`` Invisible Cities `` By Italo Calvino

This paper studies Yamashita’s Tropic of Orange as a magical realist text and examines the implications for such a style on the notion of the urban. Specifically, I will explore how Yamashita uses magical realism to collapse boundaries and socially transform Los Angeles into an embattled utopia for the disenfranchised. First, however, magical realism is a loaded term and some definitions are in order. In addition to important recent innovations in the form and its purposes, magical realism is in dialogue with a longer history of writing, including the epic, chivalric traditions, Greek pastoral, medieval dream visions, romantic traditions and Gothic fictions, all of which contribute a fantastic strain to

“Crocicchio” by Ardengo Soffici is a poem written in the era of the historic avant-garde in which Italy was facing a technological revolution; railways, cars and trams were all being transformed and as such the country saw a rise in the Italian Futurist movement. This movement praised all things modern by exploring new forms and technologies, treating them as a spectacle to be revered. The influence of these futuristic ideologies is clear in Crocicchio as Soffici paints a series of pictures of city life characterised by the chaos and activity which he experiences in his passing.

Everyday Marco's father asks him to recall what he saw on his way home from school, hoping to get a truthful account of what he saw. Driven by the desire to tell a story that no one could beat, he looked for something fascinating that took place on Mulberry street. Unfortunately, the only thing of interest was a horse and a wagon and he simply can't help but let his mind wander. Marco tries his best to create a better story: “That can't be my story. That's only a start. I'll say that a ZEBRA was pulling that cart! (p. 4). And to think that I saw it on Mulberry Street is a book about imagination. Marco fantasizes in order to escape the mundane and to make life more interesting.

To begin, in the first part of the story, a city called Omelas and its inhabitants are described as one happy community, but a negative connotation on the city and its people is implied as the story progresses.”They

The main idea of the article is the writing on Pompeii’s walls shows it was common for the people of the ancient city to express their reflections and experiences through graffiti on walls.

Even the name of the city translated into English means “very strange.” To introduce the city as barbaric and strange automatically induces a feeling that this place is unfamiliar, peculiar and full of bloodthirsty Arabians who will dismember body parts without reason. This stereotype is not just incorrect, but it draws a hard line between Eastern and Western culture, labelling the East as “the other” and thus

During the medieval times, Florence and Siena were wealthy cities. This prosperity was shown to the neighboring towns and citizens through the arts and architectures that ushered in the new Renaissance era. Florence was a much more popular area, with many large sights to view. Even so, Siena endured the challenge of not being engulfed in the shadow of Florence by perfecting its’ own charm and splendor. Even though these cities were so close to each other, they did a great job of getting along while expressing their own individuality.

The paradoxical name of the imaginary city reinforces the author’s opinion about politics: a now corrupt and illusionary institution as emptied of the highest ideals of social commitment.

The visual imagery of Carpaccio's The Lion of Saint Mark admirably crafts an image of Venetian expansionist propaganda as justified by the myth of Venice. The myth of Venice revolves around the notion that Venice, or the "self-proclaimed Most Serene Republic," was an ideal political entity set apart by God through its founding rooted in the story of Saint Mark (Rosand 2). Francesco Sansovino, a Venetian author, expressed the core of the myth of Venice when he wrote “thanks to the peace Christ had offered Mark, peace was brought to Venice and thanks to this peace, the Republic had grown to large proportions” (Grasman 129). Venetians such as Sansovino believed that Venice was peaceful because of the divine recognition by Christ at the city's founding.

Civitas Solis II is covered with mirrors which create the exhibition into turning into a refraction area and a maze. In addition to the darker of the inner exhibition, it gives the audience experience the seemingly infinite expansion of space with no edges which can evoke viewers’ feeling of fear. Civitas Solis II’s inspiration comes from the the city of the Sun, a text written by by Tomase Konpanella who is Italian Renaissance philosopher. This work is not only inspired by Utopian city, but the fragmentary mirror is placed around on the ground is inspired Tohoku region, Japan, the time the place is suffering with 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. Because of the earthquake, the place is full of trash and broken things just like how Civitas

intentions, has come to be called—and studied as—the ‘myth of Venice’”. This so called “myth

Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino creates an assortment of paintings through descriptive words and images. While various cities are written similarly, they certainly not the same and each contain their own qualities. The pair of cities that follow that theme is , Zobeide city of desire and Armilla city of Thin. Both cities depict naked women, but each is as different as night and day.

On the western bank of the Bosporus, just north of a sinuous waterway known by locals as the Golden Horn, stood a bustling Genoese colony called Pera. With merchants from Genoa, Venice and Tuscany overflowing its narrow streets, one could hardly tell that these Italian traders were in fact no less than eight hundred miles away from their Apennine homeland. As a town of itinerants, Pera of course hosted a great many places for lodging, and it was in the room of one such lodge where we would find our weary cartographer – a mid-aged man by the name of Cristoforo Buondelmonti.

Tehran, the capital of Iran, has its highs and lows. It is polluted by everything it encompasses. The city is jam packed with rapid highways, stentorian neighborhoods, and idiosyncratic citizens. City of Lies, written by Ramita Navai, perfectly sums up the way that this cryptic and disturbing city works. The novel follows eight very unique characters on Vali Asr Street who have a connection to the city that changed each of their lives. Each of them have very different backstories and personality traits that make them different from the last. But in the end, what brings them together is that they are all polluted by the city they call home. These characters, throughout their lives in Tehran, experience difficult pasts and hardships all because of the different ways of pollution in the city. This is evident when we read about Dariush’s environmental realization during his return to Tehran, when we read about many woman characters dealing with sexism and prostitution, and when when we read about the citizen’s opinions on the politics and organizations.

Istanbul plays an important role in all kinds of art. It is especially important in literature. There are a lot of books set in Istanbul and we can also talk about famous writers who were inspired by the Istanbul views and who wrote beautiful stories because of Istanbul. There is also another group of writers, who were born and who wrote or write their works here, in Istanbul. This, of course, has its own print and meaning, because living in such a beautiful and great city like Istanbul cannot not to affect writers’ works.