The Shipyard

Larsen, or "the bodysnatcher" is back in Santa Maria, a small, backwater town in an unnamed Latin American country. He is just back from prison for an unnamed offense, something to do with his running a brothel, and perhaps more, we are not sure. He is a quiet man in his 60s, not at all the typical jailbird, courteous and gentlemanly even in his ways, at the same time dark and brooding. He is hired by old Petrus, once a powerful industrialist but who is now reduced to a senile shadow of his former self. Larsen's new task was to be manager of Petrus's bankrupt shipyard -- an enterprise which has closed its doors to business years ago. The shipyard is now a huge rusting hulk, decay to be seen everywhere -- in the ruins of buildings, show more structures, and equipment or what's left of it after parts had been sold or stolen. Two others constituted the staff of this ghost enterprise -- a German engineer, and the bookkeeper who, with his young wife, lives in a rundown shack in the corner of the yard.

The pretense has to be kept up -- this is the essence of their jobs. Yellowed sheets of paper, faded blueprints, crumbling offices, telephones long dead -- evidence of life from years ago provide material for their daily bizarre routine. Petrus assures them the investors are just waiting for his signal to put in the money. This is the hope, and all appearances must be kept at all cost. The desolation follow these workers even outside work -- the absence of hope, more than their grinding material poverty, crushes the soul, and only the barest hints of civility keep them human. The dilemma faces them all: to continue like this or to give it up, bolt from here? The existential void. Everything is clothed with a haze, uncertainty, even Larsen's courtship of Petreus's daughter -- what did he feel for her really? He leads her on, the townspeople are led to believe there will be a marriage soon, but we know that nothing is going to come from this, as with many things in this place.

This novel is all about setting, all about mood. Everything is bleak -- the images are sparse, the characters and the townspeople all seem trapped in the desolation of their existence -- there is unbearable sadness, though not tedium, not boredom. The unawareness characterizes everything, life had to be lived though they behaved like condemned men because they bore the weight of nothingness. Except for Petrus, Onetti's characters are deliberate, purposive, and despite the degradation of their circumstances and their delusional lives, they retain an element of respectability. At the novel's end, we do not see them doing the terrible things we expected them to do. Instead of a dissolution, some kind of resolution occurs, and Larsen too, goes quietly. We also learn that in the junk heap of the shipyard, cries of a newborn were heard which could only mean that all is not lost.

What is reality, what is farce? Is farce reality, or reality farce? The one who decides to cut himself off, return to the world of reality, the one who manages to escape, in whatever form that may take, is he really better off? And if the illusion falls apart, what is left? Who are the deceivers, who the deceived? Where is the boundary between the real and the imagined? What is the value of an illusion -- is it in its ability to keep our hopes up or the meaning it renders to small, daily, repeated acts? Aren't we, in one way or another, living in such a shipyard? show less

As stated on the back cover, The Shipyard is "allegorical, reflecting the decay and breakdown of Uruguayan society and modern urban life." I found it intriguing, mesmerizing, and troubling all at the same time. Petrus, a shipyard owner, hires Larsen, a man with a scandalous past, as his General Manager. The remaining staff at the shipyard include an Administrative Manager (Galrez), and a Technical Manager (Kunz). These are three roles Petrus deems necessary to demonstrate to his creditors that the shipyard is indeed a going concern. Yet there's really no business being conducted here. The owner is in another town, supposedly working through bankruptcy proceedings in court. The three employees come to work, review documents, and keep the show more accounts -- including crediting themselves with salary they never receive. There is an occasional glimmer of hope that the shipyard will rebound, but much like the legal case in Dickens' Bleak House, there's one setback after another.

Larsen is a lonely and unsavory man. He previously ran a prostitution ring, and is trying to recover from that scandal by reviving the shipyard. He lusts after the novel's female characters: Petrus' mentally disabled adult daughter, the daughter's maid, and Galrez's pregnant wife. But his relationships with both women and men are superficial. But this novel is more about atmosphere and ideas than characters and relationships. While I prefer character-driven literature, there was something about The Shipyard's spare prose and bleak imagery that drew me in and lurked in my thoughts even when I wasn't reading. show less

A strange book, a unique story of a derelict shipyard in Puerto Astillero owned by Jeremias Petrus and managed by Larsen with two workers, Galvez and Kunz who are taking inventory and doing maintenance. It is an illusion for all four of them; Petrus pretends to pay them, Larsen pretends to oversee thousands of documents years old, while Galvez and Kunz pretend to take inventory while selling off whatever they can to pay themselves and Larsen. It is a sad story of deceit, betrayal, and grinding poverty. Uruguay deserves to be represented on The 1001 List and this book is sufficient to do it.

An interesting short novel, The Shipyard looks at Larsen, a man who has returned to Santa Maria, changed his name, and is now the (unpaid) manager of Petrus' struggling shipyard. Why is it struggling? WE don't know exactly, but there are but 3 employees, no running ships, broken down buildings, rusty machinery (which is being sold on the side in lieu of the 3 employees getting their salaries).

Why has "Larsen" returned? Why did he eave in disgrace? Does he think Mr Petrus will suddenly get--what, a government infusion of money? Does he hope to marry Petrus' weak-minded daughter Angelica Ines before that infusion comes?

And Galvez and Kunz, the other 2 employees (also not paid)--what do they think they will gain? How did they end up here? show more

There is a second book to this 2-book series, which apparently explains the happenings before this book. I think I need to get it, as I am horribly curious as to what all is being insinuated and hinted at. I expect that a better knowledge of Uruguayan/Latin American politics would explain a bit of this story--but I don't have it. show less

This is an odd story written by Juan Carlos Onetti (uraguay). The cover of my book compares the author to Faulkner and his imaginary Yoknapotawpha. The story is set on the river entrance from the Atlantic and involves a bankrupt shipyard. There are these four men who all go about things as if the shipyard is still viable. An odd story but the writing is good. Larsen, the main character, is a mysterious person. Referred to as the body snatcher. Perhaps I would have known more if I had read the book Bodysnatcher. The reader never really knows his past, where he has come from and why he takes the job of general manager of the shipyard when there is no money to pay his salary. This is winter in the Southern Hemisphere. Rather bleak.

Prólogo de José Donoso

8432221945