Животно надарено с разум

by Robert Merle, Робер Мерл, Славчо Рибарски (Translator)

Главните герои в романа — един учен и два делфина — са принудени да решават изключително важен проблем, засягащ съдбата на цялата планета — да се предотврати замисляната от империалистите унищожителна война. През перипетиите на напрегнатото действие се откроява темата за отговорността на учения в нашия свят. И ако професор Савил напомня много Пърсел от „Островът“, то е, защото и в единия, и в другия писателят е вложил като основна черта на характера своя активен хуманизъм.

Genres: Fiction, Science Fiction, France, Animals, French Literature, Science Fiction Fantasy, Thriller

440 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1967

About the author

Born in Tebessa located in ,what was then, the French colony of Algeria. Robert Merle and his family moved to France in 1918. Merle wrote in many styles and won the Prix Goncourt for his novel Week-end à Zuydcoote. He has also written a 13 book series of historical novels, Fortune de France. Recreating 16th and 17th century France through the eyes of a fictitious Protestant doctor turned spy, he went so far as to write it in the period's French making it virtually untranslatable.

His novels Un animal doué de la raison (A Sentient Animal, 1967), a stark Cold War satire inspired by John Lilly's studies of dolphins and the Caribbean Crisis, and Malevil (1972), a post-apocalyptic story, were both translated into English and filmed, the former as Day of the Dolphin. The film The Day of the Dolphin bore very little resemblance to Merle's story.

He died of a heart attack at his home La Malmaison in Grosrouvre near Paris.

Reviews

[Maziyar Yf · Rating 3 out of 5]

حیوان هوشمند کتابی ایست متفاوت از روبر مرل، نویسنده‌ی نامدار فرانسوی که بیشتر به خاطر کتاب هایی مانند مرگ کسب و کار من است ، قلعه مالویل و جزیره شناخته می شود . حیوان هوشمند که در ژانر علمی تخیلی قرار می‌گیرد، خواننده را به دنیایی می‌برد که در آن دانشمندان تلاش می‌کنند تا با آموزش زبان انسانی به دلفین‌ها، به مرزهای ارتباط بین گونه‌ای دست یابند.
در میان کتاب های اندکی که از روبرمرل به فارسی ترجمه شده حیوان هوشمند را باید کتاب متفاوتی دانست . این کتاب با رویکردی خاص به دنیای حیوانات و ارتباط انسان با آن‌ها، از دیگر آثار او متمایز می‌شود . در حالی که بیشتر آثار مرل ، در کنار داستان به تاریخ، و فلسفه هم پرداخته اند ، اما حیوان هوشمند به طور مشخص به حوزه علم و زیست‌شناسی، به ویژه مطالعه بر روی دلفین‌ها، می‌پردازد.
مرل به جای تمرکز بر روابط انسانی، چگونگی رابطه بین انسان و دلفین‌هارا بیان می کند . آقای نابغه ، با طرح این سوال که آیا حیوانات نیز دارای احساسات، آگاهی و هوش هستند، تصورات رایج درباره جایگاه انسان در طبیعت را به چالش می کشد . مرل با بلند پروازی آینده‌ای را به تصویر کشیده که در آن انسان‌ها موفق به برقراری ارتباط با موجودات هوشمند دیگر، یعنی دلفین ها شده اند. این جنبه علمی تخیلی، به جذابیت داستان و تفاوت آن با دیگر کتاب های مرل کمک کرده است.
مرل حیوان هوشمند کتاب خود را دلفین انتخاب کرده ، موجوداتی با هوش بالا، توانایی‌های ارتباطی پیچیده، شباهت‌های عصبی با انسان و محبوبیت زیاد در میان انسان ها . او از انتخاب کلیشه ای میمون ها ، شامپانزه ها و سگ ها اجتناب کرده و با انتخاب دلفین به عنوان محور اصلی داستان خود، توانسته داستان علمی تخیلی جذاب و خواندنی خلق کند.

