Number Play

A strange and fantastic book, Invisible Cities, by the superb Italo Calvino is a dialogue between its only two characters: Kublai Khan and Marco Polo, the latter narrates the stories of the invisible cities to the first. In fact the book lacks any sort of plot line or beginning. Meaning you can actually read the book in which ever order you like and achieve a comprehensible story with different meanings each. 

In the prologue of the "first chapter" if it could be called so, Calvino sets us as part of the book, by referring to us as emperors conquering various territories. "In the lives of emperors there is a moment which follows pride...obscure kings that beseech our army’s protection...it is the desperate moment when we discover that this empire, which had seemed to us the sum of all wonders, is an endless, formless ruin.” (PG. 5) Marco Polo will try to dialogue with us the whole book, implant his talks with Khan as information in our head.   

Through a cautious close reading we preformed in class we were able to understand the meaning of this prologue and the whole set up of the book. Calvino as said before gives us the prestige of emperors, with many territories. The emperors being us and the land we take over being the knowledge there is out there. The problem is “that the triumph over enemy sovereigns has made us the heirs of their long undoing” (PG.5), the land you just acquired has already been known by another person yet they did not use it wisely. Upon that, the emperor that has just been kicked out in a few years will forget his land. And while you expand and “win” more knowledge you would leave the other things behind. Not having the time to appreciate each territory correctly.

Calvino also plays with the way his book is assembled. It was previously mentioned that you could read this book any way you liked to. Calvino is offering you the knowledge, the book. After the information is given to you it is your call on how you interpret it. There will be a different outcome from each path taken, and each person will receive a different message.

 Each of the fifty-five cities described in the book have a number. The way Calvino organized the book, the first chapter is the only one in which the chapter begins with the number one. Then continuously the number increases and then decreases back to one again and there are no number fives which are included in every chapter there forward(1,2,1,3,2,1,4,3,2,1). From the second chapter up to chapter eight all the chapters will begin with the number five and descend to number one (5,4,3,2,1). Number nine has a different pattern it decreases in an inverse way than chapter one did. Starting at five and finally reaching five again (5,4,3,2,5,4,3,5,4,5) strangely never having a one. I still have no comprehension of what role this number play plays in the book.

Lastly this book as I skim through it before I begin to read it, it seems as short stories of different cities, that might have nothing to do with each other. That we will have to see.