire etc. Basically this all sums up to the fact that in the end, knowledge is different and though some can to be very similar it is never quite the same. Knowledge comes in different sizes and doses, never being completely identical.

Patterns.

As we started reading, Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino, I began finding different patterns. These different designs I found were all somewhat related to the cities narrated by Marco Polo. They all had to do with them in a way or another, literally or figuratively. Even so, at the beginning of the book, Calvino writes, “Only in Marco Polo’s accounts was Kublai Khan able to discern, through the wall and towers destined to crumble, the tracery of a pattern so subtle it could escape the termites’ gnawing.”  (Pg. 6) Thus, telling Kublai Khan, (or the reader if understood in a more symbolic way) that only in what Marco Polo says (or the writer) is Khan able to discover through knowledge a patter so delicate but complex, it could escape the enemy (meaning the forgetfulness of knowledge).

Although this book can be read in different ways it can only be comprehended in two different ways, one figurative and one literal. However, slight patterns can still be traced.

Pattern 1:

If the reader checks the index carefully, it will reveal a peculiar sequence in the progression of tittles and numbers. The reader would be able to notice how a succession follows an organized sequence (54321) In the first section, the numbers all start at 1, increase and then decrease back to number one. Consequently, through the rest of the sections all the titles follow the order (54321), expect the last one. Number nine, is the inverse or the contrary of the first section, beginning at five, decreasing and then increasing back again to five.

Pattern 2:

I didn’t notice this pattern, but rather a friend told me about it, and it was quite interesting. In the index, the reader can see how the tittles of each new chapter, or section vary in length, making a wave. Meaning, that if looked sideways, and all next to the other, it could look like a city skyline.

These are only two of the many patterns that can be seen in the book. They didn’t just happen to be there. They were intentionally put there for a reason that still remains unknown to us.

Dante Alighieri Vs. Kublai Khan

Since we started reading this book, people have said nothing more common than that the book have a allusion to The Divine Comedy: Inferno, colloquially called Dante's Inferno. I really had to think about it to finally understand the connection between these two works.

"At this point Kublai Khan interrupted him or imagined interrupting him, or Marco Polo imagined himself being interrupted, with a question such as: "You advance always with your head turned back?" or "Is what you always see behind you?" or rather, "Does your journey take place only in the past?" (Pg. 28) This quote makes a subtle and light reference to the fourth Bolgia in the eight circle of hell where all the astrologers, prophets and sorcerers are found. They are found paying their sins in that way, because as in the mortal life they tried to foresee the future, they can now only see their past.

Both Khan and Dante are found in a situation in which they are finding more about themselves, guided by   someone, in Khan's case it is Marco Polo and in Dante's place it is Virgil. While in Invisible Cities Calvino explains how the human mind functions and how memories, desires and knowledge can affect the paths we take in life. Whereas in Dante's Inferno, Dante explains to the reader the long run consequences of the choices we make in life.

In both cases, they authors write on how important our past is regarding our future. They talk on how the past affects our future, and vice versa. While Calvino explains to the reader how our future can affect the way we view our past, Dante writes on how our past might potentially affect our future. Making them a continuous cycle. 

Are They Inside?

Through the beginning of the book Invisible Cities, by Italo Calvino different thoughts started forming and merging in my mind. In class earlier we had discussed about a more figurative meaning about what the book and the story actually meant. It all led me to think if in fact the cities described by Marco Polo were not only different kinds of knowledge, but they ment something more too.

The book can be seen and understood in a figurative way, and thus the reader can truly understand the meaning of it. Calvino explores imagination and the imaginable through the descriptions of cities by Marco Polo. Not only can the reader understand that somehow all the cities are connected (by purely human characteristics)but also how everything is interconnected. Many of the titles of the sections, for example, describe the cities with human features.  "Cities and Memory" "Cities and Desire" "Cities and the dead" etc. Furthermore, what Marco Polo describes in the cities can be interpreted as plain human characteristics, are they memories, desires, greed, or with human qualities like being tempting artistic, or subtle. 

This all leads to the proof that somehow, all the cities resemble humans, and if interpreted in a more symbolic way, cities are all the knowledge that is out there that we store in our minds, thus making the cities a part of our mind.