Fear of death is one of the oldest fears of human beings; longings for eternal life and love forever are among the most present in humanity. The invention of Morel, by the Argentine writer Adolfo Bioy Casares, combines these fears and longings, questions them, reflects them and proposes new ways of addressing them.
Morel’s invention also inspired films, plays and series, such as the 1961 film “Last Year in Marienbad”, the series “Lost” or the 1986 Argentine film “Homem Olhando or Southeast”, among others. The novel, published in 1940, paved the way for the science fiction genre in Latin America.
- Bioy Casares was a well-known author in his native Argentina.
- A friend of Borges and linked to the Ocampo sisters for marrying one of them.
- Surrounded by the most prominent writers of the time when several literary movements were developed in Buenos Aires.
- The friendship with Borges was such that in Morel’s invention we have a prologue written by Borges himself.
It could be said that Bioy Casares was ahead of his time, because he knew how to mix the elements of everyday life with science fiction. In his novels we appreciate very realistic characters in a not so realistic environment.
In Morel’s invention we have a main character, the fugitive, who lives on a remote island fleeing the law, we do not know his name or what he did to be forced to escape the law, but we have identified him as a very everyday. character, whose emotions are very real.
The island where he lives has been abandoned for years, the buildings are old and in poor condition; soon realizes that strange things are happening there, intruders appear to repeat their actions and so it seems invisible.
Among the intruders is Faustine, a young woman whose fugitive falls in love, often tries to talk to her, but does not seem to see her, it is as if it does not exist, on the other side we have Morel, a scientist who also seems in love with the young Faustina since the fugitive hates.
We will soon realize that these intruders are nothing more than images of the past alluding to people who have visited the island; Morel created a machine capable of recording all these movements and all these people, could he maintain his essence, his desires, his thoughts?Your whole being. In this way they would live forever in a happy memory that they would not remember, something like the eternal Nietzschean return, but reliving a week of their life for eternity.
“I’m not dead anymore, I’m in love. -Fugitive, Morel-
Death has been part of us since we were born, every day, every minute and every second of our lives brings us a little closer, the problem arises when it becomes a fear and problems arise to accept it. religions and philosophical currents offer us the idea of “the other life”: a promise of a better life after death.
The belief that man is the union of body and soul says that to free the immortal soul, we must act on certain subjects and be good men and women, in this way our immortal part, after his death on a physical level, can live eternally in peace.
Other religions, such as Buddhism, offer immortality based on reincarnation, what these stories of faith demonstrate is that, since ancient times, humanity has sought ways to overcome death, explain why we die, and thus try to accept it in the hope of a spiritual life dissociated from the physical passage.
“Fear makes us superstitious. -Adolfo Bioy Casares-
When we had the opportunity to portray immortality in the world of fiction, we imagine immortal beings like the elves of the Lord of the Rings, or mythological beings, that is, deities, in this way we see that the price to pay for immortality or try to imitate it is always high. In Morel’s invention, scientist Morel created a machine capable of giving us the immortality of the soul, but this will come at a very high cost to our mortal body.
Through cinema and the new technologies of the time, Bioy Casares aroused many reflections and anticipated what is now called virtual reality, introduces us to other forms of immortality. Immortality in Morel’s Invention has been sought after by the protagonist from the beginning, but indirectly and unconsciously.
“Eternity is one of the few virtues of literature. Adolfo Bioy Casares?
Literature is, in a way, immortal, and we revive an author every time we read his works, the protagonist recounts the facts in a kind of newspaper in the hope that someone will find it in the future, by writing this we can say that he seeks this immortality.
When the intruders do not see the fugitive, when they do not know his existence, he refuses to believe that they have not seen him, preferring to think that it is a plan to capture and release him; that is, it refuses to exist.
Intruders can’t see it because they’re images, memories, but the fugitive can’t accept that invisibility and no human being would accept anything like that. Non-existence, being invisible to all, is a kind of death for the individual; something unacceptable because it’s a death in life.
“It was not as if he had not listened to me, it was as if he had not seen me; it was as if his ears were not meant to hear, as if the eyes he had were not meant to see. ? Fugitive, Morel’s invention?
On the other hand, the novel also explores love, the idealization of love and how love keeps the fugitive alive: it is his only escape route, his only desire. Love is as natural and as human as death, as is the fear of death. loneliness expressed by the protagonist.
Despite what would happen if they discovered him, he fantasized about evil plans against him, thinking that they had conspired to denounce him, the fugitive fears loneliness and these thoughts are a very human characteristic, just as jealousy is also present in him. On the other hand, he realizes how illogical his thoughts are, but finds it difficult to contain them, like anyone exposed to a similar situation.
In this case, love is linked to his platonic ideas and also to the literary theme religio amoris, where the beloved is depicted as an inaccessible, superior and divine being. In addition, love in the novel will lead to immortality; it will be the trigger for everything, it will be what awakens in Morel the desire to immortalize with Faustina and what arouses that same desire also in the fugitive.
Bioy Casares, thanks to his passion for cinema and his great capacity as narrator, leads us to an almost visual work, worthy of a cinematic stage, introduces us to a character who manages to lose his mind several times, who writes to record everything. the one who lives on the island, but is a very human character and sure that one of us would act in the same way in such a situation. It is certainly a work worth reading, which invites reflection.
“Death is a lived life. Life is an imminent death. ?Jorge Luis Borges?