Invisible Cities

Fifty-five fictional cities, each described in beautiful detail - each with a woman's name... 

In Invisible Cities Marco Polo conjures up cities of magical times for his host, the Chinese ruler Kublai Khan, but gradually it becomes clear that he is actually describing one city: Venice. As Gore Vidal wrote 'Of all tasks, describing the contents of a book is the most difficult and in the case of a marvellous invention like Invisible Cities, perfectly irrelevant.' 

This is a captivating meditation on culture, language, time, memory and the nature of human experience. 

Italo Calvino was born in Cuba in 1923 and grew up in Italy. He was an essayist and journalist and a member of the editorial staff of Einaudi in Turin. One of the most respected writers of the twentieth century, his best-known works of fiction include Invisible Cities, If on a Winter's Night a Traveller, Marcovaldo and Mr Palomar. In 1973 he won the prestigious Premio Feltrinelli. He died in 1985. A collection of Calvino's posthumous personal writings, The Hermit in Paris, was published in 2003. 

• Dimensions 19.8 x 12.9 x 1.1 cm
• Author Italo Calvino
• ISBN 9780099429838
• Publisher Vintage Publishing
• No of pages 160