Sayrat Salekin
Author: Alexander Belyayev
Average rating: 4.1/5
127 pages
A
“sea-devil” haunts the Rio de la Plata. Strange cries out at sea, slashed
fishermen's nets, glimpses of a creature astride a dolphin have created quite
the macabre image. The devil had become a local phenomenon.
Not far from Buenos Aires, on a lonely stretch of shore,
On a lonely stretch of shore, not far from Buenos Aires, Dr. Salvator lives in seclusion behind a high wall, whose steel-plated gates only open to let in his Indian patients. Salvator, a scientist and a maverick surgeon, makes his son, Ichthyander, a life-saving transplant - a set of shark gills. The experiment is a success but it limits the young man's ability to interact with the world outside his ocean environment. He has to spend much of his time in water.
Enter the Spaniard Pedro Zurita. Local pearl gatherer, captain of “The Jellyfish”. He learns about Ichthyander and plans to exploit boy's superhuman diving abilities to force him to pearl-dive for him, but fails. Unlike the Indians, who revere Dr. Salvator as a God, Zurita has a hunch that the God on land and the devil in the sea have something in common. Enlisting the help of two Araucanian brothers he sets out to probe the mystery.
Not far from Buenos Aires, on a lonely stretch of shore,
On a lonely stretch of shore, not far from Buenos Aires, Dr. Salvator lives in seclusion behind a high wall, whose steel-plated gates only open to let in his Indian patients. Salvator, a scientist and a maverick surgeon, makes his son, Ichthyander, a life-saving transplant - a set of shark gills. The experiment is a success but it limits the young man's ability to interact with the world outside his ocean environment. He has to spend much of his time in water.
Enter the Spaniard Pedro Zurita. Local pearl gatherer, captain of “The Jellyfish”. He learns about Ichthyander and plans to exploit boy's superhuman diving abilities to force him to pearl-dive for him, but fails. Unlike the Indians, who revere Dr. Salvator as a God, Zurita has a hunch that the God on land and the devil in the sea have something in common. Enlisting the help of two Araucanian brothers he sets out to probe the mystery.
| But Ichthyander must keep his secret from the world. The conflict arises
from his falling in love with a pearl-fisher's beautiful daughter, Guttiere-
the same Pedro Zurita is determined to be married to. But Ichthyander’s
secret is discovered and the girl's father attempts to exploit Ichthyander
for his ability. Due to being kept caged under water, his ability to breath
in the open air is affected, and he must now permanently live in the sea, or
atleast for several years. The story shifts from the bottom of the sea to the Spaniard's schooner, “The Jellyfish”, and back again, with interludes in sun-drenched Buenos Aires and the countryside, the mystery of Ichthyander the sea-devil is unfolded before the reader in a narrative as gripping as it informative. Although ostensibly a lost-love-tragedy, the story has a significant focus on greed and commercial exploitation, here materialized by the greedy pearl-fishermen. Although set free, the lovers are permanently separated from each other. |
The
story received a silver-screen treatment in 1962 . “Amphibian Man”, was
directed by Vladimir Chebotaryov. A 2004 Russian TV series was aired, loosely
based on the novel.
To sum up, The Amphibian Man is a remarkable science fiction that is strongly recommended for young readers. Alexander Belyayev tells a story of love, greed, mortality and separation against the backdrop of a gothic tale of the struggling life of a peculiar creature in recluse. Similar to other works by Belyayev, the book investigates the possibilities of physical survival under extreme conditions, as well as the moral integrity of scientific experiments. It also touches on socialist ideas of improving living conditions for the world's poor. It opens our eyes to the bitter ways the world works in- where people are ready to invest behind the same figure that they had condemned, to attain something of immense value.
To sum up, The Amphibian Man is a remarkable science fiction that is strongly recommended for young readers. Alexander Belyayev tells a story of love, greed, mortality and separation against the backdrop of a gothic tale of the struggling life of a peculiar creature in recluse. Similar to other works by Belyayev, the book investigates the possibilities of physical survival under extreme conditions, as well as the moral integrity of scientific experiments. It also touches on socialist ideas of improving living conditions for the world's poor. It opens our eyes to the bitter ways the world works in- where people are ready to invest behind the same figure that they had condemned, to attain something of immense value.
No comments:
Post a Comment