Something that struck me while reading was how two cities, Leonia (114-116) and Trude (128) contained references to hardware, airports, refrigerators, radios, etc. This seems anachronistic, considering Marco Polo and Kublai Khan both lived within the 13^th century. Then, I noticed the titles of those two chapters. They are both categorized as “Continuous Cities.” None of the other cities (that I noticed) seemed as if they belonged in modern day society like these two did. As I thought about the misplaced items and their relationship to the title, it began to make sense. The cities are continuous because they represent both the present and the future. They are continuous through time because Marco Polo tells of them almost a thousand years before they belong. I found this particularly interesting because many other cities, specifically those in the “Cities and Memories” segments, emphasize an everlasting past that has consumed the city and became it’s present. For example, “A description of Zaira as it is today should contain all Zaira’s past. The city, however, does not tell its past, but contains it like the lines of a hand, written in the corners of the streets, the gratings of the windows, the banisters of the steps” (10-11). Calvino has created, in his city descriptions, a world where these fantastic designs can come to life. Having just read One Hundred Years of Solitude by Márquez for Spanish, I was reminded of the magic realism that creates the town of Macondo. Zobeide (45-46) was build around a common dream shared by many men trying to change an unpleasant ending. Octavia (75) is a city built upon a web of strings suspended high in the air. Cities like that (which were many) really embody magic realism and make Invisible Cities so interesting and entertaining to read.