Morel s Invention

A new translation of Adolfo Bioy Casares’s metaphysical masterpiece, a marvelously plotted story of a fugitive writer who discovers an uncanny phenomenon taking place on his island hideout.

Jorge Luis Borges declared Morel’s Invention a masterpiece, comparable to The Turn of the Screw and Journey to the Center of the Earth. When a fugitive washes up on a deserted island, he quickly discovers that the place is in fact populated by well-heeled tourists, whose nightly comings and goings are as bewildering as they are fascinating. Soon, the fugitive becomes enamored of a beautiful woman and finds himself more and more caught up in the island’s mystery—until at last he realizes it is time for him to take action.

Inspired by Adolfo Boy Casares’s fascination with the movie star Louise Brooks, and greatly admired by Julio Cortázar, Gabriel García Márquez, and Octavio Paz, Morel’s Invention has gone on to live a secret life of its own. As the model for Alain Resnais and Alain Robbe-Grillet’s Last Year at Marienbad, it changed the history of film. And in its contemplation of consciousness, perception, and the self, it stands as one of the first literary explorations of virtual reality.

Margaret Jull Costa’s new translation of Morel’s Invention, the first into English in more than fifty years, brings out the full force of the story’s beguiling and metaphysical power.