محتوا کتاب
حیوان هوشمند درباره‌ی گروهی از دانشمندان آمریکایی است که با هدف برقراری ارتباط با دلفین‌ها، تحقیقات گسترده‌ای را آغاز کرده اند. آن‌ها تلاش می‌کنند تا به این موجودات هوشمند، زبان انگلیسی بیاموزند و بدین ترتیب، به روزنه ای برای درک هوش و احساسات حیوانات دست یابند.
اما این تحقیقات به سادگی پیش نمی‌رود و با پیچیدگی‌های اخلاقی و علمی روبرو می‌شود. دانشمندان درگیر پرسش‌های بزرگی مانند ماهیت هوش، جایگاه انسان در طبیعت و مسئولیت انسان در قبال سایر موجودات زنده می‌شوند.
با پیشرفت داستان، خواننده به تدریج درمی‌یابد که تلاش برای برقراری ارتباط با دلفین‌ها صرفاً یک پژوهش علمی نیست. در پس این تلاش، پرسش‌های عمیق‌تری نهفته است که باورهای انسان درباره جایگاه خود در جهان را به چالش می کشد .
با هر کشف جدید درباره هوش، احساسات و پیچیدگی ارتباطات دلفین‌ها، مرزهای میان انسان و حیوان مبهم‌تر می‌شوند. خواننده به این باور سنتی که انسان موجودی برتر و جدا از سایر گونه‌ها است، شک می‌کند و به این فکر فرو می‌رود که آیا انسان حق دارد که خود را مخلوق برتر بداند و بر سایر موجودات تسلط داشته باشد ؟ اگر روزی موجودی هوشمندتر از انسان پدید آید چه اتفاقی خواهد افتاد؟ آیا آن‌ها نیز مانند انسان به دنبال تسلط بر سایر گونه‌ها خواهند بود؟ یا شاید هم با درکی عمیق‌تر از ارتباط همه موجودات زنده، رویکردی متفاوت نسبت به طبیعت اتخاذ کنند؟ حالا که دلفین ها عقل و هوش دارند آیا می توان آنها را به ادیان مختلف و در این کتاب به مسیحیت دعوت کرد ؟ آیا می توان به دلفینها اقامت و شهروندی آمریکا را داد ؟
مرل شگفت انگیز این گونه مرزهای میان علم و فلسفه را می‌شکند و خواننده را به تفکر درباره ماهیت ، هویت و ارتباط بین انسان و حیوانات وامی‌دارد. همچنین این رمان را شاید بتوان انتقادی به انسان‌محوری و دعوت به اندیشیدن درباره‌ی جایگاه خود در جهان دانست .
حیوان هوشمند را می توان به دو بخش تقسیم کرد ، بخش اول: گفت‌وگوی انسان و دلفین و پرسش‌های فلسفی: در این قسمت، مرل با ظرافتی مثال‌زدنی به کاوش در عمق ارتباط بین انسان و حیوان می‌پردازد. او با طرح پرسش‌هایی بنیادین درباره هوش، آگاهی و ماهیت ارتباط، خواننده را به تفکر وامی‌دارد. این بخش از رمان، جایی است که نبوغ روبر مرل به عنوان یک نویسنده و فیلسوف به طور کامل نمایان می‌شود.
در ادامه‌ کتاب ، داستان به سمت روایتی اکشن و ماجراجویی سوق پیدا می‌کند که به فیلم‌های جیمز باند یا دیگر اکشن های آمریکایی پسند شباهت دارد. این تغییر ناگهانی در ژانر، ممکن است برای خوانندگان ناامید کننده باشد .
در پایان ، حیوان هوشمند گرچه جذابیت و ظرافت کتاب های دیگر روبرمرل را ندارد ، اما به مخاطب تجربه‌ای منحصر به فرد و متفاوت می‌دهد . این کتاب با وجود فقدان ویژگی‌های خاص سایر آثار استاد، نگاهی تازه و روایتی متفاوت ارائه داده است .

[Fatemeh · Rating 3 out of 5]

کتاب رو تا نصفه خوندم و ولش کردم
باورم نمیشه با مرل اینکار رو‌کرده باشم .
نمیدونم از چی خوشم نیومد،ترجمه،سبک ،یا از داستان یه مقدار از مد افتاده
اما نتونستم ادامه بدم و دیگه رهاش کردم .
خوشحالم اینکار رو کردم چون تبدیل شد به اولین کتابی که چون ازش خوشم نمی اومد ،ولش کردم.
قبلا هر طوری بود باید کتاب رو تموم میکردم اما فک کنم این وسواس داره کم کم از بین میره.

