Agua

Pushkin Press books never fail to impress me,

the jackets of their books always catch the eye,

the cover of Eduardo Berti's novel, Agua, is a

photograph by Italian Futurist photographer

Maggiorino Gramalia, called 'Spettraizzazione dell'Io'.

I don't know a great deal about Futurism in Japan

apart from Hirato Renkichi .The Futurists were

well known for embracing technology, and for

their desire to disregard/destroy the old, so it's

a good choice for this novel which is set at a pivotal

time, when the world was turning to electric power

as an energy source, as a character, (Resende)

in the book says ' the first part of my life living in

candle light, the second part in the world of cinema,

radio, electricity.'

Luis Agua is a travelling representative for an electrical

company, going from place to place, selling this new

power. He's thinking of settling at a village, someone

mentions to him the village Vila Natal , and he

decides to visit. In 1920 the village has only horse drawn

carriages, and on his arrival he discovers that everyone in the

village has gone to an auction at the castle, Senhora Fernanda,

the owner of the castle is selling some pieces of art.

Through Mister Roger, an Englishman, Agua learns that

Fernanda is recently widowed and that her husband,(Antunes Coelho),

had left a strange clause in his will, that she will not inherit the

family's fortune until she has remarried. The paintings she

has put up for auction are revealed as forgeries by Mister Roger,

although a bracelet Fernanda is wearing catches his eye,but

he's told that it's not for sell. Agua learns that Fernanda has

a fiance 25 years younger than herself, called Broyz. Agua

informs Mister Roger of his intention of settling in the village,

and is offered a room in the Englishman's house, Agua declines

the offer as he has to leave the village for a few months to

clear up some work matters.

Fernanda falls ill, and she summons Broyz to her bedside to

tell him that she doesn't love him, but wants to escape the

trap of her husband's will, she offers he can have one third

of the castle's wealth, but has to leave soon after they

are married. He tells her that he loves her and agrees on the

condition that she gives him the bracelet. It transpires that

he is in debt to Mister Roger, Broyz pawns the bracelet to

clear his debt. Agua returns to the village,and finds that a

local doctor (Dr Alves) has taken the room offered by Mister Roger,

so he finds lodgings elsewhere. The local clergy,

(Father Teresino), has started sermoning against the advent

of electricity, God created the night for sleeping and rest,and

sees electricity as man's interference with the ways laid out

by nature (God). Agua eyes the castle as being a great way

to demonstrate to the rest of the village the benefits of

electricity.

On the day of Fernanda and Broyz's wedding a plane is

spotted in the sky, and lands on the castle's grounds, the

pilot is the enigmatic Captain Acevedo, an acquaintance

of Fernanda and the castle from a long time ago and a pioneer

of aviation. Time passes after the wedding and Broyz can't

bring himself to leave Fernanda and the castle, although

he had agreed to do so as part of the conditions to the

marriage. Fernanda's manservant Fabio has to inform him

that he is banned from visiting Fernanda in her room, who

is now bedridden due to her illness and Broyz suspects that

he is the victim of a vendetta made up by the servants,to

oust him from the castle. Fernanda gets weaker and weaker

and passes away one night, the cause believed to be Cholera,

or possibly African fever, not long after an epidemic breaks

out, the village and neighbouring area gets sectioned off by

the government, the servants flee through fear of contagion,

only one stays (Alma), who cooks Broyz his meals, alone in the

castle, the days go by, their relationship grows. Letters from a

mysterious man called Tomas arrive, claiming he is the legitimate

heir to the family fortune and castle, Broyz harbours suspicions

that maybe Alma could be behind the letters, but she leaves

the castle and a letter to Broyz saying she is going to find

out the truth behind Tomas, the sender of the letters...

The novel is punctuated with Kafka like scenarios, and

the story has more turns than a spiral staircase, the

riddle of the strange will of Antunes Coelho and the

true identity of the mysterious Tomas is well hidden

in Berti's tight prose and had me guessing right

until the end. Alberto Manguel provides an afterword

and the translation is by Alexander Cameron & Paul Buck.  

 

Pushkin Press

Eduardo Berti (in Spanish)