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Trade Paperback
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9780156453806
Overview
Overview
"Cities, like dreams, are made of desires and fears, even if the thread of their discourse is secret, their rules are absurd, their perspectives deceitful, and everything conceals something else." -- from Invisible Cities
In a garden sit the aged Kublai Khan and the young Marco Polo -- Mongol emperor and Venetian traveler. Kublai Khan has sensed the end of his empire coming soon. Marco Polo diverts his host with stories of the cities he has seen in his travels around the empire: cities and memory, cities and desire, cities and designs, cities and the dead, cities and the sky, trading cities, hidden cities. As Marco Polo unspools his tales, the emperor detects these fantastic places are more than they appear.
"Invisible Cities changed the way we read and what is possible in the balance between poetry and prose . . . The book I would choose as pillow and plate, alone on a desert island." -- Jeanette Winterson
In a garden sit the aged Kublai Khan and the young Marco Polo -- Mongol emperor and Venetian traveler. Kublai Khan has sensed the end of his empire coming soon. Marco Polo diverts his host with stories of the cities he has seen in his travels around the empire: cities and memory, cities and desire, cities and designs, cities and the dead, cities and the sky, trading cities, hidden cities. As Marco Polo unspools his tales, the emperor detects these fantastic places are more than they appear.
"Invisible Cities changed the way we read and what is possible in the balance between poetry and prose . . . The book I would choose as pillow and plate, alone on a desert island." -- Jeanette Winterson
- Format: TradePaperback
- Author: Calvino, Italo
- ISBN: 9780156453806
- Condition: New
- Dimensions: 8.01 x 0.47
- Number Of Pages: 176
- Publication Year: 1978
Language:
English
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An exploration of imagination by a one of a kind storyteller
William O. - 1 year 2 months agoFramed as a series of dialogues between Marco Polo and Kublai Khan, this 1976 Nebula Award nominee for best novel is a series of vignettes that describe urban spaces dreamlike and seemingly impossible. Calvino, one of the great storytellers of the twentieth century, utilizes his framing device to explore the idea of communication and to create multiple possible interpretations of Polo's tales of wildly imaginative cities. The vignettes unfold in a poetic manner and the interstitial sections in which Kublai Khan and Marco Polo converse give additional thematic depth to this otherwise quick read. The metaphysical flavor of Calvino's writing will appeal to fans of Borges and his ability to play with structure will reward multiple readings. Highly recommended.
HPB Staff Review