Writing and Reflecting on the Imagination of the City – Interpretation of Calvino’s Invisible Cities

Abstract

Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino is a novel that depicts an imaginary city, explores the appearance of an ideal city, and ponders over modern urban problems. He used the dialogue between Marco Polo and Kublai Khan to write his imaginary city in a light tone. He skillfully constructed fifty-five different cities and described them from different specific angles, and the characteristics of each city represent a certain aspect of the city concept. People see the modern city in the imaginary city he has constructed and gradually reflect on the nature of the city.