WRITTEN RESPONSE-Methods of translating —— Ken / Nov 14, 2024
In Invisible Cities, Calvino’s descriptions of each city are brief, similar in length, and without any sense of hierarchy or importance. Time and characters are absent, and there is no connection between the cities. The 18 dialogues and reflections are equally casual, neither following a chronological sequence nor a causal logic.
However, Calvino does not allow these pieces to scatter randomly. Instead, he organizes them according to specific rules, forming a cohesive and clear structure. The 55 chapters create a perfect crystalline structure, with the title forming a large diamond shape. Each chapter begins with a different title, and while the text may seem disjointed, it is, in fact, intricately arranged by the author into a clever composition.
On Spatial Imagination
The “crystal” narrative space: “Crystals” represents both Calvino’s creative philosophy and the unique structure of the novel. Invisible Cities minimizes plot, conflict, characters, and environment, simplifying redundant language and writing in a style that feels like prose yet also resembles a fable. Calvino consolidates various considerations, experiences, and hypotheses into a single image—the “crystal”—which symbolizes a stable and regular surface structure. The city’s image “has many facets like a crystal, each segment of text occupies one facet, with these facets connected but without causal or hierarchical relationships.” It is also like a web, where one can plot many different routes and arrive at numerous completely different answers. It represents the contradiction between the rationality of geometric shapes and the chaotic nature of human life. At the same time, it forms a complete structure where we inevitably find “a plot, a journey, a conclusion.”
Thus, I chose The Internet Does Not Exist as the material and, based on its critique and description of the Internet, reimagined 18 worlds. Each world represents a different facet of the Internet. Yet, these facets have no hierarchical relationship—they are equally and uniformly aligned with the “Internet” theme, just as the “crystal” is.
Leave a Reply