In a captivating discussion, writer and scholar Anna Della Subin, author of 'Accidental Gods', explores Italo Calvino’s 'Invisible Cities'. The conversation dives into the poetic structure, revealing how Marco Polo's fantastical narratives blur reality and imagination. They tackle themes of memory, urban life, and anti-fascist politics, illustrating Calvino's belief in the fantastic as a mode of truth-telling. The intriguing parallels with Kafka’s ideas showcase how storytelling can illuminate hope amid despair.
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Calvino's Marco Polo Film
Italo Calvino was commissioned to write a film outline about Marco Polo, blending documentary and fantasy.
Calvino imagined the travels by "smoking opium and reading Marco Polo" to enter a dreamlike state.
insights INSIGHT
Dream vs. Reality
Calvino's approach to Marco Polo is dreamlike, contrasting with Polo's detailed, empirical accounts.
Initially, Polo's travels, filled with marvels, were considered fantasy, similar to Calvino's approach.
question_answer ANECDOTE
Marco Polo's Journey
Marco Polo, from a Venetian merchant family, embarked on a 24-year journey to Kublai Khan's court at 17, his mother was already dead, and he had not met his father until he was 15.
In Calvino's unproduced film treatment, young Marco sneaks onto the ship with his father.
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Invisible Cities is a novel by Italo Calvino that defies traditional narrative structures. The book revolves around the conversations between Marco Polo and Kublai Khan, where Polo describes 55 imaginary cities he encountered during his travels. These cities are not just physical places but also metaphors for human experiences, desires, and the passage of time. The novel explores themes of memory, place, and the subjective nature of experience, highlighting how our perceptions of cities and the world are shaped by our personal histories and biases. The cities described by Polo are often reflections of his home city, Venice, and serve as vehicles for Calvino's commentary on human nature, culture, and the limits of communication[1][3][4].
The travels of Marco Polo
Marco Polo
The book, also known as *Il Milione* or *Book of the Marvels of the World*, describes Marco Polo's travels from Venice to China and his time serving Kublai Khan. It provides a comprehensive look into the culture, politics, and geography of the Eastern world during the 13th century. The narrative includes descriptions of various regions such as China, India, Japan, and Southeast Asia, and offers insights into the Mongol Empire and its operations. The book was written by Rustichello da Pisa based on Marco Polo's accounts while they were imprisoned together in Genoa.
Illuminations
Walter Benjamin
Italo Calvino’s novella Invisible Cities is a hypnagogic reimagining of Marco Polo’s time in the court of Kublai Khan. Polo describes 55 impossible places – cities made of plumbing, free-floating, overwhelmed by rubbish, buried underground – that reveal something true about every city. Marina and Anna Della read Invisible Cities alongside the Travels of Marco Polo, and explore how both blur the lines between reality and fantasy, storyteller and audience. They discuss the connections between Calvino’s love of fairytales and his anti-fascist politics, and why he saw the fantastic as a mode of truth-telling.
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Marina Warner is a writer of history, fiction and criticism whose many books include Stranger Magic, Forms of Enchantment and Once Upon a Time: A Short History of Fairy Tale. She was awarded the Holberg Prize in 2015 and is a contributing editor at the LRB.
Anna Della Subin’s study of men who unwittingly became deities, Accidental Gods, was published in 2022. She has been writing for the LRB since 2014.
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