Women in the City

As I looked at the table of contents of Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino, I was deciding which way to read it. First I thought I wanted to be original, so I might as well not read it the conventional way. I decided to read all the number ones first then the number twos and so on. As I read I realized it would be better if I read all the cities with the same names first and thus it would be easier to see the patterns in each city that gave them their names.

While I was color-coding the chapters (yes, I color coded them) so that when I read it it was faster I, noticed two patterns. First, every name corresponds to five cities. Meaning there are five Cities and Memory, five Cities and eyes and so on. Second, all the cities are named after woman. For that I have not found an explanation, but I’m positive it will be something important.

For now what I really know is that women have an important role in the cities. Not only because their names are female names, but also because most of Marco Polo’s narrations have woman in their cities. For example the fifth City and Desire, Zobeide, was created because men of various places had the same dream. “They saw a women running at night through and unknown city; she was seen from behind, with long hair, and she was naked. They dreamed of perusing her. As they twisted and turned, each of them lost her.” (Pg. 45) To try and find her they created the city, each one adding a different detail from their dream. So in other words they basically created the city because of a woman. 

Another example is in the fourth Cities and Signs, Hypatia, “You have to go to the stables and riding rings to see the beautiful women who mount the saddle, thighs naked, greaves on their calves, and as soon as a young foreigner approaches, they fling him on the piles of hay or sawdust and press their firm nipples against him.” (Pg.48)

I believe this pattern with woman will be something important. For now I will keep on looking for more of these patterns and signs.