Product Description
Los cuentos «El lado de la sombra» y «Los afanes» retoman el tema de La invención de Morel desde visiones opuestas. El primero responde a preguntas tan enigmáticas como : ¿hay una persona original y luego una sucesión de réplicas que se confunden ? O ¿puede esa persona original, una vez muerta, reaparecer en algún recodo del mundo ? En el segundo, la invención de Eladio Heller reemplaza la invención de Morel : ya no se trata de una réplica perfecta del original, a quien sustituye, sino de una eternidad mucho más precaria : un alma encerrada en un bastidor. Los demás cuentos, ordenados por el autor, adquieren también con el tiempo una nueva resonancia.

This brilliant collection ofshort stories reveals thesatirical side ofArgentinian writer BioyCasares, one of themasters of contemporarySpanish languageliterature and CervantesPrize winner in 1990. Theauthor's selectionincludes stories that haveacquired new meaningwith the passage of time. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

A journey in the possibilities of a modern-day man's psyche.
Attached to this story since I first read it in high school, I consider this book the most romantic story ever written, of a man who falls in love with the past, a fantasy and its ever-after legacy!It is easy and quickto read for younger minds.It will beat any other fiction"short" story for its philosophical pondering about our temporalexistence and the legacy of an invention.Definitely, "La Invensionde Morel" is another jewel of Hispanic American writing yet to bediscovered by the masses!

this stories combine the reality and the fantastic world
with an unsuperable style.By the way, I'd like you to correct:Jorge Luis Borges is not a designer;he is one of the most important writers of the history of Argentina, and maybe of the world.

the book with gimmick of such novelty
This is my first time to read a book by an Argentinean novelist.The storyis very interesting and it is almost incredible that the book with gimmick of such novelty was written more than a half century ago.Youwould not find it old-fashioned even today. Recommendable not only forsci-fi fans but also for readers who want to seek the meaning of"living real." The story is so short that you can read itwithin 4 hours or so.

Great Fiction.
The story and the language have a very special beauty resulting from its simplicity and imagination. Note: the original title is The Invention of "Morel", not Moral (La invención de Morel). I think it is in allusion to "The Island of Dr. Moreau" by H.G. Wells. ... Read more

Product Description
Esta nueva edicion conserva las interesantes conversaciones que Noemi Ulla mantuvo con Adolfo Bioy Casares entre los anos 1985 y 1988 acerca de las lineas esteticas, las lecturas, la practica de la escritura y sus libros, incluyendo el contexto cultural y las experiencias que ellos habian generado. Trata de manera especial Guirnalda con amores, Dormir al sol e Historias desaforadas .La obra tambien se ocupa de la vida del prestigioso escritor: los amigos y la familia. Anadimos como novedad, en esta oportunidad, un capitulo dedicado a la relacion de Bioy con su esposa, Silvina Ocampo. ... Read more

Product Description

Product Description
The Island of Doctor Moreau inspired this 1940 novella. Set on a mysterious island, The Invention of Morel is a story of suspense and exploration as well as an unlikely romance, where every detail is both crystal clear and deeply mysterious. Susan Jill Levine's revision of Ruth Simm's translation offers a new experience of an uncanny work of genius. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (17)

Not my genre
I am not a fan of fantasy or science fiction, but occasionally I give the genres another try.My latest attempt was THE INVENTION OF MOREL.Jorge Luis Borges wrote, in the prologue to the novella, that to call it "perfect is neither an imprecision nor a hyperbole." Octavio Paz said that it "may be described, without exaggeration, as a perfect novel."Given such extravagant praise, how dare one not like it?

I often face the same question when considering modern art.Despite extravagant praise from critics, I don't particularly like much modern art.To me, some of it is bewildering; some of it is simply pretentious; and too much of it is just plain ugly.In reading THE INVENTION OF MOREL, I never really thought it "just plain ugly" (actually, it is imbued with a sort of plangent lyricism), and by the end of the novella I no longer was tempted to think of it as pretentious.But I was left with a rather large measure of bewilderment, and I don't sense (as with Kafka, for instance) that going back and trying to unravel and then decipher and understand the tale will be worth the effort.

The nameless first-person narrator, escaping from the imposition of a criminal sentence, washes up on a deserted island where, curiously enough, there nonetheless is a "museum" with strange and intricate machinery, a chapel, and a swimming pool.After being there a while, a group of "tourists" suddenly appear on the island.The narrator becomes infatuated with one of the women, Faustine (who, judging from the cover of the book, looks a lot like silent movie star Louise Brooks), but, try as he might, he is unable to interact with Faustine.Nor, it turns out, is he able to interact with any of the other tourists, including their apparent leader, Morel.Eventually, the narrator realizes that the weekly activities of the tourists are being repeated, perhaps endlessly.It is all, he learns, because of an elaborate invention of Morel.

