Dormir al sol / Asleep in the Sun

About Dormir al sol / Asleep in the Sun

Dormir al sol es una novela epistolar. Lucio Bordenave le escribe a su amigo Félix Ramos y le cuenta los momentos vividos desde que conoce a un adiestrador de perros llamado Standle.

Lucio Bordenave, un relojero por resignación que aprende ese oficio cuando lo echan de un banco, se desvive por su mujer Diana, cuyo malhumor él atribuye al hecho de no haber podido tener hijos. El inestable clima de la pareja se termina de romper cuando conocen al profesor Standle, un inexpugnable alemán que dirige una escuela para perros.

Al igual que el pasaje de Villa Urquiza en el que viven conforma un barrio dentro del barrio, una técnica psiquiátrica novedosa y demasiado eficaz convierte esta aparente novela costumbrista en una historia fantástica, tan laberíntica y fascinante como el mismísimo Parque Chas que, por supuesto, también le sirve de escenario. Alejandro Chomski estrenó la película Dormir al sol en 2012 con Luis Machín como Lucio Bordenave.

ENGLISH TRANSLATION

Lucio, a normal man in a normal (nosy) city neighborhood with normal problems with his in-laws (ever-present) and job (he lost it) finds he has a new problem on his hands: his beloved wife, Diana. She’s been staying out till all hours of the night and grows more disagreeable by the day. Should Lucio have Diana committed to the Psychiatric Institute, as her friend the dog trainer suggests? Before Lucio can even make up his mind, Diana is carted away by the mysterious head of the institute. Never mind, Diana’s sister, who looks just like Diana—and yet is nothing like her—has moved in. And on the recommendation of the dog trainer, Lucio acquires an adoring German shepherd, also named Diana. Then one glorious day, Diana returns, affectionate and pleasant. She’s been cured! But have the doctors at the institute gone too far?
 
Asleep in the Sun is the great work of the Argentine master Adolfo Bioy Casares’s later years. Like his legendary Invention of Morel, it is an intoxicating mixture of fantasy, sly humor, and menace. Whether read as a fable of modern politics, a meditation on the elusive parameters of the self, or a most unusual love story, Bioy’s book is an almost scarily perfect comic turn, as well as a pure delight.