Calvino Writing Journal Entry

The theme that was easiest to use in my writing was “death/after-life.” For me, I have read a lot of literature that uses death or after-life imagery, as this imagery also often has a religious connotation associated with it. It was easy to borrow such imagery not only from Calvino, but from past works I have read. It was also much easier for me to write the city descriptions when I had a theme with which to begin my writing as a base. The theme provided a common thread that I could incorporate into the description—not only in the imagery, but also in the development of a plot.

The most difficult part of the assignment was writing the description of the city without a pre-determined theme. I struggled with this, as it was much more difficult to choose just one city in my imagination. Ultimately, I built on an image from my childhood, and the description of the city became much easier to build from there. Occasionally I was able to borrow language from Calvino in my descriptions, and incorporating some of my favorite phrases from his writings was very helpful in bringing out my creativity. Other times, I simply did not borrow from anything and wrote what came to mind, as there was a certain flow that guided my writing.

Rome does seem like a kind of invisible city to me, as it is full of strange and extreme contradictions. Contradiction is definitely a theme I would choose to describe Rome. The graffiti on the historic buildings, the small cars that zoom by the Coliseum, and the black market vendor sellers who set up near the Campo de Fiori’s historic vegetable market. It all gives the sense that Rome is a fantasy city, unique and secret to anyone who lives outside its limits. I think Rome would also provide great inspiration for descriptions of other invisible cities.