I started the meeting with a general overview of the course and made distinctions between AP Literature and AP Language. Much of this information will be repeated during the first weeks of the school year, but it is all worth repeating. Generally, many of the skills of reading and argumentation which are covered in AP Language are transferable to this course, only because of the nature of the material that you will be reading, your general approach will need to be re-calibrated a bit. You will still be trying to make bold assertions, working on a polished and formal style of writing, and moving fluidly between analyzing the parts of a work of literature and the whole of it -- tying technique to meaning. The material, however, will often break with convention rather than use it, and it will also leave you on the doorstep of a deep, insoluble human problem rather than trying to convince you of the truth of one's position. It is not your job to solve the problem or smooth it over! Just make an assertion about how the writer explores this problem or reveals this problem in a unique way.
After talking briefly about the elements of the AP Literature test itself and the ways in which the class in not just a test-prep class, we got into the book. I asked the class to share their general impressions of the book, and many students were very honest and insightful about their impressions. One student immediately noted that she was captured by the book in the beginning but became a bit worn down by what seemed like repetition: often she found herself wondering where she had read something before and she couldn't differentiate much between the cities. Many students agreed with her. I then posed the question of whether or not this is deliberate on the part of the author. The question then is one of authorial control, which is always useful to ask: is the author actually in control of something that may seem like an accident to the reader? Some students defended the repetition as integral to the story by noting how certain motifs or patterns (inversions, dualities, etc.) and themes such as the deceptiveness of one's perception and the idea of regeneration are in line with repetition in the novel. Other students noted that the stories had a unique structure: the stories seem to be arranged according to their own general concerns (desire, fear, waste) and some stories seem to have a "base word," as one student called it, around which the city in the story organizes itself. One student noted simply and elegantly that the stories are just entertaining to read because they are so inventive and imaginative, regardless of whether or not one can make sense of them.
From here students each shared a small passage that they selected and said a few words about why they chose the passage. Students were to listen carefully for any connection to one of their own passages and to then share the connection and then their passage. The intent of the exercise is both to hear how and why students selected certain passages and to then examine the threads that connect each passage to get a sense of what the novel is up to. Here are some of the threads (conflicts) that emerged:
- is language invasive / harmful or illuminating?
- is memory to be trusted or is it an invention?
- is it more important to keep moving and exploring or to consolidate, conserve, set up boundaries?
- should one dwell on details or contemplate the whole of something?
- should one use experience to search for answers or simply take in experience for its own sake?
- how do we know what is real when everything is bound up in perception?
There is one thing that we did not get to. I wanted to discuss the language of the novel: it doesn't sound like a typical novel, so what is the actual language doing to achieve this effect and why? What's going on with the vocabulary, the syntax, the pacing or cadence of the sentences?
Thanks for reading, and I'll publish another post to prepare for the next meeting. *** If you could not make it to yesterday's meeting, please respond to some element of this post in the comment box below.*** You can disagree with something, extend the discussion, or introduce something wholly new. 100-200 words. Thanks again, Mr. Telles.
I agree that the repetition in the novel grew old fast, and while I do believe that it was a structural choice by the author, I wish it was different. I think that the point of the repetition was to drive in the idea that there were many cities, all of which were different in some aspects to reprove Polo's point to Khan that each city is important and different from the others. It grew tiresome, but the novel had such lovely language, which made getting through it much easier.
ReplyDeleteWhen I first started reading “Invisible Cities”, I was very intrigued. The imagery and descriptions by Italo Calvino gave much detail that urged me to keep turning the pages. After the first couple sections of the novel, I did get bored of it. As soon as I would become interested in one of the cities and the description given, it would end. I felt as if the descriptions were not long enough to keep the reader engaged throughout the entire book. It was almost a disappointment each time I started reading about a new city. By the middle of the book, I was pretty bored with the repetition, as you mentioned. It seemed like there was a lack of plot, which causes the reader to lose interest. Although there were many dull and repetitive pieces in the novel, I overall enjoyed it because of the vivid language, imagery, and description that Italo Calvino used throughout the entire story.
