46 pages 1 hour read

Italo Calvino

Invisible Cities

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1972

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Symbols & Motifs

Maps and Chess Games

Kublai Khan’s maps and chess sets are a motif that demonstrates his attempt to control the lands he has conquered by trying out ruling strategies from a distance. One of Khan’s atlases depicts “the terrestrial globe all at once and continent by continent, the borders of the most distant realms, the ships’ routes […] the maps of the most illustrious metropolises and of the most opulent ports” (124). In addition to giving an exhaustive account of the world known at the historic time of Polo and Khan’s meeting, it also shows cities of future civilizations “which neither Marco nor the geographers know exist” (124). Still, Polo opines that Khan’s atlas “preserves the differences intact,” which runs counter to experience of travel, whereby “differences are lost: each city takes to resembling other cities,” and their significance and hierarchy shifts in a cloud-like manner (124). The theoretical nature of the map is a metaphor for Khan’s empire and for the centralizing forces that would seek to control meaning. Instead, Polo’s journey makes nonsense of the empirical quest to define lands and borders.

While maps are a symbol of Khan’s wish to gauge the extent of his territory, the game of chess, with its pieces representative of courtiers and intricate rules, indicates his desire to find a formula for ruling.

Related Titles

By Italo Calvino

Plot Summary

logo

Cosmicomics

Italo Calvino

Cosmicomics

Italo Calvino

Study Guide

logo

If on a Winter's Night a Traveler

Italo Calvino

If on a Winter's Night a Traveler

Italo Calvino

Plot Summary

logo

Six Memos for the Next Millennium

Italo Calvino

Six Memos for the Next Millennium

Italo Calvino

Plot Summary

logo

The Baron in the Trees

Italo Calvino

The Baron in the Trees

Italo Calvino

Plot Summary

logo

The Cloven Viscount

Italo Calvino

The Cloven Viscount

Italo Calvino

Study Guide

logo

The Nonexistent Knight

Italo Calvino

The Nonexistent Knight

Italo Calvino