THE ISLAND AT NOON ((La isla a mediodía)
Overwhelming Humdrum: “The first time he saw the island, Marini was politely leaning over the seats on the left, adjusting a plastic table before setting a lunch tray down.” Julio’s opening line of this short tale of obsession, a flight attendant’s obsession for a Greek island, an image of escape from the drab routine of walking up and down the narrow aisle serving passengers, listening to complaints, the forced smiles, requirements of politeness and small talk with colleagues, strict dress code, forever marking the minutes on one’s wristwatch. Think of how claustrophobic we can become on an airplane as passengers; then think of all those men and women who spend so much of their life on airplanes. Let me out of here!
Dreamtime: Marini’s island is Xiros, a small, solitary island surrounded by an infinite blue. If he would like to experience the island's pristine beauty, he’s told he had better act fast – the tourists will soon flood the island currently inhabited by a handful of fisherman. Marini flies over Xiros at noon three times a week but, so near but so far away, he might as well be dreaming he’s flying over Xiros. I especially fancy Julio’s choice of name for Marini’s island: Xiros, like the number zero with all its ground zero associations. And, of course, in the hectic bustle of our modern world, we all have dreams of escape to a deserted island paradise, reducing all our many nagging hassles down to zero.
Growing Obsession: Marini knows he is obsessed – he had read the guidebooks telling him how octopus is the main resource, Xiros fisherman use large stones for piles and every five days a boat leaves for Xiros. He even makes a trip to a travel agency where they tell him he will have to charter a special boat or perhaps hitch a ride on the octopus boat. That’s the nature of obsession – once we allow our obsession to take hold, gathering information, digging into details, it really takes root and grows and grows. And since we live in the age of information with an entire ocean of facts available for anyone to collect and sort through on any topic whatsoever, our obsession can easily fill our every waking hour.
Eureka!: The pilots call him the madman of the island; his girlfriend informs him she’s going to marry a dentist; his dinner date makes a beeline for the bar when he launches into island talk, but no matter, Marini is too preoccupied with his one and only subject to give mind to anything else. And then his dream comes true: he finally gets to travel to Xiros. On arrival, the boat’s captain introduces him to Klaios, an island fisherman who has two sons flocking around him. Marini immediately feels at home, kinship with Klaios, instant friends with the boys. Ah, to bask in union with the object of one’s obsession, the object can be another person, perhaps one’s lover or soulmate, an activity like skiing or tennis or cooking, but whatever it is, for the one obsessed, there’s nothing else in this world like it.
Dream Come True, One: Mirini sets out for a blissful walk on the island (he recognizes a cove he’s seen from the air!), savoring every minute, then after some time, sweating in the heat of the midday sun, he undresses and thrusts himself from a rock into the sea. He swims and occasionally turns on his back to float, accepting all of his surroundings in a single act of conciliation. He now knows in his heart he has found a new home and will never return to his old life.
Dream Come True, Two: After his swim, he strolls back toward the houses. One of Klaios’ sons is waiting for him. Mirini voices the one Greek word he knows: Kalimera. The boy doubles over in laughter. Ah, to share your moment of supreme joy with a new friend. Mirini turns toward the sea and catches a glimpse of the charter boat becoming smaller and smaller on the horizon, which, for him, signals farewell to any dealings he will ever have with his former life. Good riddance!
High Noon: Now that he’s on his secluded island, will his former life ever impose itself on him? Mirini closes his eyes, not even wanting to catch so much of a glimpse of the plane that will be flying overhead very soon. But then we read, “Unable to fight against all that past he opened his eyes and sat up, and in the same moment saw the right wing of the plane, almost over his head, tilt unaccountably, the changed sound of the jet engines, the almost vertical drop into the sea.”
Dream Turned Nightmare: Mirini runs to the spot of the crash. He dives in the water – all he can glimpse is a cardboard box and a hand, the hand of a dying man. He pulls the man in a white shirt up on land, a man who is now dead in his arms. His mind reels. The boy and some women from the village run up to him. Thus ends the story. However, as readers we know this day, this hour, will be the most vivid, most memorable in the life of Mirini.
Multiple Possibilities; Multiple Interpretations: Here's another take on the tale: As the rest of his life becomes “blurred, as if taking the place of something else,” Marini transforms into an obsessive, someone whose whole existence centers around the few moments each day when he can gaze at the island. Thus, Marini’s visit to Xiros could be one huge hallucination. Perhaps the plane does go down, and Marini dies in the crash. Julio's tale would then be the record of Marini’s dying fantasies, the longed-for but never achieved existence that flashes before his eyes in the instants before death.
Either way, the one of the things I love about a Julio Cortázar short story is we never know how it will end until we finish reading the last sentence. Life can turn that quickly, that sharply, and no writer has ever captured life's sharp turns more brilliantly than Julio.
Comments
Post a Comment