ReplyDeleteA major part of the book was the conflict between focusing on the past and moving on, which was addressed in some of the threads. Marco Polo could not think about any of the other cities he encountered on his travels because he was still trying to figure Venice out. This somewhat annoyed Kublai Khan, who wanted to hear about other places as well. I think that it is important to keep going but only if you have an understanding of what you have been through. I believe that the author structured the book in a way so that the reader was faced with a similar dilemma. Many of the stories sounded repetitive and it was easy to get lost. While reading, I would often finish a passage and not know what I had just read. I was tempted to push forward, but I realized that having a better understanding of the story would be more beneficial. I took the Marco Polo approach over the Kublai Khan, and it worked for me. I would not have had a strong understanding of the novel as a whole if I had not dwelled on the details.
ReplyDeleteHello sorry for the delay; my internet was feeling a little down yesterday.
ReplyDeleteAbout the syntax… Most of the novel takes place in the form of descriptions of particular cities as one might find in a travel guide of sorts- in other words, it contained no plot or conflict etc. which would usually be taken for granted in a novel. This is not any novel but a novel novel. In fact my observations have yielded no sign of novelness other than the occasional conversations taking place between the wayfarer and the emperor reclining on his imperial hammock. Though Polo claims to have seen for himself and can thereby attest to its validity, it is hard to believe all that is said about the cities. At least, he has not made the journeys himself. For example, in one of the CITIES AND THE DEAD sections he talks of the generations of citizens in a particular city and how each subsequent generation takes the role of those that can no longer carry out their roles because they’re dead. Polo would had to have stayed for multiple generations to know this. Although when speaking to Khan Polo says “Sire” or some other pronoun in 2nd person the entire descriptions take place in the first. What is more, the Khan is referred to as “the Great Khan” as if the speaker didn’t know him. Polo never addresses him by name. And I had something else but it slipped my mind while typing and this is over 100 words anyways
This is <3Seiken Okada<3 by the way
DeleteMost novels are centered around a single character, or protagonist. The book will detail the actions and experiences of this one character, keeping the book essentially anchored in one point. Invisible Cities could almost be said to have a protagonist in Marco Polo, but this implication has little support. Polo's descriptions do not speak directly to his experiences, but rather the overall nature of each place. The cities are the true characters in the novel, each with their own traits, appearances, and beliefs. Invisible Cities is a peculiar book because it lacks any real plot. The common themes between the cities, or "characters", are what keep the novel together.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the student who thought that all of the cities seemed to blend together at one point in the book, so much so that it was difficult to decipher which was which. There were so many different cities, and many of them had aspects in common, as indicated by the passage titles. I believe that this was Calvino’s intention. Throughout the whole of the book, it seemed to me that Polo was much less amazed by the cities than Kublai was. Due to the fact that he had seen these cities for himself and experienced them, he is not able to romanticize them and make them into something they’re not, unlike Kublai, who had never visited the cities. The fact that all the cities seemed to meld together suggested that Polo saw more similarities in the cities than he did differences. This is also evident due to the fact that he uses impersonal language while describing the cities. He remains objective as he shares his experiences with Kublai, and it often seems as if he is not even in the cities at all, but observing them from afar.
ReplyDeleteThe language used in the novel, Invisible Cities, was different from a typical novel. This may be because of the obvious reason, the book has no plot, so therefore it cannot be written with the same styles of regular novels that do contain a plot. It also could be because the book was translated from Italian, and it could have lost some of its context in translation making the language seem a little odd. While reading the book, the frequently used word inhabitants bothered me. I didn’t know if Italo Calvini chose the word inhabitants instead of using a word like citizen or if the word he used directly translated to inhabitants but could mean something else Italian. Though having no plot and being translated could be what causes Invisible Cities to be different from other novels, I believe that Italo Calvini may have made a choice to make him novel seem different on purpose. He may have wanted his readers to notice the difference and feel compelled to reader deeper into the book to find a reason. Calvini may have just wanted to capture the readers attention with his different language.
