At the time of his death, he was recognized around the world as one of the masters of twentieth-century literature. After the fall of Juan Peron, Borges was appointed director of the National Library of Argentina.
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. 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. JORGE LUIS BORGES (1899-1986) was born in Buenos Aires. Bioy also collaborated with Borges on an Anthology of Fantastic Literature and a series of satirical sketches written under the pseudonym of H. 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). 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.
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. Love is a privileged perception, the most complete and total perception not only of the unreality of the world but of our own unreality: not only do we traverse a realm of shadows, we ourselves are shadows.ADOLFO BIOY CASARES (1914-1999) was born in Buenos Aires, the child of wealthy parents. The Invention of Morel may be described, without exaggeration, as a perfect novel.Bioy Casares's theme is not cosmic, but metaphysical: the body is imaginary, and we bow to the tyranny of a phantom. Bioy makes us laugh at our foibles with an affectionate yet elegant touch.Behind his post-Kafka, pre-Woody Allen sense of nonsense is a metaphysical vision, particularly of life's brevity and the slippery terrain of love. The Argentine Adolfo Bioy Casares is an urban comedian, a parodist who turns fantasy and science fiction inside out to expose the banality of our scientific, intellectual, and especially erotic pretensions.
It is this keenness of thought and expression that buttresses Borges's claim of the novella's perfection. Like the best science fiction, of which this is an exemplar, Bioy's themes have become ever more relevant to a society beholden to image. A masterfully paced and intellectually daring plot.
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