[MrClee · Rating 5 out of 5]

„(…) nekünk lesz köszönhető, kérdezte halkan Sevilla, kétkedő hangsúllyal, vagy talán inkább a delfinek emberségének?"

Sevilla utolsó kérdése magában foglalja az 500 oldalon át feszegetett, csendesen kibontakoztatott morális problémát, melyre valószínűleg nem találunk majd megfelelő választ, mert ahány ember – vagy delfin –, annyi féle nézőpont létezik vélhetően, pro és kontra érvek hadával mindkét oldalon. Azonban, hogy túllépjünk pusztán a regény kontextusán, és a valós életben is megvizsgáljuk a kérdést, ahhoz először is le kell higgadnunk, el kell könyvelni magunkban, hogy jelenleg a delfinek korántsem vannak olyan értelmi szinten, mint azt Merle a regényben felvázolja, így óvakodni kell attól, hogy túlromantizáljuk a témát, vagy akár bizonyos jeleneteket. Mert voltak bőven, kár is tagadni, azt azonban csak sejthetjük, nem tudhatjuk, hogy viselkednének a delfinek valójában ilyen helyzetekben. Talán ugyanígy, talán nem. Valamelyest már ismerjük őket, egészen jól, valóságalapja tehát van a műnek, és minden attól függ, mennyire hagyjuk, hogy a képzeletünk szárnyaljon a delfinekkel. Melyik lehet a dicsőbb? A delfin embersége, vagy az ember delfinsége? Melyikre lehet büszkébb egy élőlény? A probléma ott húzódik, hogy – amint a műben a delfinek is – konkrét embereket azonosítanak be az egész emberiséggel, és az alapján mondanak véleményt rólunk. Sokszor megesik ez velünk is – velem is –, meg mindenkivel, mikor ezt a gyarló, pusztító emberiséget szidja, csak mert egy kamasz eldobott előtte menve a járdán egy szemetet, vagy ha késik a busz, vagy, ha néhány okos diplomata megszavaz valami nyomorult törvényt, esetleg Dzsémsz, az 50 éves mélyalkoholista kinyírja a felesését a dugipisztollyal, csak mert az büntetésből nem elégítette ki újabb alkalommal, hátha benő Dzsémsz feje lágya, és elmegy inkább munkát keresni. Szóval megesik, hogy ilyen szemelvények hatására elkönyveljük az egész emberiséget a Föld kártékony férgének, aki kipusztítja szépen lassan saját magát, elkönyveljük egy mocskos, számító, gyarló istentudjaminek, pedig én úgy hiszem, hogy csak egy aprócska változásra lenne szükségünk, hogy sikerüljön behúznunk a vészféket, és elinduljunk egy olyan úton, amely alól nem húzzák ki alólunk a talajt pár száz éven belül, ahol nem élősködői leszünk a Földnek, hanem szimbiózisban tudunk élni vele, ahogy tette azt évmilliók során millió állatfaj, anélkül, hogy tudott volna erről. Mi tudunk róla, használjuk erre a tudásunk, mert azt hiszem, az emberekben ott van alapvetően a jó, a tiszta lélek, csak a környezet, melyben él, az igyekszik letéríteni a helyes útról, ezt azonban hatalmas akaraterővel ki lehet állni, és akkor majd már többen, egyre többen lesznek olyanok, olyan gondolkodásúak, akiknek fontosabb a lelki tisztaság, a tiszta lélek és a Földdel való szimbiózis, mint halandó életükben a mesés vagyon, az értéktelen luxus, akkor majd tényleg büszkeség lesz azt mondani, hogy a delfinek embersége milyen nagyszerű.

