The invention of Morel - Adolfo Bioy Casares [0]
CLASSICS
THE INVENTION OF MOREL
ADOLFO BIOY CASARES (1914-1999) was born in Buenos Aires, the child of wealthy parents. He began to write in the early Thirties, and his stories appeared in the influential magazine Sur, through which he met his wife, the painter and writer Silvina Ocampo, as well as Jorge Luis Borges, who was to become his mentor, friend, and collaborator. In 1940, after writing several novice works, Bioy published the novella The Invention of Morel, the first of his books to satisfy him, and the first in which he hit his characteristic note of uncanny and unexpectedly harrowing humor. Later publications include stories and novels, among them A Plan for Escape, A Dream of Heroes, and Asleep in the Sun (also available from NYRB Classics). Bioy also collaborated with Borges on an Anthology of Fantastic Literature and a series of satirical sketches written under the pseudonym of H. Bustos Domecq.
JORGE LUIS BORGES (1899-1986) was born in Buenos Aires. He learned to read English from his English grandmother before he mastered Spanish, and at an early age developed a deep attachment to the works of Robert Louis Stevenson, G. K. Chesterton, and Lewis Carroll. Borges studied in Geneva during the First World War and then traveled in Europe, returning in 1921 to Argentina, where he quickly became a central figure in the local literary world, writing criticism of all sorts, along with the poems, novels, and stories for which he is famous. After the fall of Juan Peron, Borges was appointed director of the National Library of Argentina. At the time of his death, he was recognized around the world as one of the masters of twentieth-century literature.
SUZANNE JILL LEVINE is the author of numerous studies in Latin American literature and the translator of works by Adolfo Bioy Casares, Jorge Luis Borges, Guillermo Cabrera Infante, and Manuel Puig, among other distinguished writers. Levine's most recent book is Manuel Puig and the Spider Woman: His Life and Fictions. She is a professor in the Spanish Department at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
THE INVENTION
OF MOREL
ADOLFO BIOY CASARES
Translated by
RUTH L.C. SIMMS
Prologue by
JORGE LUIS BORGES
Introduction by
SUZANNE JILL LEVINE
Illustrated by
NORAH BORGES DE TORRE
NEW YORK REVIEW BOOKS
New York
This is a New York Review Book
Published by The New York Review of Books
435 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10014
www.nyrb.com
Copyright © 1964 by Adolfo Bioy Casares Introduction copyright © 2003 by Suzanne Jill Levine Translation copyright © 1964, 1992 by Ruth L. C. Simms First published in 1940 by Editorial Losada, Buenos Aires, Argentina
All rights reserved.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Bioy Casares, Adolfo [Invention de Morel. English]
The invention of Morel / by Adolfo Bioy Casares ;
translated by Ruth L.C. Simms ;
prologue by Jorge Luis Borges ;
introduction by Suzanne Jill Levine.
p. cm. — (New York Review Books classics) ISBN 1-59017-057-1 (pbk. : alk. paper) I. Simms, Ruth L.C. II. Title. III. Series. PQ7797.B535I6 2003 863'.62—dc22
2003015601
ISBN 978-1-59017-057-1
Book design by Lizzie Scott
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper.
1 0 9 8 7
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION • vii
PROLOGUE 5
THE INVENTION OF MOREL • 9
INTRODUCTION
THE ARGENTINE Adolfo Bioy Casares (1914-1999) inspired generations of Latin American readers and writers with his stories and novels rich with "reasoned imagination" prophetic fantasies, elegant humor, and stoic ironies about romantic love. Bioy, as he was called by friends and peers, began writing within the cosmopolitan sphere of Sur magazine— founded by the influential Victoria Ocampo—in Buenos Aires in the early 1930s. In this stimulating environment, surrounded not only by Argentine but by international cultural figures from Europe (including Spanish poets and intellectuals who were fleeing the Civil War), North America, and Asia, it was the friendship of Jorge Luis Borges that led the young