>>8011269
Is it better than If on a winter's night a traveler? I expected to enjoy that one a lot more than I did.

>>8011277
wow I feel bad for you. that shit was choice man.

>>8011277
One can't compare them. If The Baron In The Trees is Calvino's most traditional novel, and Winter's Night is his most experimental novel, then Invisible Cities is his most... esoteric? I wouldn't even call it a novel. I sat down and read it as an actual account of Marco Polo's tales to Kublai, even though it's clearly not. Very philosophical. It's very much like Nietzsche's The Gay Science in how one reads it.

>>8011296
Maybe for you, but I didn't care for most of the stories. 'In a network of lines that enlace' (the one about the professor who hates answering phones) is really the only story I genuinely enjoyed, except for the main narrative, which was fun to piece together.

>>8011315
Interesting. I'll give Calvino another go.

>>8011269
Į thought If On a Winter's Night a Traveller was superior to Invisible Cities. It reminded me of a Borgesian Philip K. Dick with elements of Pale Fire in it. Iny opinion, the ideas expressed in Invisible Cities, as well as the story, are less interesting than those of If... Also many of the cities weren't that interesting either. Doesn't that I didn't like it, but I thought if was substantially better, even though some meta-reflections didn't have the desired effect.

>>8012161
Traveller was a more entertaining book but Cities was a more beautiful artwork.

>>8011277
i found invisible cities much more enjoyable than if on a winter's night a traveler. winter's night had a great concept, but many of the actual story fragments left me cold. whereas invisible cities had just as interesting an idea, but all the sketches of the fantastic cities were super cool and the dialogues between polo and the khan were great.

I liked Invisible Cities and If on a winter's night, then I started reading Marcovaldo and Cosmicomiche and they don't really do anything for me.