Invisible Cities

Before Marco Polo learns Kublai Khan’s language, he spreads out items like helmets, seashells, and fans in a certain order on the black and white tile floor surrounding Kublai’s throne. Kublai is a skilled chess player, and he understands that moving the items around in certain ways represents a system that tells him about his empire. He reasons that each city is like a game of chess, and when he learns the rules, he’ll possess his empire—even if he doesn’t know all the cities. The narrator notes that it’s actually useless for Marco to use his special items; he could do exactly the same thing with a chessboard and chess pieces by assigning the pieces specific meanings.

Marco returns from a mission and finds Kublai waiting for him at the chessboard. Kublai instructs him to describe cities using the huge ivory chess pieces. Marco does so successfully, which makes Kublai look for order and reason in how cities rise, adapt, and fall. He sometimes thinks he’s going to discover a system that underlies the many ruinous events, but the system of chess is the most straightforward. He stops sending Marco on journeys, and they play chess instead. Kublai knows that the chessboard holds the key to understanding the cities. He begins to wonder what the purpose of the game is, since he wins or loses but the square under the disembodied king remains.

Cities and Names. 5. A person can see Irene from the plateau at dusk. Hermits, shepherds, and travelers all look down at the lights coming on and listen, depending on the time of year, to firecrackers, music, or guns. They wonder if Irene is pleasant or not, though none of them want to visit on account of the bad roads. Kublai Khan asks Marco Polo to tell him what Irene is like inside, but Marco can’t: he’s never been there, and visiting Irene would turn it into a different city. Irene is one thing for people who pass by and something different for those who never leave it. It’s a different city for the first-time visitor and for the person leaving it for the last time. Marco says that each version of the city deserves its own name and it’s possible he already described Irene.

Cities and the Dead. 4. Argia is made of earth, not air. The streets and houses are filled with dirt. Nobody knows if the residents can move around, since the dampness is unhealthy for people. From above, it’s impossible to see Argia—travelers must believe those who say it’s there. Sometimes, if a traveler puts their ear to the ground, they can hear a door slam.

Cities and the Sky. 3. Upon arriving in Thekla, a person will find scaffolding, armatures, and catwalks. If the traveler asks why it’s taking so long to build Thekla, the inhabitants will answer that it’s so that the city can’t begin to fall. If the traveler then asks if they’re afraid that the city will fall to pieces, inhabitants reply that it won’t just be the city that disintegrates. Frustrated travelers ask what the point is of building a city unless it’s a city and ask where the plans are. At the end of the working day, the inhabitants point to the starry sky as their blueprint.

Continuous Cities. 2. Marco Polo says that if he hadn’t seen the sign announcing he arrived in Trude, he would’ve assumed he was still in the airport from which he departed. The suburbs in Trude were the same, the downtown was the same, and he already knew his hotel and the conversations he’d have with people. He wanted to leave immediately, reasoning that there’s no point in being there. People told Marco that he could get back on a plane, but that he’d arrive at another Trude—the world is covered by an unending Trude; just the airport names change.

Hidden Cities. 1. In Olinda, it’s possible to go out with a magnifying glass and find a tiny point that reveals elements of the city. This point isn’t stationary; rather, a year later, it’s the size of a lemon and eventually, it becomes a new city within the old one. Olinda isn’t the only city that grows in concentric circles, but in most others the center remains static. In Olinda, the old parts of the city get pushed out and surround the new parts, while new parts also grow on the city’s edges. All of this surrounds the heart of Olinda, which contains the lifeblood of all the Olindas that already exist and all the Olindas yet to come.

Kublai Khan continues to contemplate the point of playing chess. Marco Polo interrupts and notes that the board is made of ebony and maple. He motions to the square that Kublai is contemplating and says that the tree was cut in a year of drought. Kublai is surprised to learn that Marco is fluent in his language, but he’s in awe of Marco’s story. Marco points to a spot that may have been the nest of larvae, and another spot where the wood carver scored the edge. Kublai feels overwhelmed by how many things Marco can read in the wood of the chessboard. Marco talks of ebony forests, rafts heavy with wood, and women in windows.