Unpublished Cities in the USSR. The Soviet Critical Reception of Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities (1973-1991)

In this chapter, Ilaria Sicari departs from the fact that "Le città invisibili" [Invisible Cities] was published in Russian language only after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, and provides an analysis of the reasons that prevented it from being published in the USSR. Through an analysis of articles, essays, reports and internal reviews of literary institutions and literary journals, Sicari shows how the anti-mimetic character of "Invisible Cities" – especially the lack of a fabula, the fragmented plot and the rhizomatic narrative structure – collided with the aesthetic principles of Socialist Realism. Further, Calvino’s interest in form and semiotics (demonstrated, for instance, by his membership in the Oulipo) raised the suspicion of the regime and was probably a contributing factor to the exclusion of all Calvino’s hyper-novels, including "Invisible Cities", from the Soviet literary field.