In Kublai Khan's garden, at sunset, the young Marco Polo diverts the aged emperor from his obsession with the impending end of his empire with tales of countless cities past, present, and future
This novel takes the form of a series of conversations between Marco Polo and Kublai Khan, in which the traveler recounts for the emperor fabulous tales of cities he has known--cities that are imaginary, exotic, and haunting in their strangeness. As the two men talk, the boundaries between reality and illusion become less clear, until they themselves seem to become self-created fictions.
- Genre: Fiction + Literature Genres, Fiction + Literature Themes
- Subgenre: Human Qualities + Behavior, Settings, General, Literary Genres + Types of Novels, Conflicts + Dualities
- Publisher: Mariner Books
- Language: Italian, English
- Format: paperback
- Release Date: May 1, 1978
- Date Published: May 1, 1978
- Author: Italo Calvino