Invisible Cities Memory, Symbolism, and Narrative Space

This academic paper analyzes Italo Calvino's Invisible Cities through the lens of spatial imagination, focusing on the interplay of memory, symbols, and narrative. The author examines how the dialogue between Kublai Khan and Marco Polo constructs urban spaces and imperial visions within the text. By drawing on theories of space and memory, the study investigates how these imagined cities, narrated by a foreign traveler and perceived by an emperor, shape cultural and historical understandings of empire and urban life. Furthermore, the paper considers how the fluid and abstract nature of these fictional cities relates to real-world social and cultural contexts.