[Hamidreza_tr · Rating 4 out of 5]

- سویلا گفت : (بی ) آیا تو پا و ما را دوست داری ؟
- بله
- سایر آدم ها را چه طور ؟
- نه آدم های دیگر خوب نیستند .
سویلا دستش را که میکروفون را گرفته بود، به لبه قایق نزدیک کرد و در حالیکه به طرف ( بی ) خم شده بود پرسید :
- چرا ؟ مگر آنها چه کرده اند ؟
- آنها دروغ می‌گویند، میکشند .
سویلا با خود اندیشید چه خلاصه عالی و جالبی . تمام زندگی تاریخ بشر در چهار کلمه خلاصه شده است . از ابتدای پیدایش تا سال ۱۹۷۳ ، تا روزی که انسان مثل یک دلقک گلوی خودش را بگیرد و آنقدر فشار دهد تا خفه شود .

[Sonya · Rating 3 out of 5]

این اثر یک داستان علمی تخیلی است که ماجرای آن بعد جنگ جهانی دوم و در آستانه قرت طلبی های آمریکا و دوران جنگ ویتنام رخ داده است.
دانشمندی که بعد سالها مطالعه روی دلفین ها موفق به آموختن زبان انسانها به دو تن از این موجودات می شود. واکنش های متفاوت جهان به اتفاق رخ داده و گفتگو های انجام شده با دلفین ها در کتاب قابل توجه می باشد.

[George · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. A thought provoking science fiction, espionage novel about dolphins being taught to speak and their interactions with human beings. Set on coastal Florida during the period 1970 to 1973.

Henry Sevilla, in his 60s, is a marine biologist and a dolphin expert. Henry, with his employees, trains two dolphins, Fa, (male), and Bi, (female), to speak English. Things change for Sevilla and his team when it is announced to newspaper reporters that Sevilla’s team have trained dolphins to speak. The trained dolphins are kidnapped and manipulated for sabotage purposes. A tragic incident occurs igniting tensions between the USA and China.

There is interesting information provided about dolphins.

This book was first published in France in 1967.

[Jersy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was truly fascinated by the scientific exploration and the time spent with the dolphins, who are the best characters: likable but with some species appropriate flaws. I was lukewarm on the political parts - with the satire on the USA being a central point of the book - and the unique writing choices but was not thrilled with the presentation of the human characters. From very unflattering physical description to terrible portrayal of female characters there's something for everybody to be annoyed by. Still, the things that worked for me really made this book worth reading.

[Nicolas · Rating 1 out of 5]

Première lecture

Aux frontières de la science-fiction et de la politique-fiction (comme le dit l’auteur dans la préface) ce roman est pourtant éminement intéressant, et ce à plus d’un titre. D’abord, et de manière évidente, pour sa thèse principale : que se passerait-il si un scientifique arrivait à faire accéder les dauphins à un langage humainement compréhensible(1) ?
Elle seule suffit à produire des situations assez facilement exploitables (en témoigne la saga de David Brin). Et son exploitation est, qui plus est, très intelligente avec les tâtonnements du héros (scientifique, évidement) et ses multiples questionnements. Par son écriture, ensuite, qui m’a rappelée d’une certaine manière celle du Festin Nu, avec ces phrases sans démarcation visible, ni entre les différentes propositions, ni même entre les différents intervenants d’un dialogue, ce qui est pour un partisan d’une écriture bien ponctuée comme moi très perturbant, mais indéniablement séduisant. Enfin, Robert Merle place son récit, pour une raison qui m’échappait initiallement, aux Etats-Unis. Dans la mesure où il le place également à une époque contemporaine de l’écriture, c’est-à-dire à la fin des années soixante, il est logique qu’on contexte géopolitique spécifique influence grandement le récit. Ainsi, la guerre du Vietnam, qui n’apparaît initialement que comme une toile de fond assez déplaisante, entre peu à peu dans le récit pour finalement rejoindre sa trame principale d’une manière assez tragique. Tragique, dans le récit, mais très agréable pour le lecteur, car ces dauphins, qui n’apparaissent tout d’abord que comme les jouets d’une expérience assez éloignée des nécessités de la guerre, deviennent d’un seul coup des armes on ne peut plus meurtrières. Est-il nécessaire d’en dire plus ? Sans doute, car ce roman est tout de même aux frontières de plusieurs genres, et risque donc de louper son public.
Pour moi, il s’agit avant tout d’un excellent roman d’anticipation, partant de postulats très intelligents, et posant avec beaucoup de style de vraies questions fondamentales, dont au moins une est implicite et, à mon sens, laissée intentionnellement ouverte par l’auteur : "Faut-il apporter le langage aux espèces animales ?" ou, dit autrement, qu’ont à gagner les dauphins et autres cétacés à nous comprendre ? Peut-être rien, mais en tout cas, ce roman offre une fascinante piste de réflexion.

