Invisible Cities

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.