The Island at Noon by Julio Cortázar
"The Island at Noon" is a short story by Argentine author Julio Cortázar that explores themes of obsession, fantasy, and the nature of reality. The narrative follows Marini, a flight attendant who becomes captivated by a small, uninhabited island named Xiros, which he gazes upon during his flights from Rome to Tehran. This island, appearing as a mere dot in the vast Aegean Sea, evolves into the focal point of Marini’s life, leading to a growing detachment from those around him, including his girlfriend Carla and fellow crew members, who label him as "the lunatic of the island."
Marini’s fascination drives him to gather information about Xiros, and he ultimately visits the island in hopes of connecting with it on a deeper level. Upon arrival, he experiences a sense of freedom and dreams of a new life as a fisherman, envisioning a permanent escape from his mundane job. However, this idyllic moment is shattered when he witnesses a plane crash in the ocean, leading him to attempt a rescue. In a tragic twist, Marini realizes that he is, in fact, the deceased victim of the crash, suggesting a profound commentary on the boundaries between dreams and reality. The story intricately weaves elements of magical realism, inviting readers to reflect on the nature of existence and the allure of unattainable dreams.
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The Island at Noon by Julio Cortázar
First published: "La isla a mediodía," 1966 (English translation, 1973)
Type of plot: Fantasy
Time of work: The 1960's
Locale: The eastern Mediterranean and Aegean seas
Principal Characters:
Marini , a flight attendantCarla , one of his loversFelisa , another flight attendantKlaios , the patriarch of Xiros
The Story
Marini is a flight attendant on an airline route between Rome and Tehran. During one of the thrice-weekly flights, he sees a small island through the plane window while he is handing out lunch trays. One of the crew tells him that Xiros, the island, is one of the few places on the Aegean that tourists have not discovered yet. Although from the plane Xiros appears to be little more than a speck, a strip of white sandy beach rising into a desolate central plateau, Marini falls into the habit of looking at it every time the plane flies over, which happens around noon during each flight. Seen from a high altitude, the small, solitary island has an air of unreality, as if it exists only in Marini's imagination. For Marini, flying three times a week over Xiros seems as unreal as dreaming three times a week of flying over Xiros.
The island does indeed exist, and when Marini is between flights he gathers information about it. He locates it on maps, reads about it in travel guides, and frequents secondhand bookstores searching for books about Greece. A few weeks after first sighting Xiros, he is offered the glamorous Rome-to-New York route but turns it down because he does not want to stop seeing the island several times a week. Xiros has become the center of his life. His strange fixation not only produces a rift with his girlfriend Carla, who is not interested in listening to endless talk about Xiros, but also creates friction with the other flight attendants, who do not understand why Marini drops whatever he is doing at noon to look down at the tiny island. They begin to call him the lunatic of the island. The only one who shows any sympathy toward him is Felisa, who agrees to fill in for him at noon so that he can go to the back of the plane and gaze at his island.
Eager to see the island up close, Marini borrows money from his friend Mario and goes there on vacation. Arriving at dawn on a barge after a complicated trip, Marini is met at the dock by Klaios, the patriarch of the island's only village, and some of the other islanders. Feeling reinvigorated, Marini gets out of his city clothes, puts on shorts and sandals, and goes exploring on the island. He walks along the deserted beach, watches squid fishermen casting and taking up their nets, and swims in the emerald blue waters with Ionas, one of Klaios's sons. Lying on the beach after the swim, Marini imagines giving up his job and making his living as a fisherman, like the island's inhabitants. He begins to think that his future lies in Xiros, that somehow he would remain there forever.
At noon that same day, Marini climbs one of the cliffs and sees the Rome-to-Tehran flight in the distance. As he watches, the plane makes a nose dive and plunges into the ocean one hundred meters from the island. Hurrying down to the beach, he swims out to look for survivors. After a few minutes, he notices a hand bobbing in and out of the water. He drags the survivor to the shore and tries to keep him alive with mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, but the man bleeds to death from a gaping wound in his throat. Klaios and his children rush to the beach and surround the corpse.
Klaios looks out to sea looking for other survivors, but they are alone on the island, except for the corpse. Marini, who is the dead man, has never reached Xiros.