"You advance always with your head turned back?"

“Futures not achieved are only branches of the past: dead branches” (pg.29)

The past, and a future not lived, are ultimately the same thing, because neither of them can be recovered. As he opens the second section of Invisible Cities, Calvino seems to emphasize on the past, and all the different types of futures we could have.  At the end of the introduction to the section, the Kahn asks a question which can be formulated in two very specific ways: “Journeys to relive your past?” or “Journeys to recover your future?” (pg. 29) This question, or questions, alone portray the importance of past and future in this section of the book, which later moves on to explain cities overflowing with unfulfilled futures and past decisions.

“…through what it has become, one can look back with nostalgia at what it was.” (pg. 30) The city of Maurilla is one that changed from small town to metropolis, slowly gaining strength and power, but losing most of its grace. The previously mentioned excerpt, which is used to describe this city, can tie in perfectly with the idea of growing up. As a person changes from kid to adult, most of the personality, looks, and beliefs change as well, making the grown-up just a shadow of the kid he was. However, the loss of the child is bitter-sweet, as it is with the city of Maurilla, because it allows us to look back at what we once were, but still embrace what we have become.  The past is key in this city, it is a city of Memory, it looks back on the past while still moving forwards, just as we are forced to do every day.

The city of Fedora however, is more interesting than most I this chapter. It is the city of unfulfilled futures:  it is everything we want to be, brutally contrasted with what we actually are. Within every small glass orb in the city, lies a diagram of what the city could have been, but never became. The author explains that the city could never become anything those diagrams portrayed because as they were being invented, the city was already changing, making it impossible to create the perfect model.  Much like Fedora, as we grow, we constantly try to create a perfect version of ourselves. But as we create that version, we are changing, making the model inadequate the minute it is created.  This happens as well in literature. A book may be completely planned out before the author even begins to write, however, as soon as the author begins to write, his train of thought changes, rendering the plan useless. Furthermore, books also change every minute, a path not taken can alter the ending of a book as a missed chance can alter our future. Thus the parallelism between life and literature continues.

Zenobia is the city of forgotten desires. “…those that through the years and the changes continue to give their form to desires, and those in which desires either erase the city or are erased by it.” (pg. 35) This classification of cities contributes to the relationship between life and literature in the story, as everything in the chapter can refer to either of the two. The first category, shows the typical ideal of growing up, in which what we want remains the same as we grow older and is ultimately achieved. It can also be interpreted as a book that was written according to the author’s original plan, something that doesn’t change. The second category is more realistic. It is the group in which most of us will eventually fall. It is that scenario in which what we want is erased by who we are, or vice versa. In a book, this is one that changes as it is written. One in which the story evolves until the meaning is erased by the plot, or the plot disregarded for the meaning.

We advance looking backwards, because it is the only place we've got to look. We analyze the past and figure out the roads not taken, but in the end there is nothing we can do to change it. All we do is understand what we didn't before, and then regret not understanding sooner. 

As we continue to read the book, Calvino’s words seem to be as vague as ever. Even though I have begun to understand what the meaning of the story is, as the author promised in the closing of the first section, it is not completely clear and some cities still escape my grasp. However I believe the book is meant to be understood gradually until the reader reaches a point in which he seems to be reading Calvino’s mind instead of his words.

“… in their conversations, most of the time, they remained silent and immobile.” (pg. 39)