Julio Cortázar
Encyclopedia
Julio Cortázar, born Jules Florencio Cortázar, (August 26, 1914 – February 12, 1984) was an Argentine
writer. Cortázar, known as one of the founders of the Latin American Boom
, influenced an entire generation of Spanish speaking readers and writers in the Americas and Europe.
, Belgium
, where Cortázar was born on August 26, 1914. At the time of his birth Belgium was occupied by the German troops of Kaiser
Wilhelm II. Shortly thereafter the family moved to Zürich
where María Herminia's parents, Victoria Gabel and Louis Descotte (a French National) were waiting in neutral territory. The family group spent the next two years in Switzerland
, first in Zurich
, then in Geneva
, before moving for short period to Barcelona
. The Cortázars settled in Buenos Aires by the end of 1919.
Once in Argentina, his parents divorced a few years later. Cortázar spent most of his childhood in Banfield
, a suburb south of Buenos Aires, with his mother and younger sister. The home in Banfield, with its backyard, was a source of inspiration for some of his stories. Despite this, he wrote a letter to Graciela M. de Solá on December 4, 1963 describing this period of his life as "full of servitude, excessive touchiness, terrible and frequent sadness." He was a sickly child and spent much of his childhood in bed reading. His mother selected what he read, introducing her son most notably to the works of Jules Verne
, whom Cortázar admired for the rest of his life. In the magazine Plural (issue 44, Mexico City, May 1975) he wrote: "I spent my childhood in a haze full of goblins and elves, with a sense of space and time that was different from everybody else's."
. According to biographer Montes-Bradley
in "Cortázar sin barba" (Random House Mondadori, Editorial Debate, 2005), Cortázar taught in at least two High Schools in Buenos Aires Province, one in the city of Chivilcoy
, the other one in Bolivar. In 1938 he self-published a volume of sonnet
s under the pseudonym Julio Denis. He later repudiated this volume. In a 1977 interview for Spanish TV he stated that publishing that book was his only transgression to the principle of not publishing any books until he was convinced that what was written in them was what he meant to say. In 1944 he became professor of French literature
at the National University of Cuyo
. In 1949 he published a play, Los Reyes (The Kings), based on the myth of Theseus
and the Minotaur
.
as a translator
. The projects he worked on included Spanish renderings of Robinson Crusoe
, Marguerite Yourcenar
's novel Mémoires d'Hadrien, and stories by Edgar Allan Poe
. He also came under the influence of the works of Alfred Jarry
and the Comte de Lautréamont
, and wrote most of his major works in Paris. In later years he became actively engaged in opposing abuses of human rights
in Latin America, and was a supporter of the Sandinista revolution in Nicaragua
.
Cortázar was married three times, to Aurora Bernárdez, to Ugnė Karvelis
, and finally to Carol Dunlop
. He died in Paris in 1984 and is interred in the Cimetière de Montparnasse, next to Carol Dunlop. The cause of his death was reported to be leukemia
.
(1951), Final del juego
(1956), and Las armas secretas
(1959). English translations by Paul Blackburn
of stories selected from these volumes were published as Blow-up and Other Stories
by Pantheon Books
(1967). The title of this collection refers to Michelangelo Antonioni
's film Blowup
(1967), which was inspired by Cortázar's story Las Babas del Diablo (literally, "The Droolings of the Devil", an Argentine expression for the long threads some spiders and insects leave hanging between the trees). Puerto Rican novelist Giannina Braschi
used Cortázar's story as a springboard for the chapter called "Blow-up" in her bilingual novel "Yo-Yo Boing!" (1998) that features scenes with Cortázar's characters La Maga and Rocamadour. Chilean novelist Roberto Bolaño
claimed Cortázar as a key influence on his novel The Savage Detectives
: "To say that I'm permanently indebted to the work of Borges and Cortázar is obvious". Cortázar's story "La Autopista del Sur" ("The Southern Thruway") influenced another film of the 1960s, Jean-Luc Godard
's Week End (1967).
