The two authors of S. The Ship of Theseus seem to have invented – or reinvented, because at this point nothing is entirely new – the interactive analogue book. The tasks are divided as follows: the filmmaker and genius of narrative pirouettes J.J. Abrams – creator of Lost – conceived the idea and novelist Doug Dorst wrote it. To give you a complete idea of the proposal, I will proceed to describe it in some detail: the reader will come across a sealed black box or sleeve with a succinct title: S. Inside it contains a novel titled The Ship of Theseus. The volume has an aged appearance. It looks like a well-thumbed copy and we soon discover that it has a library stamp stamped on it.
The printing date that appears on the copy is 1949, published in New York. When leafing through it we see that it is full of underlinings and handwritten comments in various inks in the margins. And various documents appear inserted among its pages: postcards, letters, old photos, newspaper clippings, a paper napkin with a map...
The author of the novel is the enigmatic V. M. Straka, a best-selling writer who always hid his true identity and who was suspected of revolutionary and perhaps terrorist whims (Abrams is clearly inspired by B. Traven, the mysterious author of The Treasure of Sierra Madre ). The no less enigmatic translator of the text, F. X. Caldeira, gives us some clues about the elusive Straka in the prologue. He says that he was about to meet him in person at a hotel in Havana where he had arranged to meet him, but the meeting was cut short because he saw how he was taken away kidnapped in a truck.
The protagonist of the novel – the last one that Straka wrote – is called S. (maybe he himself?) and he is also kidnapped. In his case, they put him on a ship with a disturbing crew and he is dragged into a misty adventure full of arcana and possible symbolic interpretations. The title of the book seems evident to refer us to the so-called metaphysical paradox of the ship of Theseus which, according to Plutarch in his Parallel Lives, obsessed various philosophers and deals with permanence and change.
The translator reflects on the mysteries that surround the novel and its author in various footnotes. But he is not the only one, because in the margins of one page after another two readers engage in a conversation based on crossed handwritten notes. His name is Eric and he is a college graduate obsessed with Straka; Her name is Jen and she is a student who plays along. Both try to unravel the enigmas of the book and the personality of the writer with the help of the materials inserted between the pages of the volume, while we see how the relationship between the two becomes more intimate.
A novel and a novelist interpreted by a supposed translator (could it be the same author?) and by two readers who communicate by leaving messages in the margins. This idea of Russian dolls, of crossed voices, is also in Fortuna by Hernán Díaz, which I reviewed in these pages a few months ago, and was also used by A. S. Byatt in Possession and Harold Pinter in his brilliant script for the film adaptation of The Woman of the French lieutenant of John Fowles, and Borges in several of his stories... But here it goes one step further, because the book itself as a physical object becomes part of the proposed literary game.
I think that juggling would have delighted Umberto Eco. But what is the final result? It must be evaluated at three levels. On the one hand we have the book as an object and here we must applaud without reservation. The edition is spectacular, I don't remember having seen something so exquisite and full of surprises since the glorious issues of Poseía magazine directed by Gonzalo Armero and designed by Diego Lara.
As for reading, there are a couple of buts: the convoluted plot has some ups and downs and above all the proposal is devilishly difficult to read, because the reader has to try not to lose the thread of the narrative, while still paying attention to the conversation. written in the margins between the two readers. It is not very comfortable. And finally: as a literary game, as a pirouette, it is undoubtedly extremely ingenious. Are we facing a literary Lost?
J. J. Abrams, Doug Dorst S. The Ship of Theseus Translation by M.E. Mazzanti Duomo 472 pages 49 euros
