Italo Calvino, Le città invisibili [Invisible Cities]

Michael Sean Bolton (Independent Scholar - North America)

Ed. by Jo Ann Cavallo, Columbia University
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.6.1: Italian Writing and Culture, 453-present.
Vol. editors: Carla Bregman (Independent Scholar - North America), Jo Ann Cavallo (Columbia University)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1972

Places

Italy (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel

Resources

Published in 1972, Le città invisibli (translated into English in 1974 as Invisible Cities) stands as one of Italo Calvino’s most well-known as well as most ambitious works. For many critics, the meticulous structure of this work exemplifies the influence of the Oulipo literary movement on Calvino’s later writing, which emphasized experimentation with new and often constraining narrative structures. In this novel/poem/collection-of-vignettes, Calvino manages to apply a multi-tiered and refashioned storyteller format as a framing device for what is possibly his most non-traditional narrative work—a work that challenges distinctions between descriptive prose and poetry.

The narrative approach employed in …

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1226 words

Citation: Bolton, Michael Sean. "Le città invisibili". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 07 March 2014 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=28605, accessed 21 November 2024.]

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