The Novices of Lerna

Argentinian writer Bonomini (1929–1994) makes a noteworthy English-language debut with this entrancing collection. After Ramón Beltra, the Argentine narrator of the title novella, accepts an enigmatic invitation to an illustrious fellowship in the Swiss mountain town of Lerna, he travels abroad for the first time (“Visiting Europe is something that every Argentine keeps in reserve as an unquestionable inheritance; to visit is almost a disappointment”), only to discover that every fellowship recipient looks identical to him. When some of these “novices,” as they’re called, fall ill from a mysterious epidemic, they begin to consider whether they are not there to study but to be studied. The narrator of “The Martyr” pines for his former lover who left her dog behind, and the story takes a dark turn as he considers what it might take to see her again. With “The C.C.C,” Bonomini creates a world of parallel universes and replicas in the story of two aging cousins whose lives appear to be entirely unremarkable. Tricky but never gimmicky, this will appeal to admirers of Borges. (May)