Cortázar also published several novels, including Los premios (The Winners, 1960), Hopscotch (Rayuela, 1963), 62: A Model Kit
(62 Modelo para Armar, 1968), and Libro de Manuel
(A Manual for Manuel, 1973). Except for Los premios, which was translated by Elaine Kerrigan, the novels have been translated into English by Gregory Rabassa
. The open-ended structure of Hopscotch, which invites the reader to choose between a linear and a non-linear mode of reading, has been praised by other Latin American writers, including José Lezama Lima
, Giannina Braschi
, Carlos Fuentes
, Gabriel García Márquez
, and Mario Vargas Llosa
. Cortázar's use of interior monologue and stream of consciousness owes much to James Joyce
and other modernists, but his main influences were Surrealism
, the French Nouveau roman
and the improvisatory aesthetic of jazz. This last interest is reflected in the notable story, "El perseguidor" ("The Pursuer"), which Cortázar based on the life of the bebop
saxophonist Charlie Parker
. Cortázar also mentions Lawrence Durrell
's The Alexandria Quartet
several times in Hopscotch. His first wife, Aurora Bernárdez, translated Durrell into Spanish while Cortázar was writing the novel.
Cortázar also published poetry, drama, and various works of non-fiction. He also translated Edgar Allan Poe's 1838 novel The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket into Spanish as Narracion de Arthur Gordon Pym. One of his last works was a collaboration with his third wife, Carol Dunlop, The Autonauts of the Cosmoroute
, which relates, partly in mock-heroic style, the couple's extended expedition along the autoroute from Paris to Marseille
in a Volkswagen
camper nicknamed Fafner
.
In Buenos Aires
, a school, a public library, and a square in the neighbourhood of Palermo
carry his name. The square is particularly well-known as a centre of a trendy and bohemian area with an important nightlife (sometimes referred to as "Plaza Serrano" or "Palermo Soho")
Duke University Press published a literary journal called "Hopscotch: A Cultural Review", named after Cortázar's novel.
Mentioned and spoken highly of in Rabih Alameddine
's novel, 'Koolaids: The Art of War
', which was published in 1998.
Spanish
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
writer. Cortázar, known as one of the founders of the Latin American Boom
Latin American Boom
The Latin American Boom was a literary movement of the 1960s and 1970s when the work of a group of relatively young Latin American novelists became widely circulated in Europe and throughout the world...
, influenced an entire generation of Spanish speaking readers and writers in the Americas and Europe.
Early life
Cortázar's parents, Julio José Cortázar and María Herminia Descotte, moved from Argentina in 1913 to BrusselsBrussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
, Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
, where Cortázar was born on August 26, 1914. At the time of his birth Belgium was occupied by the German troops of Kaiser
Kaiser
Kaiser is the German title meaning "Emperor", with Kaiserin being the female equivalent, "Empress". Like the Russian Czar it is directly derived from the Latin Emperors' title of Caesar, which in turn is derived from the personal name of a branch of the gens Julia, to which Gaius Julius Caesar,...
Wilhelm II. Shortly thereafter the family moved to Zürich
Zürich
Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich...
where María Herminia's parents, Victoria Gabel and Louis Descotte (a French National) were waiting in neutral territory. The family group spent the next two years in Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
, first in Zurich
Zürich
Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich...
, then in Geneva
Geneva
Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...
, before moving for short period to Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
. The Cortázars settled in Buenos Aires by the end of 1919.
Once in Argentina, his parents divorced a few years later. Cortázar spent most of his childhood in Banfield
Banfield (village)
Banfield is a city in the Lomas de Zamora Partido of Buenos Aires Province, Argentina, south of the centre of Buenos Aires. It forms part of the Greater Buenos Aires metro area.-History:thumb|left|100px|Edward Banfield...
, a suburb south of Buenos Aires, with his mother and younger sister. The home in Banfield, with its backyard, was a source of inspiration for some of his stories. Despite this, he wrote a letter to Graciela M. de Solá on December 4, 1963 describing this period of his life as "full of servitude, excessive touchiness, terrible and frequent sadness." He was a sickly child and spent much of his childhood in bed reading. His mother selected what he read, introducing her son most notably to the works of Jules Verne
Jules Verne
Jules Gabriel Verne was a French author who pioneered the science fiction genre. He is best known for his novels Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea , A Journey to the Center of the Earth , and Around the World in Eighty Days...
, whom Cortázar admired for the rest of his life. In the magazine Plural (issue 44, Mexico City, May 1975) he wrote: "I spent my childhood in a haze full of goblins and elves, with a sense of space and time that was different from everybody else's."
