We started of todays class with the novel ‘ THE INVISIBLE CITIES’. by ITALO CALVINO
We started with an activity wherein we were divided in groups and were given certain topics we had to make a chart sheet with the research we had done on our topic and explain it to the class for a better understanding and introduction of the book.
The topic that me and my group got was to research and state the ideologies behind the author, like explain what was the driving force behind writing this book, this story and how it related.
Similarly other groups got different topics like the timeline of the book and the author, the writing style he has used for this book, the beliefs he had behind writing this book, the early life of the author etc.
So as our topic was about the ideology of the author, we first researched about the author who is was ITALO CALVINO, we tried to find how he was as a person, then understand, his life and then understand what was the ideology and driving force behind the book.
We found out that he was an Italian author who was very imaginative and many of his past experiences led him to write about his books. Calvino started his works in agriculture first and later on developed interest in theatres, drama, fiction, poetry etc.
Calvino was an aethist and a non-religious person, he was exempted from the religious classes but frequently was asked to justify his anti-conformism to his fellow people and janitors
Ideology behind the book :
Invisible city deconstructs an eg of the travel literature genre. The travels of Marco polo which depicts the journey of the famed venetian merchant across Asia and Mongol empire China. Calvino’s novel briefs about the fantastic accounts of the city’s polo claimed to have travelled and whatever religious tales polo had heard about the region.
And later we categorized the ideology according to the structure of the book:
Over the 9 chapters Marco describes a total of 55 cities all named after women which had a particular meaning in common.
According to me the book written by Calvino can be in literal sense the truth or facts provided by Polo, or it can also have an imaginary take where the author himself imagines the cities to be like he has described in the book, it can be based on what he wants it to be.
This was about todays class and what I have understood or assumed the book to be based on what we discussed in class.
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