(1) En l’occurence, l’anglais

Deuxième lecture

En ce moment, je me paye des tonnes de relectures de fonds de placards. Pour changer, et parce que je m’en souvenias plus trop, j’ai donc repris cette histoire de dauphins parleurs qui aurait pu inspirer Brin pour son cycle de l’élévation … Enfin, je dis ça juste pour créer un buzz inutile, parce que ça n’est pas le sujet de cet avis. Quand j’aurais fini de vous dire ce que j’en ai pensé, j’irais comparer avec mon avis précédent, pour voir comment j’ai évolué.

Toujours est-il que, cette fois-ci, j’ai été franchement déçu. je ne me souvenais plus que l’auteur faisait à ce point assaut de phrases mal construites, mal ponctuées, et tout bonnement illisibles. Je comprend bien que, dans de nombreux cas, l’auteur a utilisé ce procédé pour nous faire rentrer dans la tête des protagonsites et que, dans un certain sens, c’est un succès.

C’est un succès en un sens car on comprend bien les ressorts de ces personnages, leurs pensées les plus secrètes.

Mais c’est aussi un échec pour moi car, franchement, ce qu’ils pensent m’indiffère la plupart du temps, quand ça ne me révulse pas tout simplement. Qu’il s’agisse de C(1), d’Adams, ou d’autres, on a toujours l’impression, quand l’auteur emploie ce procédé, de tomber dans un marigot fangeux où aucune pensée n’est réellement intelligente, mais plutôt de l’ordre de la pulsion. Et, bien sûr, ces pulsions sont toujours à la fois sexuelles et empreintes d’une honte toute puritaine. (2). Et ça, c’est agaçant.

Surtout que ça ne sert vraiment pas le récit, l’alourdissant dans une couche moralisante qui n’est pas vraiment en rapport avec l’idée de départ, plutôt bien fichu.

Et puis, il y a les personnages. Entre la lesbienne, le métrosexuel et la mocheté, on est bien loti. C’est dit crûment, et c’est précisément ce qui manque à ce bouquin : un peu de clarté. Parce queles allusions, les sous-entendus, les bidules, les machins, et les choses, on s’y retrouve difficilement.

Et quel fouillis que ça nous fait, tout ça.

En fait, le bouquin a failli me tomber plus d’une fois ddes mains et vient de passer dans ma pile “à faire disparaître”. Pile où naguère se trouvaient les tomes de l’assassin royal, pour donner une idée du niveau où je le place maintenant.
Auto-débat

Pour rire, je vais comparer avec mon avis précédent. Dans cet avis, j’en disais pas mal de bien.

[un roman fascinant] Par son écriture, ensuite, qui m’a rappelée d’une certaine manière celle du Festin Nu, avec ces phrases sans démarcation visible, ni entre les différentes propositions, ni même entre les différents intervenants d’un dialogue, ce qui est pour un partisan d’une écriture bien ponctuée comme moi très perturbant, mais indéniablement séduisant

En vieillissant, on se sclérose, semble-t-il, ou alors je lis moins et suis donc moins tolérant. Toujours est-il que j’ai cette fois-ci trouvé le procédé artificiel, un peu grotesque et, surtout, complètement inutile dans le récit. Car jamais Sevilla n’a ces appartés (si, une fois, mais pas longtemps, et dans un moment de stress où c’est – presque – compréhensible). Et jamais ce procédé ne nous apprend quelque chose de plus signifiant que tiens, j’ai oublié de fermer le gaz..

Pour moi, il s’agit avant tout d’un excellent roman d’anticipation, partant de postulats très intelligents, et posant avec beaucoup de style de vraies questions fondamentales,

A la réflexion, je suis d’accord. Mais hélas, le roman est desservi par un style qui, franchement, n’apporte rien d’autre que des dizaines de pages inutiles.

