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Chapter 4
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Invisible Cities, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Memory, Perception, and Experience
Storytelling, Interpretation, and Control
Cycles and Civilization
Modernity
Summary
Analysis
From the highest point of his palace, Kublai Khan watches his empire grow. However, the newly conquered territories house emaciated people and dry rivers. Kublai decides that the empire should grow within itself. Now, rivers flood and Kublai can see cities filled with wealth and traffic. He thinks that his empire is being crushed by its own weight. In his dreams, transparent cities appear. Kublai tells Marco Polo that last night, he dreamed of a city with spires built so that the moon can rest on them as it crosses the sky. Marco answers that the city is called Lalage and that its inhabitants built it that way so that the moon would grant the city the power to grow endlessly. Kublai adds that the moon, which is grateful, also granted Lalage the ability to grow in lightness.
The idea that Kublai’s empire is doing poorly in its furthest, newly conquered territories, as well as in its well-developed parts, takes issue with ideas of expansion and colonialism on one side and the existence of wealthy empires on the other—a situation that Kublai believes is untenable. Lalage is constructed in such a way as to suggest that its inhabitants are trying to mimic what, in theory, is the perfection of the skies and of the universe, while Kublai’s comment that Lalage can grow in lightness suggests that there’s something to gain from acknowledging powerful entities.
Themes
Thin Cities. 5. Marco Polo explains how Octavia was made. It sits over the void between two mountains, with ropes, chains, and catwalks. There’s nothing to see below. Under the city is a giant net. People in Octavia live less uncertainly than other people do. They know their net won’t last forever.
Trading Cities. 4. In Ersilia, people stretch strings between corners of houses to denote relationships of blood, trade, or authority. They leave when the strings become too thick to pass through, and leave only poles and the strings. Refugees look back; they’re still looking at Ersilia. They rebuild Ersilia in another place and stretch strings in a way that they hope is more complex and more regular than the last time. They continue to move from place to place. Travelers will come upon the ruins of these abandoned cities and be able to look at webs of relationships seeking a form.
When people move and rebuild Ersilia again and again, trying to make their relationships with their neighbors increasingly better, it suggests both that people are constantly seeking better and that it’s impossible to ever truly achieve anything better by doing this. Further, when the strings remain, it suggests that human connection is more solid than the cities where humans live. It’s possible to see how people connected with one another, even if the cities themselves are gone.
Themes
Cities and Eyes. 3. Baucis is a march of seven days through the woods. After those seven days, a traveler can’t see the city, but they’ve arrived. Slim stilts rise out of the ground, and the city exists above the clouds. Residents rarely come down. People believe several different things about Baucis—some believe the people there hate the earth, while others believe that they respect the earth so much that they avoid touching it. Others think that the people in Baucis love the earth as it was before they existed, so the people study it with telescopes and contemplate their own absence.
The final possibility of what goes on in Baucis mirrors people’s fascination with how humanity and civilization have changed the world. The people in Baucis are essentially doing what today’s archaeologists do and looking at the world as it once was before humans changed it. However, the tone of this passage also suggests that this is a selfish endeavor and, because of this, doesn’t do anyone much good.
Themes
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Cities and Names. 2. There are two types of tiny gods in Leandra. One kind, the Penates, follows families from house to house. The other, the Lares, belong to the houses themselves. The two types spend plenty of time together, commenting on family happenings and fighting. It’s impossible to tell them apart. Lares have seen numerous different Penates pass through, while Penates try to make places for themselves amongst snobby or distrustful Lares. Penates believe that they’re Leandra’s soul, no matter how new they are, while the Lares think of the Penates as temporary guests. Both types share a habit of criticizing things. Lares talk about the environment before it was ruined, while the Penates talk about families of the past. At night, it’s possible to hear them talking about the future.
The struggle and alliances between the Penates and the Lares can be read as a reflection of how people view immigration depending on whether they’re the immigrants (the Penates) or the natives of a country accepting immigrants (the Lares). Immigration is an important aspect of the modern world, but Calvino seems to suggest here that while there may be disagreement as to whether immigrants or natives are the true soul of a place, everyone still looks forward to the future just the same. In this sense, the ways that people divide themselves aren’t especially useful, given how similar Calvino suggests people are at their core.
Themes
Cities and the Dead. 1. Whenever someone enters the square in Melania, they get caught in a dialogue between a braggart soldier, a young wastrel, a prostitute, and an amorous daughter. If they return years later, they find that the dialogue is still going on. This is because Melania’s population constantly renews itself; as someone participating in the dialogue dies, someone is born to take their place. Things change, but the dialogue never pauses. Sometimes one person plays multiple roles; other times, thousands play one role. With time, the roles also change. It’s possible to notice that the dialogue changes, but Melania’s residents don’t live long enough to notice.
What goes on in Melania suggests that in the modern world, almost nothing changes. People play certain roles, those roles are always filled by someone, and the conversation never truly moves forward. This again suggests that the modern world is somewhat staid and stuck.
Themes
Marco Polo describes a bridge stone by stone for Kublai Khan. Kublai asks which stone supports the bridge, but Marco answers that there’s no one stone that supports the bridge. Rather, the arch, composed of rocks, supports the bridge. Kublai is silent and then asks why Marco is telling him about the stones, since he only cares about the arch. Marco answers that there’s no arch without the stones.
Each stone can be read as a representation of an individual person, while the bridge reflects all of humanity, made up of individual human beings. Kublai is looking for proof of his own importance by asking which stone is most important, while Marco suggests that no person is any more important than anyone else.
Themes