ReplyDeleteBefore I even read the book I was told that it was really boring and wasn’t the best book out there. As I started to read the first page, I tried to put other opinions aside and enjoy the book. The first couple chapters really kept me awake, and I actually was enjoying my read. As the book continued I became confused, since every city that was being torn apart in one way or another was actually similar. It seemed that every description was the same. The descriptions did change due to each different city, but the reality of it was steady. The question if memory should be trusted is actually interesting. As Khan is reviewing Polo’s writing the effect of the beauty and individuality of each city is there, but if you took away the names, eventually you wouldn't be able to tell the difference between each. It was as if he dwelled on one certain memory and spread it across several making it believable. As I got into the book I realized there was actually no plot being followed; it was just a bunch of descriptions and opinions thrown onto pages. Throughout the book my attention faded here and there, but overall I sort of enjoyed it. Reading little passages about different cities and history was actually cool.
ReplyDeleteAdding on to what the student had to say, as the book got further and further into the cities, I also had a tough time deciding which description matched which city. The chapters became almost redundant and it made it hard to sit and concentrate on one book. Marco Polo was very descriptive with his imagery, and although set the scene for the countless cities described, I still got a sense that the cities began to blur into one. I did like how I took into my own perception how Marco Polo and Kublai Khan needed each other just as the stones and the bridge needed each other, and it became made me understand Marco’s stories in a different way. I do believe Italo Calvino created the book this way, so that we felt the same repetition Kublai Khan felt when being recited the stories. I believe if Calvino added more distinctive description with less cities to focus on, the feedback towards the book wouldn’t be as negative, it would encourage more people to read!
ReplyDeleteTo extend the discussion of repetition in this book, my personal opinion is that the author deliberately wrote about the cities so that they might all merge into one in the reader's mind. I do not see the use of repetition as boring so much as, for a lack of a better word, a sort of hypnosis. Reading about city after city, one's mind seems to be lulled into a sort of rhythm, which I believe was very purposefully strategized by the author. The type of trance that this book puts the reader in is very similar to the type of trance that I feel life can put on people sometimes. Day after day, when only little things are changing, it is hard to look back and differentiate one day from the next. Did that particular event happen on a Tuesday or a Wednesday...or was it actually a Thursday? The book Invisible Cities is a useful tool in pointing out the flaws in the human memory. When you pile too much information on our minds that has too much in common, we have trouble keeping all the parts separate. The brain wants to mush it all together. It organizes by association, not so much chronologically. It would be hard for me to tell you the order in which the cities were described in the book. However, if you asked me to describe the cities under each of the categories, I would have much greater success. It is for this reason that I believe Calvino decided to label the cities under certain categories. Knowing full well that his reader's minds would want to combine the cities together, he let certain motifs drift through the description of certain cities so that when we recall them from our memory, we might associate one with the other as the author desired.
ReplyDeleteCalvino focuses on peoples memories in his book and shows this through out the entire text In a few posts, people have already stated how the cities seemed to blend together as they read them and differentiation became difficult. But you aren’t supposed to be able to differentiate between the cities. The whole purpose wasn’t to track the individual cities and their unique attributes but the role that they played in Marco Polo’s memories. Instead of looking at the cities as the cogs in a machine, you are meant to look at the machine. This plays on the idea that memories are unique to each person. The Great Khan actually mentions, “ ‘…So then, yours is truly a journey through memory!’” (Calvino 98) which alludes to Polo searching through his memories and instead of speaking of the journey he physically took, the journey he is taking through his memories. To clarify, each city represents a memory within the city, then the next city talked about has an underlying connection to the previous city. This continues until the cities become a stream of consciousness that Polo is telling the Khan of and becomes a journey.
ReplyDelete"Invisible Cities" is a book about perception. Marco Polo looks out onto Kublai's world with fresh eyes full of amazement. Kublai Khan looks on his world through the tales and charades of the bold explorer. This in turn becomes conflict in the mind of the Khan who at one point questions Polo. This all falls back on Kublai's second-hand perception and how it relates to the trust in his and Marco's relationship.
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