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Modern Italy
Journal of Modern Italian Studies
RIVISTA DI STUDI ITALIANI
Anno XXI , n° 2, Dicembre 2003 ( Contributi ) pag. 121-133
A STRUCTURE FOR MULTIPLICITY:
INVISIBLE CITIES AND NORTHROP FRYE'S ANATOMY OF CRITICISM
JENA HABEGGER-CONTI
University of Toronto
Toronto, Ontario
Since its publication in 1972 Invisible Cities has fascinated critics with its esoteric system of numbering and organizing cities throughout the book's nine chapters. Most have represented the text as a diamond, or crystal, structure by ordering the cities according to their numbered titles
("Cities and Memory. 1". through to "Cities and Memory. 5". ), while others have placed the chapters along one axis and the city numbers along another to demonstrate a dual movement from beginning to end1. We can assume that Calvino would not have minded so many varying interpretations of his novel, because, in his own words, "crystals have facets and axes of rotation with different properties, and light is refracted differently according to how these [ ] crystals are placed, and how the polarizing surfaces are cut and superimposed ("Philosophy and Literature", p. 40)".
Even so, a comprehensive analysis of both the text's ideology and an interpretation of its 5-1 system of numeration has yet to be achieved. In an attempt to shed light on yet another side of the crystalline structure of Invisible Cities this essay will provide a perspective which incorporates both the text and its structure by examining Invisible Cities in relation to Northrop Frye's Anatomy of Criticism.
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