INVISIBLE CITIES XXVI -- Chapter 3, ..... 2

1. The ending italicized section of Chapter 3 is less exposition than it is a sharing of a city by the Khan rather than by Marco Polo.  Considering what we read in the opening italicized section, is there any difference between the book's cities by the one who experienced them or how (in this case, by a dream) they were experienced?
2. This issue of relative impartiality (if that even makes sense) seems reflected (sorry) by the concept of the city of Valdrada.  Thoughts?
3. The premise here of a city of departures, to me, comes over a little less gracefully than all the other cities, but I expect it's less for weak writing than it is for a characteristic ascribed to Marco Polo by Calvino.  What sort of person is the explorer?
4. The idea of a city that "knows only departures" is interesting, regardless of Polo's know-it-all identification.  Do such cities exist in reality or elsewhere in literature?

INVISIBLE CITIES XXV -- Cities and Eyes: VALDRADA

1. The fundamental idea behind Valdrada is fascinating to me: how would life be different if your actions were always before you, and how is this question different from the similar question (for those who are religious), "How would life be different if God weren't always watching?"  As far as I'm concerned, actions always before self and peers is very different from actions always before God.  Thoughts?
2. How do the two halves of Valdrada differ; why is it not a parallel city?
3. Can you think of examples when the reflection will increase the value of an action and examples of when it will diminish because of the reflection?

one more Escher; why not?

INVISIBLE CITIES XXIV -- Trading Cities: CHLOE

1. There's a language issue present in Chloe, very similar to that of Hypatia, inasmuch as words and expectations have practically nothing to do with signs or the reality containing them.  Thoughts?
2. Is Chloe a virtual world?  Where does Chloe exist, especially concerning the all-cities-are-one?  Heck, even this: is Chloe science fiction?
3. If this is a city of commerce, a "trading city," what is the merchandise?  Where is everybody going when they pass each other on the street and "all combinations are used up" in their minds?
4. Regardless of the lack of physical contact, is this indeed a chaste city, let alone "the most chaste of cities"?

from here

INVISIBLE CITIES XXIII -- Thin Cities: ARMILLA

1. There is a semi-recurring theme of water, fountains, pipes, wells and windlasses, and the like.  Thoughts?
2. "Lavabo" is a great word, isn't it?
3. If all the cities are just a million impressions or vantages of the same city, what is the point from which Armilla is being viewed?
4. Contrast Armilla to Hypatia regarding Polo's proximity to them.  For example, Armilla: "In the morning you hear them singing" connotes, to me anyway, distance, as opposed to Polo's extended residency in Hypatia.
5. Is there a difference, fundamentally (and perhaps perspective is a required component to this answer), between a city destroyed and a city unfinished?

INVISIBLE CITIES XXII -- Cities and Signs: HYPATIA

"I realized I had to free myself from the images which in the past had announced to me the things I sought: only then would I succeed in understanding the language of Hypatia."  So what, then, is the language of Hypatia--or better, how is it nothing like our language in its regard to signs (signs being the referents of our words) --or best, what is the relationship between signs and the mind's expectations?  So then, if "there is no language without deceit," how does one communicate, and is the language of Hypatia actually any different from our languages anyway?

The real question here (because the first is just another of the countless un-answerables really) is what makes this place so attractive or comfortable that Polo apparently doesn't want to leave--at least not any time soon?

INVISIBLE CITIES XXI -- Cities and Desire: ZOBEIDE

(Zobeide -- perhaps from the Arabic "Zubaida," a female name for "elite" or "prime")

1. Smacks a bit of Christopher Nolan's Inception, doesn't it--this dream sharing?
2. What is Calvino getting at when he describes the city as having forgotten the dream of its ... err ... inception?
3. The later men who had shared the dream of the running woman: did they have the dream and seek out the city, or did they stumble upon the city coincidentally?
4. Why is the city so ugly?

M.C. Escher -- again

INVISIBLE CITIES XX -- Chapter 3, ..... 1

1. Kublai Khan notices that all of the cities are similar.  Really?  They all seem remarkably different to me--at least superficially.  How are they (here we go) perhaps even all the same city?  What evidence is there here at the opening of chapter 3 that this is so?
2. What then is the difference--if different at all--between Marco's various accounts (of the same or different city/ies) and what Kublai does when giving details and asking if there is such a city?
3. Now tie this into dreams.

M.C. Escher