The Invention of Morel

“Morel’s Invention may be described, without exaggeration, as a perfect novel.” —Octavio Paz 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 Bioy 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.

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 Jorge Luis Borges, who was to become his mentor, friend, and collaborator. In 1940, after writing several novice works, Bioy published the novella Morel's Invention, the first of his books to satisfy him. He went on to write seven more novels (among them Asleep in the Sun, available as an NYRB Classic), short stories, and a long book about Borges, forthcoming from NYRB. Margaret Jull Costa has translated the works of many Spanish and Portuguese writers, including Javier Marías, José Saramago, Eça de Queirós, Fernando Pessoa, Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen, and César Vallejo. In 2014, she was awarded an OBE for services to literature and, in 2018, the Ordem do Infante D. Henrique from the Portuguese government and a Lifetime Award for Excellence in Translation from the Queen Sofia Spanish Institute, New York. Tom McCarthy is a novelist whose work has been translated into more than twenty languages and adapted for cinema, theatre and radio. His first novel, Remainder, won the 2008 Believer Book Award; his third, C, was a 2010 Booker Prize finalist, as was his fourth, Satin Island, in 2015. McCarthy is also author of the study Tintin and the Secret of Literature, and of the essay collection Typewriters, Bombs, Jellyfish. In 2013 he was awarded the inaugural Windham-Campbell Prize for Fiction.