Novel
O caso Morel
Not translated into English
Rubem Fonseca · 1973
Synopsis
Paul Morel, whose real name is Paulo Morais, an avant-garde artist and former advertising photographer who lives in Santa Teresa, in Rio, surrounded by several women, is in prison, suspected of having killed one of his friends, a twenty-year-old girl. In his cell he receives Vilela, a writer and former police commissioner, a friend of the policeman who arrested him, and entrusts to him the manuscript he is writing, a novel or an autobiography, in which the women of his life appear under assumed names. The book alternates this manuscript with Vilela's voice.
Context
The first novel of its author, then known as a short-story writer, the book appeared in 1973. According to Vermelho, the text is fragmented: expert reports in footnotes, descriptions in the manner of official records, lyrical passages and a sarcastic tone. It deals with police violence, sexual repression, drugs and the art market, and the Britannica describes it as a detective novel with explicit content. Vilela, the former commissioner, had already appeared in a short story by the author published in 1965.
Who it is for
Short and direct, but built as a play of mirrors: you have to follow on every page who holds the pen. The French translation dates from 1979.
Prizes and reception
First novel by a writer who received the Camões and Juan Rulfo prizes in 2003, translated into French six years after its publication.
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