Shuffle and Repeat

Italo Calvino lays down patterns every which way. The most general one is a pattern of repetition. The cities Marco Polo visits are categorized under the same constant groups. These are cities and memory, cities and desire, cities and signs, thin cities, trading cities, cities and eyes, cities and names, cities and the dead, cities and the sky, continuous cities and hidden cities. The curious aspect is that different observations can be made about each category. The readers can observe that all cities placed in a certain category deal with the same topic or they can also say that each category leads to the next. One city that is placed in the category cities and memories discusses how, “in the square there is the wall where the old men sit and watch the young go by...[here] desires are already memories.” (p.8) What was once a desire has morphed into a memory, bringing the story to the next category, cities and desires. Of course the order doesn't necessarily have to be in this way, in fact it can easily be cities and desires and then cities and memories. Yet, the order is arbitrary in their relationship, since it mainly consists of a connection that lets the two blend into one another, and as a result shuffling them does no harm.

So these cities clearly follow a certain type of morphing pattern. Yet, how does this add to the overall understanding of this book? I still believe that the cities combine to form a representation of all the knowledge gained through a lifetime. Therefore, the way in which they're organized represents the main components found within experiences. These include memories, desires, signs, names, deaths, beliefs and ideas. For example in the section cities and the sky it talks about a common perception that refers to heaven and hell. “Suspended in the heavens, there exists another Beersheba, where the city’s most elevated virtues and sentiments are poised, and that if the terrestrial Beersheba will take the celestial one as its model the two cities will become one…they also believe…that another Beersheba exists underground, the receptacle to them, and it is their constant care to erase from the visible Beersheba every tie or resemblance to the lower twin.”(p.111) This idea of mirroring “heaven” and repelling “hell” is a common idea that even when it doesn’t pertain necessarily to religion, it does bring up the human judgment of good versus evil.

Marco Polo goes on to explain, “It is true that the city is accompanied by two projections of itself, one celestial and one infernal; but the citizens are mistaken about their consistency.”(p.112) The theory and idea of heaven and hell is completely valid, however it’s impossible to say with complete certainty what exactly heaven and hell are. Like any other notion, it is simply an idea. Valid for its existence, but many times cannot be fully validated because it’s an opinion not a provable fact.

The categories go on in this fashion, providing many ideas and themes that are pertinent to life. Inspecting them and explaining them through the situations brought up in each city. The ideas and general patterns are reiterated so often that they seem to be on repeat, possibly in an effort to establish each broad notion.