(1) Cet espèce d’espion sur le retour
(2) Parce que comme le disait Anne Archet sur son blog pas plus tard qu’il y a pas longtemps,
Je ne sais pas pourquoi mais j’ai longtemps confondu les mots puritain et putain. D’ailleurs, il me semble toujours que les deux termes sont inséparables, ontologiquement liés.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

An accurate depiction of what could happen leading up to a WWIII. I could relate to much of what was written about an ambiguous situation leading up to attacks on another country...I was reminded of 9/11 and the mentality that many reverted to. However, as this was written in 1977, some of this story comes off as somewhat paranoid. Still, I found reminders of the world, as I have encountered it today, present in the novel. On a side note, and, as juvenile as it sounds, I looked forward to the sections where Fa and Bi speak (talking dolphins-YAY!). These parts were the most engaging for me, but perhaps this was due in part because it was written, well, correctly! For some horrible reason, the author/publisher chose to omit punctuation and tabs between speakers EN MASS. What an atrocity! Reader beware: this book is actually twice as long as printed due to the lack of commas, breaks between speakers, periods, quotation marks and formal narrative qualities in general. Was this to create the effect that we were listening in on much of the conversations as "bugged" recordings? Well as "artistic" as that may be, it was sludge to read through. Without punctuation and normal narrative formatting, I found myself loosing track of who the hell was talking and by the last chapter, the effect was thorough agitation. Ugh, I dread nothing more as a reader than to flip page after page after page and find nothing but full blocks of text from top to bottom with no indenting or quotation marks AT ALL even though numerous people are verbalizing and numerous events are occurring. Blah! As much as I liked the story itself...flip, flip, BLAH!

[Pip · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was written in French by a man who had served as an interpreter to the British Expeditionary Force, been evacuated from Dunkirk, captured by the Nazis and escaped only to be turned in by Belgian customs officers. After what he had been through it is no wonder that he was appalled by the posturings of the Cold War. In Day of the Dolphin he uses the experiments done with dolphins to criticise the cruelty and corruption of state agencies, particularly those of the U.S. which was in ascendancy in the 60's. Dolphins are described as having better morality and compassion than humans. The style and subject matter were more entertaining in the first part of the book than when the forces of evil enter the story. As a thriller it had me falling asleep just when the crisis was about to occur.

[Michael Burhans · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thought provoking, tragic, and still plausible today.

[Jazzy Lemon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I remember reading this book as a child, but somewhere along the line I had gotten it confused with Lilly and Lovatt's NASA funded Dolphin Experiments, which were actually the inspiration for this satirical story.

[Sabrina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this book. It's still extremely relevant even today, though it definitely highlights the sentiment within the country from a different era. I'm tempted to find the movie!

[Amerynth · Rating 3 out of 5]

While the book is probably a bit dated, (particularly in its attitude toward female scientists,) I enjoyed reading Robert Merle's "The Day of the Dolphin."

In this novel, scientists are working steadily to get dolphins to speak and understand English -- and two dolphins, Fa & Bi start to do so. It isn't much of a spoiler, given Merle says this early on, that the military has more sinister ideas about dolphins' capabilities.

I didn't care much for the relationships between the people in the book, but I did enjoy seeing the story about the dolphins unfold.

[Hboyd · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un super roman sur les dauphins, qui comprend un intrigue haletant, ainsi que des questions politiques et sociales.

[csenge birizlo · Rating 3 out of 5]

túl sokáig halogattam a befejezését...

[Kristel · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Day of the Dolphin is a 1967 novel, 1001 Book, written by the French author, Robert Merle. It is set in Florida during the cold war and specifically during 1970 to 1973. The book itself is not that engaging and certainly dated as a sixties book and the treatment of women (often referred to as girls) is certainly grating. This is a work of science fiction and in this book the SF part is that man is teaching dolphins to talk and learning to talk in dolphinese and dolphins. As often is the case with science fiction, this is a political statement against war, against government, politics and government involvement in research science.

