Today I want to talk a little about a novel that my girlfriend recommended me to read and I want to share it with you.
Juan Pablo Castel, a lone painter, pleads guilty to murder and tells the story of his crime in the hope that someone will understand. He also confesses that the only person who could do it was precisely his victim, María Iribarne.
The story begins in the city of Buenos Aires, where Castel participates in a painting exhibition with a painting entitled "Maternity". His work includes a tiny window that allows glimpsing a woman observing the sea, a detail that constitutes for Castel, the essential part of the painting. In the foreground, another figure of greater proportions occupies most of the canvas. No one pays attention to the window, except for a young woman who stays for a long time observing the scene. His disappearance among the crowd causes a strong uneasiness in Castel, who begins to obsess about finding it again. A casual encounter on the street allows him to engage in his first and eventful conversation. Later telephone calls increase her desire to see her, only to discover that Maria has left for a family stay. However, he has left a letter addressed to him. Castel receives the letter from her husband, a blind man whose existence was unknown until then. Begin to sink into an internal dialogue where your questions will not find an answer. Maria's letter is actually a short note confirming that she also thinks of him, a correspondence to the statement made by Castel during his last telephone conversation. Days later, María returns to the city and they begin to frequent each other regularly. Castel is anxious and possessive, Maria seems to coincide with his feelings, but expresses himself vaguely in terms that often get him exasperated. The subsequent encounters in his workshop do not mitigate the insecurities of Castel, who becomes possessive and violent. After one of his customary interrogations, this time on the affections of Mary with respect to her own husband, a breakthrough ensues. Castel, repentant of his cruelty, seeks her, but she avoids it. Finally, Maria responds to one of his letters, inviting him to the room. Castel is received at the station by a driver. The absence of Maria irritates him and hesitates between returning to Buenos Aires or staying there. Anticipating the stormy weather that will result in a trip back to the city, he decides to accompany the driver to the ranch, where he meets Hunter, a cousin of Maria. Stung by jealousy, Castel concludes that Hunter is Maria's lover and leaves abruptly to the city without saying goodbye. Back home and after drinking a considerable amount of alcohol, she writes a letter accusing her of sleeping with her husband, with Hunter and with him. After depositing it in the post office, he reflects on the injustice of the accusation and tries in vain to recover the letter. He then decides to call Maria to apologize, but the tone of the conversation again leads to a torrent of reproaches, threats of suicide and the imperative need to meet her the next day. After expressing the uselessness of the meeting, Maria agrees to the meeting for the next day. Again, Castel sinks into intricate reflections that only exacerbate his feeble state of mind. María does not show up for the appointment and when she tries to call her on the phone she is informed that she has been returned to the instance. Furious, Castel returns to the studio to destroy his paintings with a kitchen knife. That same afternoon, he set off on his way to the estancia. Hidden among the trees, watch Maria and Hunter go down the steps together. They take their arms and take a walk in the park until the rain forces them to take shelter in the house. Castel's suspicions seem to be confirmed when only Hunter's room is lit in the dark. Castel bursts into Maria's room to repeatedly stab her in the chest and belly. Back in Buenos Aires, he meets with Allende, the blind husband of María to throw his deception in his face. The man tries in vain to hold Castel, who seems pleased by the suffering he has managed to inflict. "Foolish," the blind man continually repeats, a word whose meaning Castel will try to decipher in the solitude of his cell.
Published in 1948, El túnel is the first novel by Ernesto Sabato. Admired by writers of enormous caliber as Thomas Mann and Albert Camus, it managed to capture the attention of international critics. The internal collapse of Castel forms the guiding thread of the plot, so that the description of his actions become mere consequences of his intricate inner struggle. A no less important element in the novel is the mystery that surrounds the characters and their motivations. What is silent manages to balance the weight of the narrative on the opposite side of what is said. We completely ignore Maria's motives for enduring the mistreatment of her lover, we ignore the details of her relationship with her husband, and her cousin, we do not know why she decided to return to the ranch or why she often affirms that she is doing wrong to everyone are getting closer. With the exception of the painter, who discovers his twisted elaborations with luxury of detail, the other characters are like the first plane in the painting of Castel. They occupy a space in the canvas, but they are traced with lines that vanish, insinuating only the shapes that each viewer will interpret to their liking.