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.