I found it interesting to read a novel written by a French author that was set in the US. I found it interesting to compare this book to another book I read this month, Libra by DeLillo, also a book espionage in the US. Both books question the assassination of JFK along the same points of logic. Both books also discussed the Bay of Pigs and how the CIA may have been manipulating the president. This book talks about a fictional election of a man that in all descriptions sounds like a Hollywood star. At this time Ronald Reagan had been elected as governor of California and the book mentions that. The US is engaged in fighting in Vietnam. A US ship is sunk and the US blames China and gives China an ultimatum. This is a story of how the agencies that are around the president can manipulate that position by what information is given, distorted, and withheld. There is mention of the sinking of the Maine by unknown etiology in the harbor of Havana that led US to declaring war on Spain in the Spanish American War.

Quotes:
"Freedom of the press is quite real, but it is ineffectual. In a country where all the new media are in the hands of money, the still small voice of truth is quickly drowned out by the powerful organs of falsehood and confusion."

"...issue of Le Monde (French newspaper) expressed this view with a clarity that would have impressed even the Americans if they had attached any importance to either the information or the opinions given in the European press. But American newspapers quoted only other American newspapers or, at the most, the British newspapers, in their columns."

"If there's one thing a President can neither reform nor control it's his own political police force, they are the real rulers, since it's they who give him information..."

"I am sure the CIA knew that the Bay of Pigs would be a failure. I'm sure the plan was to confront John (JFK) with a setback so serious, a loss of face so terrible that John would send the marines to Cuba, and John came close to doing it, such a disaster at the beginning of his Presidency, he was so mortified, so humiliated, so upset, but he pulled himself together, he said no, he knew how to say no, no to war against Cuba, no to war against China, no to segregation, they killed him because he knew how to say no, send him to Dallas and we'll take car of the rest, in Dallas we have policemen who can slice a cigar in two at thirty yards..."

I found it so interesting that I ended up reading two books so similar in themes. One written in 1967 by a foriegn author and the other in 1988 by an American author.

The book was set on the work of scientist John Lilly, a Minnesotan scientist who worked on dolphin language.

[Florenceg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un style étonnant a priori, différent des autres Robert Merle déjà lus, mais auquel je suis assez vite adaptée car le déroulé du scénario est original. L'auteur fait une analyse approfondi du caractère de ses personnages. Histoire d'anticipation avec un contexte de guerre froide bien rendu. Intéressant avec le recul, le roman ayant été publié en 1967.

[Claire · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was...strange.

What I expected: something rather like Into the Deep by Ken Grimwood, with the gentle and intelligent dolphins saving foolish and violent humanity from themselves, except with more espionage and a deathly fear of communists. Nothing mind-blowing, but some good old trope-filled fun.

What I got: an absolutely scathing, vicious satire of Cold War America, so bleak, paranoid, and pessimistic in tone that it's almost NOT a satire, except for the hilarious contempt with which Robert Merle describes the world-spanning political games, and the inherently funny concept of dolphins that can speak perfect English.

Speaking of dolphins, they were the only likable characters in this book. They didn't have any steep competition from the human characters, though, as pretty much every single one of them, even the 'heroes', were either reprehensible or only slightly awful. I suppose that was largely the point, setting up the dishonest, scheming humans as a foil for the innocent dolphins (funnily enough, according to marine biologists, dolphins aren't nearly so innocent in real life). I was reminded of the contrast between noble, sentient Houyhnhnms and the repulsive, bestial Yahoos from Gulliver's Travels.

But what separates Gulliver's Travels (a satiric masterpiece) from Day of the Dolphin (a good effort) is that Gulliver's Travels is an absolutely brutal satire with an extremely cynical view of humanity, but it's consistently hilarious. Day of the Dolphin has an amusing undercurrent (the talking dolphins and sarcastic portrayal of world leaders), but overall, it's just not quite funny enough to compensate for the book's largely hopeless and negative perspective.

