Invisible Cities
 

Invisible Cities (A Harvest/Hbj Book)

by Italo Calvino

"Kublai Khan does not necessarily believe everything Marco Polo says when he describes the cities visited on his expeditions, but the emperor of the Tartars does continue listening to the young Venetian with greater attention and curiosity than he shows any other messenger or explorer of his." So begins Italo Calvino's compilation of fragmentary urban images. As Marco tells the khan about... (read more)

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Liked It

Kris Haamer
  • Rated 4 stars

Very strange by very beautiful. Highly recommended.

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Didn’t Like It

islandhopper
  • Rated 2 stars

"You take delight not in a city's seven or seventy wonders, but in the answer it gives to a question of yours."

I have heard of the term literary masturbation a few times before but I never really understood it until I read Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities. Maybe this is what people refer to when they say “writing for writing’s sake.”

Beautiful, melodic prose. Wonderful weaving of words. A melee of metaphysical metaphors. Dizzying, dazzling details. Vivid imagery....

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Community:
  • Rated 4.29064 stars
Amazon:
  • Rated 4.5 stars
 

Newest Comments

  • Mirko B

    mirko b said:

    Oh, I will try to find it-thanks for the tip! And you should read Kazuo Okakura's Book of Tea, which is also very,very poetic!

    posted Friday, November 16 2007
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