Parallel interpretations of postmodernist novels, Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino and Vilikon by Jasna Horvat confirm several postmodernist determinants within Brian McHale's theoretical framework. Next to the ontological structure of both novels, the author seeks to show the narrative, formative and combinatorial structures. Literary procedures that contribute to their construction are: intertextuality, auto-reference, topoi, networks, and lemmatization. The backbone of both novels is a mutual intertext that implies mutual characters, but with a different theme and motif. Auto-reference in Invisible Cities is evident in the atlas metaphor, chess and reflection, whereas in Vilikon the auto-referential framework is based on the manuscript of the novel and the network metaphor. Postmodern topoi like mirrors, labyrinths, maps, travels, lexicons, and networks are also analyzed. Although most literary procedures coincide in both novels, the key for interpreting in Vilikon is a novelty compared to Invisible Cities.
