Interpret it the Way You Want To

Did you know that the word and theorem, "Pythagoras"  isn't only the type of math we use to solve triangles? Well, maybe you do since by its root you can tell it has a Greek origin. Actually, Pythagoras of Samos was a Greek philosopher, mathematician and the founder of the Pythagorean movement. Calvino talks about a "Pythagorean school" in Cities and Signs 1 (pg.14). I just though it was curious, because I had always referred to that term in a mathematical way. Every day we learn something new.

Anyway, beyond the whole analogy that is emitted to us in Invisible Cities, there is a single one with each literal meaning given by Marco Polo describing the cities. My way of interpreting those analogies is by relating it to the behavior of human kind. When he describes a city, as I said in my previous blog entry, it's like he were describing someone. More than that, he speaks of that city adding personification. And as bitter as the city may be, we are as well. For example, disagreeing with Pedro Michelsen, I would say "Isaura" is a city that shows how consumed human kind is in itself. It is not completely submerged in a lake, but it is in it. That is where it is visible how cities actually relate to emotions. Furthermore, the structure of the city also gives us tips to how to feel towards it.

"The city is redundant: it repeats itself so that something will stick in the mind." (pg. 19) says Marco Polo at the end of the first paragraph in "Cities & Signs 2." Then, at the end of the second paragraph he says: "Memory is redundant: it repeats signs so that the city can begin to exist." Does this means memory doesn't exist if one is not able to forget? This is how Marco Polo relates the cities with us. It is unquestionable that in a omniscient way, a reader is always the protagonist, if not antagonist of a story. What are we in this book?