Education and teaching career
Cortázar obtained a degree as Elementary School Teacher at 18. He would later pursue higher education in philosophy and languages, although he never graduated fromUniversity of Buenos Aires
The University of Buenos Aires is the largest university in Argentina and the largest university by enrollment in Latin America. Founded on August 12, 1821 in the city of Buenos Aires, it consists of 13 faculties, 6 hospitals, 10 museums and is linked to 4 high schools: Colegio Nacional de Buenos...
. According to biographer Montes-Bradley
Eduardo Montes-Bradley
- Filmography :# Waissman Producer, Director. The Heritage Film Project. 2010. Produced by Soledad Liendo. Biographical documentary on the life and works of Argentine artist Andrés Waissman. TV premier November 23, 2010 WPBT Channel 2...
in "Cortázar sin barba" (Random House Mondadori, Editorial Debate, 2005), Cortázar taught in at least two High Schools in Buenos Aires Province, one in the city of Chivilcoy
Chivilcoy Partido
Chivilcoy Partido is a partido situated in the northern area of Buenos Aires Province in Argentina.The provincial subdivision has a population of about 60,000 inhabitants in an area of , and its capital city is Chivilcoy.-Settlements:*Chivilcoy...
, the other one in Bolivar. In 1938 he self-published a volume of sonnet
Sonnet
A sonnet is one of several forms of poetry that originate in Europe, mainly Provence and Italy. A sonnet commonly has 14 lines. The term "sonnet" derives from the Occitan word sonet and the Italian word sonetto, both meaning "little song" or "little sound"...
s under the pseudonym Julio Denis. He later repudiated this volume. In a 1977 interview for Spanish TV he stated that publishing that book was his only transgression to the principle of not publishing any books until he was convinced that what was written in them was what he meant to say. In 1944 he became professor of French literature
French literature
French literature is, generally speaking, literature written in the French language, particularly by citizens of France; it may also refer to literature written by people living in France who speak traditional languages of France other than French. Literature written in French language, by citizens...
at the National University of Cuyo
National University of Cuyo
The National University of Cuyo is the largest center of higher education in the province of Mendoza, Argentina....
. In 1949 he published a play, Los Reyes (The Kings), based on the myth of Theseus
Theseus
For other uses, see Theseus Theseus was the mythical founder-king of Athens, son of Aethra, and fathered by Aegeus and Poseidon, both of whom Aethra had slept with in one night. Theseus was a founder-hero, like Perseus, Cadmus, or Heracles, all of whom battled and overcame foes that were...
and the Minotaur
Minotaur
In Greek mythology, the Minotaur , as the Greeks imagined him, was a creature with the head of a bull on the body of a man or, as described by Roman poet Ovid, "part man and part bull"...
.
Years in France
In 1951, Cortázar, who was opposed to the government of Juan Domingo Perón, emigrated to France, where he lived and worked for the rest of his life. From 1952 onward, he worked for UNESCOUNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
as a translator
Translation
Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. Whereas interpreting undoubtedly antedates writing, translation began only after the appearance of written literature; there exist partial translations of the Sumerian Epic of...
. The projects he worked on included Spanish renderings of Robinson Crusoe
Robinson Crusoe
Robinson Crusoe is a novel by Daniel Defoe that was first published in 1719. Epistolary, confessional, and didactic in form, the book is a fictional autobiography of the title character—a castaway who spends 28 years on a remote tropical island near Trinidad, encountering cannibals, captives, and...
, Marguerite Yourcenar
Marguerite Yourcenar
Marguerite Yourcenar was a Belgian-born French novelist and essayist. Winner of the Prix Femina and the Erasmus Prize, she was the first woman elected to the Académie française, in 1980, and the seventeenth person to occupy Seat 3.-Biography:Yourcenar was born Marguerite Antoinette Jeanne Marie...
's novel Mémoires d'Hadrien, and stories by Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe was an American author, poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective...
. He also came under the influence of the works of Alfred Jarry
Alfred Jarry
Alfred Jarry was a French writer born in Laval, Mayenne, France, not far from the border of Brittany; he was of Breton descent on his mother's side....
and the Comte de Lautréamont
Comte de Lautréamont
Comte de Lautréamont was the pseudonym of Isidore Lucien Ducasse , an Uruguayan-born French poet....
, and wrote most of his major works in Paris. In later years he became actively engaged in opposing abuses of human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
in Latin America, and was a supporter of the Sandinista revolution in Nicaragua
Nicaragua
Nicaragua is the largest country in the Central American American isthmus, bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The country is situated between 11 and 14 degrees north of the Equator in the Northern Hemisphere, which places it entirely within the tropics. The Pacific Ocean...