[Cynthia]

I was intrigued to see this on the list of Books That You Must Read. I read it as a teenager, after the movie with George Scott was released. I was fascinated by dolphins at that point and wanted to be a marine biologist. The movie is a thriller and takes the benevolent idea of communicating with dolphins a step further: what would happen if someone took that peaceful breakthrough and figured out a way to use it to kill people (kind of like the atom bomb). I dont remember the book very well, to be honest but one of the most important books of my childhood was a similar and i think better book by famed science fiction writer Arthur Clark, called Dolphin Island. The Merle book, according to the blurb online, is based on work done by John Lilly, probably the most famous dolphin researcher in history. Lilly and his wife lived on a caribbean island and did experiments on communicating with dolphins; dolphin island is really an indepth look at how they did it and what grew out of their work (in a fictional setting of course). Dolphin Island is, i'd say, more benevolent and optimistic than Merle's book.

[Maryann · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Vietnam War is on, and WWIII might be imminent. Henry Sevilla, the main character, and his team have been researching dolphins and language, and are trying to teach the dolphin they raised from birth to speak English. There are rumors that the Soviets are in a similar place in their work with dolphins, and could be training them as soldiers. Sevilla, while subsidized by the federal government, has no interest in anything of that nature, though he suspects he is being watched and monitored constantly.

While my synopsis seems quite political, the politics are mostly a backdrop- an ever present backdrop, but backdrop all the same. The characters of Sevilla and his team all have distinct personalities and the dolphins... part of me wishes this story were real. It would be so COOL! This book is part science fiction, part thriller, part social commentary, and a great overall story.

Food: a steak dinner with a little molecular gastronomy. Meaty and satisfying, with a bit of a twist that you weren't expecting.

[Marrei · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tři roky jsem se pokoušela přečíst tuhle knihu a chytla mě až letos. Věty, které se táhnou přes několik stránek, den, který je popsán tak dlouze, že máte pocit, že to musel být týden. Je to předvídatelné, víte, co se stalo, i když to nikdo nenaznačí a už vůbec to neřekne nahlas. Je to filozofické, o lidstvu, o nás, o mocnostech, o lidskosti, ničení, válkách a smrti. A Merle je úžasný, odkazuje na Kafku, Prahu (a v předmluvě na Válku s mloky), je tam pasáž dosti podobné jedné ze Smrt je mým řemeslem. A i když to má u mě jen ty tři hvězdičky, protože z celé té knihy mám smíšené pocity, bylo to neuvěřitelně silné čtení.

[Stephen Rowland · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the most compelling novels I've ever read, truly fascinating, often diverting my attention from everything else I'm reading at the moment. Superior to Merle's "Malevil," the only other book I've read by this author. I think at one time this book was quite popular, even in the United States (it was written in French), but now I can only find people who remember the movie adaptation, which, curiously enough, I tried to watch many years ago but abandoned it for being too boring.

[S.E. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book after watching the movie of the same title, directed by Mike Nichols. The movie, which was received with mixed reviews, was loosely based on the novel but my family and I enjoyed it greatly. I remembered crying buckets, and even though I knew the rough storyline when I started reading the book, I cried again while reading it. I cannot remember much of the contents now but I must say it made a huge impression on me.

[Valerie]

I first read this after seeing the movie. I found the book more coherent than the movie, which wasn't hard. Later when I saw the movie, I wasn't able to follow parts of the dialog, because people were talking under a corrugated tin roof in a rainstorm.

The book's a little more readable, and explained things that were left to implication in the movie.

[kazerniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

It has a really distinctive "stream of consciousness" writing style. I liked both the plot and the characters, it paints a depressive view of society and the human mind. Probably due to its age, most characters are deeply drenched in gender essentialism and heterosexism and shun the handful of characters who are depicted queer.

[DiscoSpacePanther · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF. The author does not know how to punctuate using speechmarks, and the final nail was the un-ironic use of the word "Jewess", which manages to be both racist and sexist in a single word. This is not worth my time.

[Beatrice · Rating 3 out of 5]

J'ai failli laisser tomber ce bouquin parce que des fois l'action est très lente. De plus, je n'aime pas de tout le manque de ponctuation. Cela dit, c'est une belle histoire. J'aurais dû le lire avant de nager avec un dauphin en 2015.

[Wyndee Grosso · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the first book I ever read in one day...I was in junior high....loved it - I should read it again!

[Cristian · Rating 4 out of 5]

It would be amazing if the dolphins could communicate with us in a way or another.