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Memories of a Paradoxical Explorer Italo Calvino was an Italian journalist and writer of short stories and novels. During World War II, Calvino refused to go to the military and went into hiding. During this time, he tried to embrace all of the terrible traumas that were taking place. In 1972, he published a novel named Invisible Cities. This novel scrutinizes the descriptions of various peculiar cities that were portrayed by an explorer named Marco Polo. These cities represent and help the reader to understand the horrors and catastrophes that occurred in World War II while delivering a reaction to the reader to help illustrate an image.
As human beings, many significant events happen in our lives.
The main argument made by Calvino is that by using literature to share his experiences, he achieved important things that lead him to reach his goal. According to an interview in The Paris Review, Calvino clarifies, “My formative years were the Second World War. In the years immediately following I tried to grasp the meaning of the terrible traumas I had lived through, especially the German occupation.” Calvino admits how his stories reflect the moments he had to go through.
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He states how writing about these cities had a practical effect on him and even though the process was slow, it was worth it. Calvino took his time and tried to embrace, without exception, the disastrous agony he had experienced. This can be related to how many writers burst out after World War II, since they possessed a story of their own that the world craved to perceive.
Like Calvino, many writers noted and shared their experiences on how World War II had affected their lives. These experiences were very valuable for those who wanted to find out more about what had occurred.
All truths are easy to understand and believe once they are discovered, but the key is to discover it first. The main argument made from Kublai Khan's perspective was that the way Marco Polo described the cities were paradoxical and open to doubt. But, usually human experiences are paradoxical. It was hard for Kublai Khan to believe Marco Polo since there was no evidence that these cities were real. Calvino writes, 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, that corruption's gangrene has spread too far to be healed by our scepter, that the triumph over enemy sovereigns has made us the heirs of their long undoing. (5).
Calvino portrays a sense of emptiness and hopelessness after receiving news that the city had been defeated over and over again. A sense that there was nothing else to do, but accept the fact that it had become a formless ruin and it was not the city they had once known. This can be related to how cities during World War II became powerless after a numerous amount of attacks.
It helps to portray a sense of melancholy that ran through many people after realizing how the city they had inhibited once for so long had been destroyed.
Often, people take for granted what they have. It is a common mistake that is learned when the significant object or person is no longer present. The main argument made by Calvino is that people often do not value what they have and when it is lost, they only think about what they have lost. Calvino states, “Elsewhere is a negative mirror. The traveler recognizes the little that is his, discovering the much he has not had and will never have.” (29). Calvino articulates how inhabitants cannot replace what they have lost, but should be thankful and value what is left.
It can be associated to the cities that were affected during World War II. Before the war, people had many places near them that they visited or wished to visit one day. Suddenly after the war, inhabitants were with nostalgia after realizing that all of this places had become history. Calvino states how without communication there is no history and the cities certainly die.
History is created by what people experience and if it is not communicated, it cannot be created. Previously, Calvino stated how cities can die if there is a lack of communication. But, in the city of Maurilia, it is said that keeping the past a mystery is better for the inhabitants as it avoids the nostalgia among the inhabitants. Calvino makes the case, “Beware of saying to them that sometimes different cities follow one another on the same site and under the same name, born and dying without knowing one another, without communication among themselves” (30).
In Maurilia, it is said that the visitor is allowed to come in and examine what is left of it with the condition that the visitor does not talk to its inhabitants about how it used to be. For its inhabitants to look back at what they have lost would cause an immense amount of grief, knowing that they had lost the little they had. Thus far, it would have the inhabitants thinking about how they can not recreate or replace the past memories that they had created. This can be associated to how some people decided to cope with their emotions during World War II. This group of people decided to put their emotions aside and be grateful for what they had left.
Grateful that they had not lost absolutely everything, but had something to still hold on to.
When losing a loved one, it is hard to survive the loss. The main argument established by Calvino is that after a person loses a loved one, he or she might as well feel as if a part of themselves had also died. Calvino writes, “You reach a moment in life when, among the people you have known, the dead outnumber the living. And the mind refuses to accept more faces, more expressions: on every new face you encounter, it prints the old forms, for each one it finds the most suitable mask.” (95). Calvino envisions Adelma as a city where you encounter death and find yourself in a mournful place. He expresses how when an individual arrives, he or she finds out how many people of those significant others are dead. The individual continues to search for familiar faces only to find out that there is none and everything she or he had left is gone. Calvino concludes that when someone dies it takes a part of you and leaves you dispirited and detached from the world. This can be compared to how during and after World War II, people sought their loved ones to only later find out they had ceased to exist.
A wise traveler never despises his own city. The main argue created by Calvino was that he created many cities but it was to emphasize the little details he appreciated from his hometown. Calvino contemplates, “Every time I describe a city I am saying something about Venice" (87). Calvino makes the case through one of his characters, Marco Polo, about how important Venice is to him and its meaning. Polo illustrates how no matter where he is destined to go, he always seems to see a part that reminds him of Venice. Therefore, all the cities portrayed Venice itself. Calvino utilizes Venice to explain his different point of perspectives, experiences, and memories that he holds. Each city represents different abstract perspectives and ideas that were specifically captivating to Calvino's point of view. His cities are not quite legitimate, but recalls a memory of Venice that he was attached to.
There are some people that after losing something they love, they become so afraid of loving anything else. Previously, Calvino was seeking his loved ones and trying to describe many other cities. Calvino overlooks how he was trying to describe Venice every time he portrayed a city. “Memory's images, once they are fixed in words., are erased. Perhaps I am afraid of losing Venice all at once, if I speak of it. Or, perhaps, speaking of other cities, I have already lost it, little by little.” (87). Polo critiques how Venice is taken for granted and how the events that took place there must be known before getting to know the other cities. He admits how hard it is to not omit any details. It is as if when something happens and every single detail is mentioned, suddenly the legitimate image disappears and a new one that words have just molded develop.
Marco Polo states how he had already experienced losing other cities by sharing his knowledge, and Venice is the city that he is most concerned about not losing. This can be associated with World War II. Many people testified what had happened and when it was time to share their insight soon their images started to fade away and mold into what the majority had thought they had seen. In the same way, Marco Polo was convinced that sharing his point of view on Venice would bring feedback back to him that would change his perspective. This can be compared to how during World War II, people felt demolished themselves by seeing what had been done to other cities and could be done to their own. Italo Calvino describes cities, in his novel Invisible Cities, that do not appear on a map.
He interprets his past experiences and evaluate his perspectives to create folktales. This novel analyzes the descriptions of many different cities that were illustrated by an explorer named Marco Polo. It is said that Calvino described Venice every time he created a new city. These cities embody and aid the reader to figure out the horrors and catastrophes that occurred in World War II while conveying a reaction to the reader to help illustrate an image.
An Analysis of the Novel Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino. (2022, Apr 13). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/an-analysis-of-the-novel-invisible-cities-by-italo-calvino-essay
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