.
Cortázar was married three times, to Aurora Bernárdez, to Ugnė Karvelis
Ugne Karvelis
Ugnė Karvelis was a writer, a translator and a member of the UNESCO Executive Board from 1997 to 2002.- Biography :...
, and finally to Carol Dunlop
Carol Dunlop
Carol Dunlop was a writer, translator, activist, and photographer. Born in Quincy, Massachusetts, to Daniel and Jean Dunlop, she married writer Francois Hebert, with whom she had one son, Stephane . The couple settled in Montreal, Quebec, Canada...
. He died in Paris in 1984 and is interred in the Cimetière de Montparnasse, next to Carol Dunlop. The cause of his death was reported to be leukemia
Leukemia
Leukemia or leukaemia is a type of cancer of the blood or bone marrow characterized by an abnormal increase of immature white blood cells called "blasts". Leukemia is a broad term covering a spectrum of diseases...
.
Work and legacy
Cortázar wrote numerous short stories, collected in such volumes as BestiarioBestiario
Bestiario is a book of 8 short stories written by Julio Cortázar.-Stories:* “Casa tomada”* “Carta a una señorita en París”* “Lejana”* “Ómnibus”* “Cefalea”* “Circe”* “Las puertas del cielo”* “Bestiario”...
(1951), Final del juego
Final del juego
Final del juego is a book of 18 short stories written by Julio Cortázar. It is divided in three levels of difficulty, measured by the effort it should take to understand each story.-I:* Continuidad de los Parques* No se culpe nadie* El Río* Los Venenos...
(1956), and Las armas secretas
Las armas secretas
Las armas secretas is a book of 5 short stories written by Julio Cortázar. Four of the stories appear in translation in the volume Blow-up and Other Stories ; one story, "Cartas de Mamá," has never been translated into English.-Stories:*Letters from Mom: a...
(1959). English translations by Paul Blackburn
Paul Blackburn (U.S. poet)
Paul Blackburn was an American poet. He influenced contemporary literature through his poetry, translations and the encouragement and support he offered to fellow poets.-Biography:...
of stories selected from these volumes were published as Blow-up and Other Stories
Blow-up and Other Stories
Blow-Up and Other Stories is a collection of short stories, written by Argentinian author Julio Cortázar. It was originally published as End of the Game and Other Stories...
by Pantheon Books
Pantheon Books
Pantheon Books is an American imprint with editorial independence that is part of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.The current editor-in-chief at Pantheon Books is Dan Frank.-Overview:...
(1967). The title of this collection refers to Michelangelo Antonioni
Michelangelo Antonioni
Michelangelo Antonioni, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI was an Italian modernist film director, screenwriter, editor and short story writer.- Personal life :...
's film Blowup
Blowup
Blowup is a 1966 film directed by Michelangelo Antonioni, his first English-language film.It tells of a British photographer's accidental involvement with a murder, inspired by Julio Cortázar's short story, "Las babas del diablo" or "The Devil's Drool" , translated also as Blow-Up, and by the life...
(1967), which was inspired by Cortázar's story Las Babas del Diablo (literally, "The Droolings of the Devil", an Argentine expression for the long threads some spiders and insects leave hanging between the trees). Puerto Rican novelist Giannina Braschi
Giannina Braschi
Giannina Braschi is a Puerto Rican writer. She is credited with writing the first Spanglish novel YO-YO BOING! and the poetry trilogy Empire of Dreams , which chronicles the Latin American immigrant's experiences in the United States...
used Cortázar's story as a springboard for the chapter called "Blow-up" in her bilingual novel "Yo-Yo Boing!" (1998) that features scenes with Cortázar's characters La Maga and Rocamadour. Chilean novelist Roberto Bolaño
Roberto Bolaño
Roberto Bolaño Ávalos was a Chilean novelist and poet. In 1999 he won the Rómulo Gallegos Prize for his novel Los detectives salvajes , and in 2008 he was posthumously awarded the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction for his novel 2666, which was described by board member Marcela Valdes...
claimed Cortázar as a key influence on his novel The Savage Detectives
The Savage Detectives
The Savage Detectives is an award-winning novel published by the Chilean author Roberto Bolaño in 1998. Natasha Wimmer's English translation was published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux in 2007...
