The Invention of Morel – Old Paper & Cats, Reviews by S. Hargrave

It’s Finally Here!

It feels like it’s been a particularly long road this year with unexpected renovations, family emergencies, and some work-related upheaval, but it’s here. It’s Halloween! Our five little pumpkins are ready to carve, and the cats have been shoved into costumes for the few seconds necessary to take a picture. The TCM Halloween Marathon is on in the background. We are ready for some trick-or-treaters!

Also? I know that we have two months to go, but I’m ready to wrap up this year. It’s been difficult and I want to squeeze all of the joy out of it that I can, but I am also ready to move on and re-build my faith that disasters are not waiting around every corner. I love Halloween, but I am ready for our anniversary and the renewal of our secular version of All Souls Day.

A fluffy black cat stands behind an orange pumpkin. A book leans on the pumpkin, with a black-and-white picture of a napping woman on the cover.

What Happens on an Island

Adolfo’s Bioy Casares’ novella The Invention of Morel (La invención de Morel) starts out typically enough. A fugitive decides to hide out on an isolated and inhospitable island in order to avoid the authorities. Little does he know that the island holds its share of secrets including a derelict mansion, two suns, two moons, and some mysterious machinery. When a bunch of tourists arrive, the fugitive goes further into hiding, but not far enough to prevent himself from falling in love with Faustine, one of the tourists. Faustine is currently the object of Morel’s affection. Morel being the inventor of the title. Please note that below this paragraph there are spoilers. In an analysis this short, it is impossible to avoid them. You have been warned.

Leaning against a pumpkin is a paperback book, The Invention of Morel. The cover shows a black-and-white photo of a woman in a white dress napping.

Spoilers Below

So what is going on? Well, it’s not all a dream, but it all is a projection. That’s right, Faustine is just imagined and the whole sequence that the fugitive thought was events unfolding in front of him was just a recording of three days long in the past. That mysterious equipment? A projector that uses the kinetic energy of the tides to run without any human intervention at all.

A fluffy black cat explores an worn wooden porch with tall growth around it. A pumpkin and a book sit near her.

Reality Vs Fantasy

As the fugitive comes to accept that none of the tourists — including Faustine — are real, he begins to question the nature of illusion and if becoming part of that illusion is preferrable to a reality that involves him being in constant fear of the authorities. There’s a subtle but powerful statement here about how easy it is to get lost in fantasy and subjective interpretations of the world in an attempt to run from the ugly truth of reality and our discomfort at events we cannot change or control.

Though it is eventually revealed that to be recorded by the projector is to eventually be killed by it, the fugitive makes the choice to record himself and thereby place himself next to Faustine forever, even if it costs him his life. Casares questions whether images are in effect a version of immortality if they are open to molding by the viewer and whatever the viewer brings to the viewing experience. You can see the influence of the golden age of Hollywood here and questions about how film and the prevalence of it would shape the modern experience and what would continue to have a presence in our culture in perpetuity.

It’s really not surprising that the character of Faustine was in fact based on silent film star Louise Brooks.

An orange cat stands behind a round orange pumpkin. A book in front of the pumpkin is The Invention of Morel by Adolfo Bioy Casares.

A Thin Veneer

I’ve always had an interest in abandoned buildings gradually being taken back by nature. Yes, I follow quite a few urban explorer accounts on Instagram, and yes, I am partial to haunted house narratives and abandoned asylums as well as spooky woods. This novella’s setting of an opulent but derelict and rotting mansion infected with the suggestion of long-ago deaths and violence ticked all of the spooky season boxes for me. It’s the focus on the thin veneer of reality and the pull of the past and the illusion of it that Casares has executed so beautiful that will have me re-reading this book in future Octobers as well.

An orange cat sniffs an orange pumpkin and a black-and-white book.

Happy Halloween!

Have a great Halloween everyone and be safe out there! However you celebrate — be it parties or candy or fun with your kids or your pets or just nature in general, may your festivities be plentiful and fabulous!

I can’t believe my spooky posts are over for another year — but this year I have actually read enough war literature to be able to do a month’s worth of reviews on them for November. Stay tuned!