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A review by gothhotel
Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino
4.0
Well, it’s very insightful. I can see why it’s considered a classic and that there is a lot to dig into here, but it’s not one of those classics that really pulled me in on its own terms. I’d read a section and be like, “Huh, neat” or “Cool” and then walk away. There’s something to be said for a book you can meditate on in pieces. Lots of it is elegant, even quotable. “Desires are already memories.” “Futures not achieved are only branches of the past.” It’s good shit and at times even moving as it makes its point - “Perhaps I am afraid of losing Venice all at once e, if I speak of it.”
But I find that concentrated doses of postmodern philosophization can have a, um, soporific effect. Like listening to a sage speak in riddles, you don’t want to do it all day. And hey, I’m on the go, I want a book I can take with me or that can take me somewhere. And I don’t care to devote the necessary brain power to figure out if the rich orientalist fantasy here is subversive or just an indulgent setting for the philosophical games. So, I fold.
But I find that concentrated doses of postmodern philosophization can have a, um, soporific effect. Like listening to a sage speak in riddles, you don’t want to do it all day. And hey, I’m on the go, I want a book I can take with me or that can take me somewhere. And I don’t care to devote the necessary brain power to figure out if the rich orientalist fantasy here is subversive or just an indulgent setting for the philosophical games. So, I fold.