Invisible Cities is loaded with literal and figurative
depictions that help understand the cities and their meaning. One
representation that Calvino has frequently used is women, bathing or naked, in
the cities. The women never really interact with Marco Polo or the travelers,
they just pose there as an attractive object. In Diomira women cry “ooh,” out
loud, while in Anastasia they just tempt the men to bathe with them. Marco Polo
wishes to fin women everywhere, in Hypatia he expected to see women in a
wonderful river but he finds people committing suicide instead. The wonder of
Isadora is that when a man is with two women, a third always appears.
Maybe it’s just my
rather feminist point of view, but the author’s symbols or metaphors are too
chauvinist for the year they were written. I do disagree with the way Calvino portrays themes like desire in the
book, using a chauvinist tool. This made me question whether one should be able
to question the author. I don’t like the way the author portrays women but I’m
not sure if I can judge that. This made me wonder if art can show unfair or
offensive things that shouldn’t happen in society. I guess that an artist or an
author can express their thoughts in the way they want and not be offensive as
long as it does not contradict that much with what we think.
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