Mar al fondo.
Gerling, David Ross
Jose Luis Sampedro's slim volume takes us on ten fantasy
adventures, each with a particular ocean or sea as its backdrop (mar al
fondo). "Artico" is a tale of adultery and suicide involving
the owner of a Baffin Bay whaler, his wife, and the ship's captain.
A science-fiction piece, "Mediterraneo" is ironically the
weakest of the collection but nevertheless evokes the rugged beauty of
the French Riviera. "Baltico," with overtones of the ballad
"El conde Arnaldos," tells the story of Hans, a German
amnesiac, who becomes Hendrik, a Dutch sailor.
Freudian psychology and Hindu philosophy inform "Indico,"
an exotic parable about an ascetic who battles the five senses on the
way to Nirvana. A lighthouse on the southern coast of England is the
setting for "Land's End," an erotically charged melodrama
wherein religious fundamentalism, wife abuse, and madness are the norm
rather than the exception. "Caribe" captures splendidly the
sultriness of a West Indian seaport, where rum and fornication assuage the pain of a mulatto sponge fisherman who sees his ancient skill
falling victim to technology.
In "Egeo" the sparkling Aegean Islands are the setting for
a truly unique version of boy-meets-girl. Tarn, a French archeologist,
wrecks his bike near a small village and meets Nyra, a veritable Dama de
Elche incarnate. From that point on, all is one big sensuous crescendo
that climaxes in a love scene, appropriately, under a fig tree near one
of Tarn's digs.
"Mar del sur" coalesces the excitement of thrillers like
Richard Edward Connell's "Most Dangerous Game" and Henri
Charriere's Papillon. A convict escapes an Australian penal colony
and is literally blown by a typhoon onto a tropical paradise, where a
gorgeous island girl nurtures him physically and emotionally. The ending
will excite even the most jaded of readers.
"Mar amarillo" is an exquisitely cruel tale of white
slavery. The captain of a junk must deliver in perfect condition a
young, kidnapped Englishwoman and a machine gun to the Chinese warlord
Tung, who has purchased them as toys for his adolescent son. The action
reaches its apex when Tung boards the ship to inspect the human cargo;
but when the captain turns the gold key that opens the teak door to the
girl's cabin, horror dashes erotic expectation.
"Antartico" closes the collection. Written in an
impressionistic prose, it records the last moments of a South African
coast-guard cutter engulfed in a polar blizzard.
These ten meticulously written stories, all exuding the ambiences of
their settings, will both nourish the imagination and indulge the
senses.
David Ross Gerling Sam Houston State University