: "To say that I'm permanently indebted to the work of Borges and Cortázar is obvious". Cortázar's story "La Autopista del Sur" ("The Southern Thruway") influenced another film of the 1960s, Jean-Luc Godard
Jean-Luc Godard
Jean-Luc Godard is a French-Swiss film director, screenwriter and film critic. He is often identified with the 1960s French film movement, French Nouvelle Vague, or "New Wave"....
's Week End (1967).
Cortázar also published several novels, including Los premios (The Winners, 1960), Hopscotch (Rayuela, 1963), 62: A Model Kit
62: A Model Kit
62: A Model Kit is a novel by Julio Cortázar published in 1968. The book is a literary experiment that ranks among the most important novels written in Spanish in the 20th century. It was written in Paris between Hopscotch and the release of Around the Day in Eighty Worlds in 1967....
(62 Modelo para Armar, 1968), and Libro de Manuel
Libro de Manuel
Libro de Manuel is a novel by Julio Cortázar published in 1973.-Summary:The novel is a blueprint that synthetizes the controversy of politics and social movements during the 1970s...
(A Manual for Manuel, 1973). Except for Los premios, which was translated by Elaine Kerrigan, the novels have been translated into English by Gregory Rabassa
Gregory Rabassa
Gregory Rabassa is a renowned literary translator from Spanish and Portuguese to English who currently teaches at Queens College.-Life and career:Rabassa was born in Yonkers, New York, U.S., into a family headed by a Cuban émigré...
. The open-ended structure of Hopscotch, which invites the reader to choose between a linear and a non-linear mode of reading, has been praised by other Latin American writers, including José Lezama Lima
José Lezama Lima
José Lezama Lima was a Cuban writer and poet who is considered one of the most influential figures in Latin American literature....
, Giannina Braschi
Giannina Braschi
Giannina Braschi is a Puerto Rican writer. She is credited with writing the first Spanglish novel YO-YO BOING! and the poetry trilogy Empire of Dreams , which chronicles the Latin American immigrant's experiences in the United States...
, Carlos Fuentes
Carlos Fuentes
Carlos Fuentes Macías is a Mexican writer and one of the best-known living novelists and essayists in the Spanish-speaking world. He has influenced contemporary Latin American literature, and his works have been widely translated into English and other languages.-Biography:Fuentes was born in...
, Gabriel García Márquez
Gabriel García Márquez
Gabriel José de la Concordia García Márquez is a Colombian novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter and journalist, known affectionately as Gabo throughout Latin America. He is considered one of the most significant authors of the 20th century. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in...
, and Mario Vargas Llosa
Mario Vargas Llosa
Jorge Mario Pedro Vargas Llosa, 1st Marquis of Vargas Llosa is a Peruvian-Spanish writer, politician, journalist, essayist, and Nobel Prize laureate. Vargas Llosa is one of Latin America's most significant novelists and essayists, and one of the leading authors of his generation...
. Cortázar's use of interior monologue and stream of consciousness owes much to James Joyce
James Joyce
James Augustine Aloysius Joyce was an Irish novelist and poet, considered to be one of the most influential writers in the modernist avant-garde of the early 20th century...
and other modernists, but his main influences were Surrealism
Surrealism
Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members....
, the French Nouveau roman
Nouveau roman
The nouveau roman is a type of 1950s French novel that diverged from classical literary genres. Émile Henriot coined the title in an article in the popular French newspaper Le Monde on May 22, 1957 to describe certain writers who experimented with style in each novel, creating an essentially new...
and the improvisatory aesthetic of jazz. This last interest is reflected in the notable story, "El perseguidor" ("The Pursuer"), which Cortázar based on the life of the bebop
Bebop
Bebop differed drastically from the straightforward compositions of the swing era, and was instead characterized by fast tempos, asymmetrical phrasing, intricate melodies, and rhythm sections that expanded on their role as tempo-keepers...
saxophonist Charlie Parker
Charlie Parker
Charles Parker, Jr. , famously called Bird or Yardbird, was an American jazz saxophonist and composer....
. Cortázar also mentions Lawrence Durrell
Lawrence Durrell
Lawrence George Durrell was an expatriate British novelist, poet, dramatist, and travel writer, though he resisted affiliation with Britain and preferred to be considered cosmopolitan...
's The Alexandria Quartet
The Alexandria Quartet
The Alexandria Quartet is a tetralogy of novels by British writer Lawrence Durrell, published between 1957 and 1960. A critical and commercial success, the books present four perspectives on a single set of events and characters in Alexandria, Egypt, before and during World War II.As Durrell...
several times in Hopscotch. His first wife, Aurora Bernárdez, translated Durrell into Spanish while Cortázar was writing the novel.
