The spring break reading was a nice change this semester since I got to read a fictional piece. It was also very interesting to look into artworks that were inspired by Invisible Cities and see how illustrators visualized these mysterious locations described by Italo Calvino. The city that stood out to me was Octavia, a spiderweb city (Chapter 5 ). It is described as a city that is “hanging” over the void between two mountains. It is composed of chains and ropes that connect buildings with catwalks. The city is “suspended over the abyss” as deep as more than hundreds of feet. Hanging ropes and passages that compose a spider web instantly reminded be me of those rope parks where you climb around a hanging maze or circuit balancing on ropes above the ground. The description of the city itself also brought up a somewhat familiar image in my head but I am still unable to remember what kind of book/movie it reminds me of. The chapter provides a very brief description of Octavia, but I was still fascinated by the idea of a hanging spiderweb city between mountains. The artworks visualizing this place were also so captivating and visually interesting. However, what stands out to me the most is the themes of temporality and mortality this city brings to the story. Marco Polo says, “the life of Octavia’s inhabitants is less uncertain than in other cities” (p. 75), which at first seems almost paradoxical. How can your life be certain if it is quite literally hanging on a thin thread (or web, in this case)? Yet the author explains, “They know the net will last only so long”, and, suddenly, it all makes sense. It is a very existential philosophical thought. We are all aware of our own mortality, which is probably the only certain thing about our uncertain lives. The acceptance of their own temporality mystifies the inhabitants of Octavia. It also translates the storyteller’s impression of the city and in relation to time. Since Marco Polo does not give a lot of attention to describing this city, there is little that we know about the daily life there, and it makes it seems like Octavia exists in a time-capsule without a clear “now” or “then”. If this city was a virtual environment, it probably would not have a linear storyline but it would rather exist in one isolated moment where the user would get to explore the environment and make observations about its transience without actually witnessing the city’s inevitable doom.