Invisible Cities

by Italo Calvino

First published 2010

Polo, a Venetian explorer, recounts to Kublai Khan his travels through fantastical cities, each with its own peculiar architecture, customs, and people. As Polo spins his tales, the emperor grows increasingly transfixed, his empire slipping through his fingers. Yet the true journey is an internal one, as Polo and Khan grapple with the nature of reality, memory, and the human experience.

Genres: literary-fiction, 20th-century, adventure, fantasy

Vibes: atmospheric, intimate, thought-provoking

Tropes: unreliable-narrator

Setting: Venice

Period: 20th-Century

160 pages · Kindle Edition · Vintage Digital

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