Kublai Khan, the Tartar emperor, has more land than he can govern, and he asks the Venetian traveler Marco Polo to describe the cities in his realm. Marco responds with fifty-five brief portraits: a city built on stilts, a city of memories, a city where every visitor leaves with a different impression, one hidden under another. Italo Calvino writes them as parables, using the pair's conversations in the intervals to speak about empire, imagination, and the limits of language. The cities, he implies, are all aspects of a single place.
It is a good fit for readers who like poetic, structured prose, architecture, and travel writing that is not about travel. It works as a book to dip into.
Deep, contemplative, open-ended and thought-provoking; a moderate read.
Best for readers like The Literary Connoisseur. Which reader are you?
- Published
- 1996
- Publisher
- Mondadori
- ISBN
- 9788804425540
- Language
- IT
