Adolfo Bioy Casares facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Adolfo Bioy Casares
Bioy Casares in 1968
Born	(1914-09-15)15 September 1914 Buenos Aires, Argentina
Died	8 March 1999(1999-03-08) (aged 84) Buenos Aires, Argentina
Resting place	La Recoleta Cemetery, Buenos Aires
Occupation	Writer poet critic librarian
Notable work	The Invention of Morel
Spouse(s)	Silvina Ocampo ​ ​ (m. 1940; died 1993)​
Awards	Miguel de Cervantes Prize (1991)

Adolfo Bioy Casares (born September 15, 1914 – died March 8, 1999) was an important writer from Argentina. He wrote many stories, novels, and even worked as a journalist. He was a close friend and often worked with another famous Argentine writer, Jorge Luis Borges. One of his most well-known books is the fantasy novel The Invention of Morel.

Biography

Adolfo Bioy Casares was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on September 15, 1914. He was the only child of Adolfo Bioy Domecq and Marta Ignacia Casares Lynch. His family lived in Recoleta, a part of Buenos Aires known for its upper-class families. He spent most of his life there.

Because his family was wealthy, he could spend all his time on literature. He wrote his first story when he was just eleven years old. He started studying at the Universidad de Buenos Aires but did not finish his degrees in law, philosophy, or literature. He then moved to a family ranch. There, he spent most of his time studying literature. By his late twenties, he was very good at Spanish, English, French, and German.

Friendship with Jorge Luis Borges

In 1932, Bioy Casares met Jorge Luis Borges at a house called Villa Ocampo. This house belonged to Victoria Ocampo, who often hosted cultural events. Borges and Bioy Casares became good friends. This friendship lasted their whole lives and led to many important writing projects together.

They often wrote together using made-up names like H. Bustos Domecq and Benito Suárez Lynch. They created many different works, including:

• Short stories like Seis problemas para don Isidro Parodi
• Movie scripts such as Los orilleros and Invasión
• Fantasy stories like Antología de la literatura fantástica

From 1945 to 1955, they also managed a collection of translated English detective fiction books called "El séptimo círculo" (The Seventh Circle). Borges really liked this type of story. Bioy Casares kept journals that were later published as a book called Borges. This book shared many details about their friendship.

Literary Success and Marriage

In 1940, Bioy Casares published his short novel The Invention of Morel. This book showed his mature writing style. Jorge Luis Borges wrote the introduction for the novel. He said that Bioy Casares was a pioneer in a new kind of science fiction writing in Spanish. The book was very popular and won the Primer Premio Municipal de Literatura (First Municipal Prize of Literature) in 1941.

In the same year, 1940, Bioy Casares married Silvina Ocampo. She was Victoria Ocampo's sister and was also a talented painter and writer. They worked together on some projects, including the book Los que aman, odian (Those Who Love, Hate).

Awards and Legacy

Bioy Casares received many important awards for his writing. These included:

• The Gran Premio de Honor of SADE (the Argentine Society of Writers) in 1975
• The French Legion of Honour in 1981
• The Diamond Konex Award of Literature in 1994
• The title of Illustrious Citizen of Buenos Aires in 1986
• The prestigious Miguel de Cervantes Prize in 1991

Adolfo Bioy Casares passed away on March 8, 1999. He is buried in La Recoleta Cemetery in Buenos Aires.

Works

Adolfo Bioy Casares wrote many different kinds of books. His most famous novel is La invención de Morel, known in English as The Invention of Morel.

The Invention of Morel

This story is about a man who is hiding on an island. People say the island has a strange and deadly disease. The man notices that everything seems to repeat itself. He then realizes that all the people he sees are not real. They are recordings made by a special machine invented by someone named Morel. This machine can record not only 3D images but also voices and smells. This makes the recordings seem perfectly real.

The story mixes different styles of writing:

• Realism: It feels very true to life.
• Fantasy: It includes elements that are not possible in the real world.
• Science fiction: It uses ideas about future technology.
• Terror: It has scary or suspenseful parts.

Jorge Luis Borges wrote an introduction for the book. He called it a work of "reasoned imagination." Both Borges and another famous writer, Octavio Paz, said the novel was "perfect." Many people believe this story inspired the movie Last Year at Marienbad and influenced the TV show Lost.

Other Notable Works

Bioy Casares wrote many other novels and short story collections. Here are some of them:

Novels and Novellas

• La invención de Morel (1940)
• El perjurio de la nieve (1944; "The Snow's Perjury")
• Plan de evasión (1945; translated as A Plan for Escape)
• El sueño de los héroes (1954; translated as The Dream of Heroes)
• Diario de la guerra del cerdo (1969; translated as Diary of the War of the Pig)
• Dormir al Sol (1973; translated as Asleep in the Sun)
• La aventura de un fotógrafo en La Plata (1985; translated as The Adventures of a Photographer in La Plata)

Short Story Collections

• Luis Greve, muerto (1937; "Luis Greve, Deceased")
• La trama celeste (1948; "The Celestial Plot")
• Historia prodigiosa (1956; "A Remarkable History")
• El lado de la sombra (1962; "The Shady Side")
• El héroe de las mujeres (1978; "The Hero of Women")
• Una muñeca rusa (1991; translated as A Russian Doll and Other Stories)

Works with Jorge Luis Borges

• Seis problemas para don Isidro Parodi (1942; translated as Six Problems for Don Isidro Parodi)
• Dos fantasías memorables (1946; "Two Memorable Fantasies")
• Un modelo para la muerte (1946; "A Model for Death")
• Cuentos breves y extraordinarios (1955; "Short and Amazing Stories")
• Crónicas de Bustos Domecq (1967; translated as Chronicles of Bustos Domecq)

Works with Silvina Ocampo

• Los que aman, odian (Those Who Love, Hate, 1946)

Screenplays with Jorge Luis Borges

• Los orilleros (1955, The Hoodlums)
• Invasión (1969, Invasion)
• The Others (1974)

Images for kids

• 

  Bioy Casares with Victoria Ocampo and Jorge Luis Borges in Mar del Plata.

See also

In Spanish: Adolfo Bioy Casares para niños