Out of all the cities that my mind wandered around, Despina is the most memorable and connected to me. I feel so connected to this city maybe because I understand this city the most. And I understand this city the most maybe because I feel so connected to this city.
In Invisible Cities, Calvino illustrates Despina as “a border city between two deserts,” the reason being that this city locates between two barrens: a desert and a sea (15). This description, however, gives rise to several questions: what differentiates this city from those deserts? What prevents this city from falling into or becoming a part of one of those barrens? And the most of important of all, what is so special about Despina to be able to withstand these two inhabitable lands? As unraveled in the text, Despina’s power to resist these two hostile geographies comes from its ability to fulfill, or at least to create an illusion that it has the ability to fulfill, travelers’ desires. For instance, a traveler in the desert sees the city as “a ship; he knows it is a city, but he thinks of it as a vessel that will take him away from the desert…” (14). On the other hand, a sailor on the sea thinks of this city as “a camel’s withers…; he knows it is a city, but he thinks of it as a camel from whose pack hang wineskins and bags of candied fruit…”(14). This shows that although these travelers see the city or think of the city differently, depending on which front they are from, they all see this city as a place that will be able to fulfill their desires, a place of salvation. At the end, it does not matter where they journey from because this city will be able to satisfy all their needs (or at least that what the city makes them believe). Thus, as long as travelers see the city this way, the city will be able to stand strong between these two deserts.
Despina’s ability to fulfill, or at least to deceive that it is able to fulfill, travelers’ desires is the reason why I associated myself closely with this city; it reminds me home. For me, home is, or at least seems to be, the most habitable place in the world. And home is, or at least seems to be, the place where all my needs and desires can be fulfilled. In addition, it does not matter which direction you see or enter your home from; your home will always make you feel home just like how Despina is able to make travelers hospitable. For these reasons, I am able to create a connection this Despina much easier than I am able to connect to other described cities in this book.