Fantastic fiction is not always the most celebrated or fashionable genre; the fact that so much of it overlaps with Sci-Fi strongly attests to this. Only last week, SF author Stephen Hunt voiced his campaign for “genre equality”, perturbed as he was about a perceived lack of respect for the genre. But every so often, people like me who don’t often read the stuff get reminded of exactly what that sort of fiction is capable of. Through impossible, exotic, unfeasible and uncanny situations, essential human themes are explored: a more precise mirror is held up to nature.
This was exactly the case when I read Adolfo Bioy Casares' The Invention of Morel recently. To be fair, this particular novella has been described both as one of the greatest ever works of fantastic fiction and as “perfect” by Jorge Luis Borges, so I am not sure what I was expecting. That said – it’s always pleasing when all the hyperbole spoken about something is backed up by your experience in reading the thing.
The superficially simple plot, told in diary form, describes the fate of an unnamed fugitive fleeing from an unspecified foe. Trapped on a desert island wracked by a terrifying wasting disease, somewhere in the South Pacific, the delirious fugitive witnesses the arrival of a number of French-speaking visitors to the island. Petrified that they are there to arrest him, he hides from them and flees to the other side of the island. After eventually falling in love with a female visitor who has the habit of longingly watching the sunset, occasionally accompanied by a man called Morel, the fugitive is perplexed that the island’s visitors either cannot see him or are ignoring him. What is the cause of this and what does it all mean?
That is about as much of the plot as I can divulge without spoiling the book’s exquisite and delicate charm. Suffice it to say that an element of the speculative creeps into the bizarre chain of events. Influenced by H.G. Wells’ The Island of Dr. Moreau, the novella, just like the work of his great friend and collaborator Borges, uses the fantastical genre to examine metaphysical themes. These include (but are not restricted to) love and loneliness, control, paranoia and the possibility of immortality.
Constantly surprising, this perfectly formed and executed book will keep you glued and guessing. And thinking, which is probably more important. It is one to devour in one sitting and then re-read.
Argentine 1st Edition Cover
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