The concept of duality throughout The Invention of Morel fascinated me. The most central level of duality (as always) is life and death, and how the lines between those two realms might be obscured. The twin suns and moons, the two copies of the book, and the mirror’s reflection were some of the many details that contributed to the larger conflict of life and death. The protagonist’s very existence complicates this conflict. I cannot decide if Morel is a projection of the protagonist’s mind (not literally, as images are constructed by the machine) but truly a mental invention made to deal with his heartbreak and isolation on the island. This would parallel the modern conflict of making sense in a nonsensical world; also, the drawing of the island seems to resemble a human head to me.

The book’s discussion of life after death and the importance of preserving consciousness instead of “the whole body” prompted me to consider art’s role in immortality. Of course, the narrator discusses the imperfect and partial renderings of reality made by photographs, films, and records. Yet the loss of his soul seems to suggest that this endeavor should not be undertaken by any man or machine. The beauty, life, and longevity of a subject partially lies in the reader’s infinite interpretations of it.