In this special edition of the Bedrosian Book Club Podcast, we discuss the Italian classic novel Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino. The ancient emperor, Kublai Khan is so busy running the empire that he needs merchants to describe his vast empire, the great explorer Marco Polo is the only one whose imaginative descriptions of the cities of the empire help Khan learn about his dominion. Framed between the conversation between the two are Polo’s fantastical descriptions of the cities he visits – fables to discuss ideas from linguistics to urban theory. This short novel has become a favorite to use in courses here at the Price School of Public Policy … let’s find out why. For links to some of the things we discuss view our show page at: https://bedrosian.usc.edu/programs/bedrosian-book-club-podcast/invisible-cities/

Sponsored by the USC Bedrosian Center
http://bedrosian.usc.edu/ 

Recorded at the USC Sol Price School of Public Policy
http://priceschool.usc.ed