It's funny that you have that theory because I wondered that exact same thing! The way that citizens of each city are trained to ignore the citizens and parts of the other, and it seems like pieces of each city are adjacent to one another but, if I remember right, no part of one city takes up the same space as the other.
For instance I don't remember anyone mentioning a building that was in Besźel and was in the same spacial location as a different building in Ul Qoma. So it very well could be a situation of "cultural delusion" which would explain why the process to visit is so strenuous, because they have to impress that delusion onto the foreigners.
But like you said, I want to read it again through that lens to see if it holds up.
No I haven't heard of Unholy Land by Lavie Tidhar, I'll have to add it to my ever growing reading wish-list lol
For instance I don't remember anyone mentioning a building that was in Besźel and was in the same spacial location as a different building in Ul Qoma. So it very well could be a situation of "cultural delusion" which would explain why the process to visit is so strenuous, because they have to impress that delusion onto the foreigners.
But like you said, I want to read it again through that lens to see if it holds up.
No I haven't heard of Unholy Land by Lavie Tidhar, I'll have to add it to my ever growing reading wish-list lol