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Adolfo Bioy Casares: La invención de Morel (The Invention of Morel)
Adolfo Bioy Casares is not particularly well-known in the English speaking world, despite the fact that several of his books have been translated into English. More particularly his association with.Borges. who praised this novel, should have made him better known. Bioy Casares and Borges both aimed to move away from the traditional realism in Latin American literature and develop a fantastical literature of which of this book , as well as others by the two of them is a good example.
It has been suggested that this novel was influenced by HG Wells’ novel The Island of Doctor Moreau and, certainly, both of those concern a young man marooned on an island in the Pacific where strange things happen.
The hero of this book is a Venezuelan who has, in his view, been unjustly condemned for murder and has managed to escape. He has a series of adventures aided by a rug dealer in Calcutta before landing on. the fictitious island of Villings, a part of the Ellice Islands (now Tuvalu). Villings it’s not your typical desert island on the contrary, though it is uninhabited, they clearly has been an extensive amount of construction going on there in the not too distant past. There are a museum, a chapel, and a swimming pool on the island and when he starts to explore, he finds quite a bit more.
Initially, he is on his own and has various problems to deal with such as the rising tides and finding food. He does find some old stores of food but, not surprisingly it is not in good condition. He learns which roots are edible and which are not. However the story we are reading is, he says, his will which he hopes will be found and explain his innocence.
However, things change when suddenly a host of people seem to arrive. They seem to be something like holidaymakers but he is not sure who they are and what they want as they seem to spend their time playing music, dancing and indulging in similar activities. Who are they? Are they somehow connected to the people who built the various buildings on this island?
Initially, he keeps running away from them, fearing that they might turn him in to the police. However, it seems they are more intent on having a good time.
He continues his exploration and manages to find various things such as a fully functioning water pump which even he, with his lack of mechanical skills, can make work as well as an aquarium full of dead fish.
However, in the boggy part of the island where he is now staying to keep away from the newcomers he notices that a young woman with a basket comes and sits not far from where he is. Having a had little communication with any humans for some time, he is very much taken with her and eventually dares to speak to her. She does not respond. However, on subsequent days she comes and sits near him but does not speak to him or even seem to acknowledge his presence.
She appears regularly though she can clearly see him he does not seem to acknowledge his presence in any way. He admits that given his appearance he is hardly a woman’s dream but even so why is she ignoring him completely?
One day she appears in the company of a man. The two of them were speaking French and he learns that her name is Faustine and his Morel. He will see them together again and is of course jealous.
And then suddenly they all disappear. He does not know why but does see a large white ship. And then just as suddenly they seem to reappear. First he sees two men talking but they are talking in Spanish. He assumes they are not associated with the previous group. However, he eventually he sees them all dining andMorel outlining his plans for the place which includes a certain amount of development.
First by accident and then by design he appears before them and they do not seem to see him. Of course this gives rise to all sorts of speculation as to whether they are in a different plane, whether they may be aliens from another planet or for some reason or other they cannot see him at all.
Both because we can see this from the title also because of his role it is clear that whatever is happening Morel is behind it all. He summons them all to a meeting then reads out a very detailed and complicated speech telling them what he is doing which causes them some surprise but of course it also causes a hero and us some surprise. It seems he has invented some sort of machine that goes beyond television/cinema/recorded sound and so on.
of course raises questions. Firstly, how can it help him get closer to Faustine? But also can he master the machine, use the machine or, if perhaps if necessary, destroy the machine. He struggles very much with this and almost gets outwitted by the machine. Ultimately, he remains perplexed about the machine and the rationale of Morel. Is the machine dangerous as some of the people that claim it to be? And what is?Morel’s real motive?
For our hero, he must now struggle to continue, writing his will as he calls his report and carry on living.
As Borges commented that rhis a very original novel and must have seemed even more original when it was first published in Argentina, where realism was still the order of the day. However, it is now recognise as one of the foremost Argentinian novels.
Publishing history
First published by Losada in 1940
First English translation by New York Review Books in 1964
Translated by Ruth L.C. Simms