Among the themes raised by the novella are the quest for immortality, human loneliness and isolation, the tragic circumstances of love, and solipsism and the mind/body problem.Borges says, in his prologue, that Bioy Casares renews in literature a concept "expressed in memorable cadences" by Dante Gabriel Rossetti:

I have been here before,
But when or how I cannot tell:
I know the grass beyond the door,
The sweet keen smell,
The sighing sound, the lights around the shore.

I am willing to attribute it to personal idiosyncrasies, but I prefer Rossetti over Bioy Casares.But then, as said, I am not a fan of fantasy or science fiction.

Intricate and Strange Psychological Thriller
A character who could be straight out of Borges's "Universal History of Iniquities" takes refuge from the law on a deserted tropical island where he witnesses some pretty strange stuff (I'm trying to be vague here). What seems to begin as the story of a man's slow descent into paranoia turns into what seems like a ghost story before eventually becoming something entirely different - something that could have sprung from the mind of Gene Wolfe or Philip K. Dick on a good day.

fantastical
Quick and fabulous. Saw Sawyer reading it on Lost and had to indulge. Adolfo was inspired by his love for a film actress to write this novel...how applicable the premise is now, to fall in love with someone who exists(ed?) in a certain time and space from you yet in plain view. Tragic, insightful, a definite summer read

It's not bad.
I must agree with other reviewers that this book is more interesting for the ideas it raises, than for the story itself. A thought provoking read that is ultimately a little dissatisfying. Not a bad book though.

If you like X, you'll love Z
I am a big fan of the stories of Jorge Luis Borges. As such, Amazon kept suggesting I would enjoy this book by Casares. From time to time Amazon's system can really make annoying suggestions (I like Hamlet, so for a month, I had 300 plays by Shakespeare on my recommendation page).

At first glance I thought this was a simple, he-likes-Spanish-language-authors-so-let's-recommend-another recommendation. But the similarity goes deeper. If you like Borges, I believe you will find that this book shares a similar ethos. There is a haunting quality to the protagonist's lonliness and longing.

So if you like Borges, I think you will be pleasantly surprised by Adolfo Bioy Casares and the INVENTION OF MOREL. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

Nuevo mito sobre lo que ya es un viejo tema...
Logra recrear un nuevo mito sobre lo que ya es un viejo tema: la deshumanización. Tiene mucho en común temáticamente con The Island of Dr. Moreau, en el sentido de que los carácteres no se convierten en monstruos sino fantamas proyectados por una máquina. El narrador se enamora de una de los fantasmas, confundiendo su propia falta de alma con el obejto de su deseo. Y se le pierde la humanidad.

One of the classics of modern Latin American Fiction.
A fugitive, persecuted by the Venezuelan authorities, escapes to a deserted and remote island.The island had construction done in 1924: a museum, a chapel, and a swimming pool.The structures are abandoned since, and the island is almost unapproachable due to numerous reefs that prevents boats to approach it.

There is a legend that people who go there will be infected by a strange disease that kills you from the outside in:you lose your nails, your hair, your skin dies, your corneas fall, and the body will be dead in eight to fifteen days.With these legends, the fugitive feels it is the perfect place to hide.

Helped by an Italian who sell rugs, the fugitive manages to reach the island in a small rowing boat.

Soon he discovers that he is not alone on the island.There are other human beings coexisting on the island.The fugitive man spies on them, follows then around, and listens to their conversations.

Soon it becomes clear that there is a mystery--the confines of reality vs. hallucination.

He falls in love with Faustine, a beautiful young woman who likes to sun bathe near him.But as he gains the courage to interact with these characters, he realizes that they are not real.They've been created by Mr. Morell through a series of cameras and recording devices.

As he tries to search for the source of the images, he discovers that they are more than images...

With a perfect plot, mysticism, and originality of the issues in which the action takes place--this is one of the classics of modern Latin American Fiction.

written by a reader
The book was all written by the previous reader, and that difficulted my reading a lot.

Morel
Morel invento algo. Ese algo es fantástico. Tiene un poco de ver con todo, la vida eterna, el amor eterno, la felicidad eterna...
Me pregunto si consigues descubrir que inventó Moriel antes de llegar a la mitad del libro.
Un libro de ficción atrozmente sensacional.

