Università Roma Tre

Reality of the world and literary imagination: from Marco Polo's Million to Calvino's Invisible Cities. The course includes the complete and commented reading of Marco Polo's Milione and the work that revived its imaginary and exotic dimension in the twentieth century, Italo Calvino's Invisible Cities. In addition to in-depth studies on the two authors and their literary language, the circumstances and contexts of the two works will be examined, the structure and stylistic peculiarities of the Milione, its weight in the literary tradition linked to explorations, travels and relationships with other realities, and the profound influence of Marco Polo's account on Calvino's work dedicated to fantastic cities. The final part of the course will be dedicated to the creation of critical and educational paths based on the two works considered.

Texts:
Marco Polo, Il milione, a cura di Marcello Ciccuto; saggio introduttivo di Giorgio Manganelli; con le miniature a colori del codice Bodleian 264 di Oxford, Milano, BUR, 2020.
Italo Calvino, Le città invisibili, Milano, Mondadori, 2022 (Oscar classici).
Bibliography:
Laura Di Nicola, Un’idea di Calvino. Letture critiche e ricerche sul campo, Roma, Carocci, 2024.
Gherardo Ortalli, Dall’Europa a scoprire l’Oriente. Da Gengis Khan a Marco Polo, Roma, Viella, 2021.
The following articles will be made available on the Teams channel of the course unit.
Andrea Battistini, Le città visibili e invisibili di Italo Calvino, «Esperienze letterarie», 2001, pp. 21-37.
Marcello Ciccuto, L'immagine dello spazio nelle "Città invisibili" di Italo Calvino, «Italianistica», 2002, pp. 77-84.
Cesare Segre, "Le citta invisibili" di Calvino e la vertigine epistemica, « Strumenti critici», 2004, pp. 43-53.
Those who do not attend the course will add:
Marco Polo. Storia e mito di un viaggio e di un libro, a cura di Samuela Simion, Eugenio Burgio, Roma, Carocci, 2024.
Any further bibliography will be indicated on the Teams channel of the course