La invención de Morel (1940)

A fugitive on an island watches visitors whose behaviour refuses to make sense. Bioy Casares keeps the speculative premise hidden inside a compact story of observation and desire, making this a good experiment in how little explanation a powerful idea initially needs. Read without a plot summary. The Spanish original is La invención de Morel; Ruth L. C. Simms's English translation is The Invention of Morel, while Margaret Jull Costa's newer translation is titled Morel's Invention.