Una buena y entretenida novela de ficción
My english is terrible, so give me the liberty to talk about this book in spanish:

Hasta donde he podido leerlo es muy entretenido, presenta un dilema moral interesante y está muy bien narrado, aunque la narración sin capítulos me desconcertó en un principio. Todo esto, en las setenta páginas que he leído esta mañana en el tren. Me ha dado algo de interés por el desenlace, saber si Morel y sus amigos son fantasmás o qué así que me lo acabaré esta noche, seguro. Por otra parte, pienso que el tema daría para una novela más extensa y con más tintes sobrenaturales que probablemente me gustaría más. De todos modos, vaya un voto a favor de una brevedad interesante que parte de una idea muy original. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Amazing collection !
This book is far beyond any other considerations the best proof the policial literature must never be neglected . Two unexhausted readers and best writers such Casares and Borges decided to make a smart and brilliant exercise of imagination and superb good taste , and decided to translate the best police tales in Spanish .
Imagine the list : Ellery Queen , William Faulkner , Agatha Christie among the mpost remarkable of this passionate genre.
If you go back to the ancient memories the origins of this literature genre begin in China.
But what it really concerns in this case is the absilut respect for the real spirit of the origunal meaning in every tale . They are brief stories but written with magister criterion and best translation .
Please acquire this text and forget all the minor considerations about the possible sins of this kind of literature .
And please remind every moment the well known statement of Albert Eisntein : "It's easier to destroy an atom instead a prejuice" ... Read more

Product Description
"Women’s infidelity is a complex and deep subject, however throughout history men have given it a very loose meaning. Beyond those macho prejudices, many other things come to play. Who has not been unfaithful at one time, at least mentally? The ambition to have what we do not have and to be what we are not is a big part of human beings, and so is infidelity." Rosa Montero.Texts by Bioy Casares, Marcelo Birmajer, Giovanni Boccacci, Cortázar, Antón Chéjov, Fitzgerald, Mastretta, Guy de Maupassant, Onetti, and more.

Description in Spanish: Prólogo de Rosa Montero; textos de Adolfo Bioy Casares, Marcelo Birmajer, Giovanni Boccacci, Abelardo Castillo, Julio Cortázar, Geoffrey Chaucer, Antón Chéjov, Francis Scott Fitzgerald, Fumiko Hayashi, Tomás Kóbor, Ángeles Mastretta, Guy de Maupassant, Juan Carlos Onetti, Petronio, Arthur Schnitzler, La castellana de Vergy, Las mil y una noches.

"La infidelidad de la mujer es un tema complejo y profundo al que la voz del varón ha dotado, a lo largo de la historia, de unos significados muy precisos. Pero, más allá de los prejuicios machistas, en la infidelidad, sea de mujeres o de hombres, se juegan muchas otras cosas; sobre todo, me parece, el deseo o el sueño de ser otro. Quién no ha sido infiel alguna vez en su vida, por lo menos mentalmente, imaginariamente. Quién no se ha proyectado en el amor de otro, y, por consiguiente, en el diseño deslumbrante de una vida nueva. La ambición de tener lo que no tenemos y ser lo que no somos forma parte sustancial del ser humano; y la infidelidad, por lo tanto, también. Aunque uno nunca se atreva a llevarla a la práctica. De todo ese mundo turbio y sustancial compuesto de miedos y deseos, de necesidades y venganzas, de identidades que se inventan a sí mismas y mitos ancestrales, tratan los hermosos relatos que componen este libro. Un tema fascinante e inacabable".Rosa Montero ... Read more

Product Description
Lucio, a normal man in a normal (nosy) city neighborhood with normal problems with his wife (not the easiest person to get along with) and family and job(he lost it), finds he has a much bigger problem: his wife is a dog. At first, it doesn't seem like such a problem, because the German shepherd inhabiting his wife's body is actually a good deal more agreeable than his wife herself, now occupying the body of the same German shepherd in a mental hospital run by a cabal of scientists who, as it happens, have designs on the whole neighborhood. But then Lucio gains a sense, however confused, of what's right, which is an even bigger problem yet. Bioy Casares's strange, sly novel may be read as a fable of modern politics or as a meditation on the elusive parameters of the self. Above all, it is an almost scarily perfect comic turn, as well as a pure delight. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

asleep
Really excellent - captures the Argentine personality. The book jacket blurb is misleading - this book is really about identity. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

In the great Latin American Tradition
Bioy Casares moves effortlessly from reality to fantasy. This collection of short stories are often grotesque, sometimes surreal, but always entertaining. Particularly read "Margarita" and "The Travel Diary" ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A Boswell's friend
"Palabra de Bioy" is a small masterpiece of Latinoamerican non-fiction. Lopez's book, like Boswell's "Life of Johnson", is exact in method narrative, profound in theme, an full of delights at all levels. The settings and themes of the boock are various: the limits of artistic creation; the poetry and the "tango"; Jorge Luis Borges; the ferocity of the politic in Argentina; and many others very interesting chapters.
This book includes not only information, but also the essence of Adolfo Bioy Casares, the great Argentinian writer. Excellent. ... Read more