| Invisible Cities Contributor(s): Calvino, Italo (Author) |
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ISBN: 0156453800 ISBN-13: 9780156453806 Publisher: Mariner Books OUR PRICE: $17.09 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: May 1978 Annotation: Imaginary conversations between Marco Polo and his host, the Chinese ruler Kublai Khan, conjure up cities of magical times. " Of all tasks, describing the contents of a book is the most difficult and in the case of a marvelous invention like Invisible Cities, perfectly irrelevant" (Gore Vidal). Translated by William Weaver. A Helen and Kurt Wolff Book |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Fiction | Classics - Fiction | Historical - General - Fiction | Action & Adventure |
| Dewey: FIC |
| LCCN: 77016002 |
| Lexile Measure: 1290 |
| Series: Harvest/HBJ Book |
| Physical Information: 0.47" H x 5.43" W x 8.01" (0.39 lbs) 176 pages |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: "Cities, like dreams, are made of desires and fears, even if the thread of their discourse is secret, their rules are absurd, their perspectives deceitful, and everything conceals something else." -- from Invisible Cities In a garden sit the aged Kublai Khan and the young Marco Polo -- Mongol emperor and Venetian traveler. Kublai Khan has sensed the end of his empire coming soon. Marco Polo diverts his host with stories of the cities he has seen in his travels around the empire: cities and memory, cities and desire, cities and designs, cities and the dead, cities and the sky, trading cities, hidden cities. As Marco Polo unspools his tales, the emperor detects these fantastic places are more than they appear. "Invisible Cities changed the way we read and what is possible in the balance between poetry and prose . . . The book I would choose as pillow and plate, alone on a desert island." -- Jeanette Winterson |
Contributor Bio(s): Calvino, Italo: - ITALO CALVINO (1923-1985) attained worldwide renown as one of the twentieth century's greatest storytellers. Born in Cuba, he was raised in San Remo, Italy, and later lived in Turin, Paris, Rome, and elsewhere. Among his many works are Invisible Cities, If on a winter's night a traveler, The Baron in the Trees, and other novels, as well as numerous collections of fiction, folktales, criticism, and essays. His works have been translated into dozens of languages. |