Cortázar also published poetry, drama, and various works of non-fiction. He also translated Edgar Allan Poe's 1838 novel The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket into Spanish as Narracion de Arthur Gordon Pym. One of his last works was a collaboration with his third wife, Carol Dunlop, The Autonauts of the Cosmoroute
Los autonautas de la cosmopista
Los autonautas de la cosmopista is a book written by Julio Cortázar in collaboration with Carol Dunlop two years before Julio's death...
, which relates, partly in mock-heroic style, the couple's extended expedition along the autoroute from Paris to Marseille
Marseille
Marseille , known in antiquity as Massalia , is the second largest city in France, after Paris, with a population of 852,395 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Marseille extends beyond the city limits with a population of over 1,420,000 on an area of...
in a Volkswagen
Volkswagen
Volkswagen is a German automobile manufacturer and is the original and biggest-selling marque of the Volkswagen Group, which now also owns the Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, SEAT, and Škoda marques and the truck manufacturer Scania.Volkswagen means "people's car" in German, where it is...
camper nicknamed Fafner
FAFNER
Factoring via Network-Enabled Recursion was a 1995 project trying to solve the RSA-130 factoring problem.It was an internet-based sieving effort from Cooperating Systems Corporation...
.
In Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
, a school, a public library, and a square in the neighbourhood of Palermo
Palermo
Palermo is a city in Southern Italy, the capital of both the autonomous region of Sicily and the Province of Palermo. The city is noted for its history, culture, architecture and gastronomy, playing an important role throughout much of its existence; it is over 2,700 years old...
carry his name. The square is particularly well-known as a centre of a trendy and bohemian area with an important nightlife (sometimes referred to as "Plaza Serrano" or "Palermo Soho")
Duke University Press published a literary journal called "Hopscotch: A Cultural Review", named after Cortázar's novel.
Mentioned and spoken highly of in Rabih Alameddine
Rabih Alameddine
Rabih Alameddine is a Lebanese-American painter and writer. He was born in Amman, Jordan to Lebanese Druze parents . He grew up in Kuwait and Lebanon, which he left...
's novel, 'Koolaids: The Art of War
Koolaids: The Art of War
Koolaids: The Art of War is a novel written by Rabih Alameddine, a successful painter who lives in both San Francisco and Beirut. He grew up in the Middle East, in Kuwait and Lebanon. Published in 1998, Koolaids is Alameddine's first novel. The majority of the story takes place in San Francisco...
', which was published in 1998.
Notable works
- Axolotl
- Presencia (1938)
- Los reyes (1949)
- El examen (1950, first published in 1985)
- BestiarioBestiarioBestiario is a book of 8 short stories written by Julio Cortázar.-Stories:* “Casa tomada”* “Carta a una señorita en París”* “Lejana”* “Ómnibus”* “Cefalea”* “Circe”* “Las puertas del cielo”* “Bestiario”...
(1951) - Final del juegoFinal del juegoFinal del juego is a book of 18 short stories written by Julio Cortázar. It is divided in three levels of difficulty, measured by the effort it should take to understand each story.-I:* Continuidad de los Parques* No se culpe nadie* El Río* Los Venenos...
(1956) - Las armas secretasLas armas secretasLas armas secretas is a book of 5 short stories written by Julio Cortázar. Four of the stories appear in translation in the volume Blow-up and Other Stories ; one story, "Cartas de Mamá," has never been translated into English.-Stories:*Letters from Mom: a...
(1959) - Los premios (The Winners) (1960)
- Historias de cronopios y de famasHistorias de cronopios y de famasHistorias de cronopios y de famas is a short story anthology by Argentine author Julio Cortázar. It was published in 1962.-Plot summary:This handbook recounts the birth of the Cronopios and the Famas. Cronopios and Famas are two kinds of living creatures conceived by Julio Cortázar's imagination....
(1962) - Rayuela (Hopscotch) (1963)
- Todos los fuegos el fuegoTodos los fuegos el fuegoTodos los fuegos el fuego is a book of 8 short stories written by Julio Cortázar.-Stories:* "La autopista del sur" * "La salud de los enfermos" * "Reunión"...
(1966) - Blow-up and Other StoriesBlow-up and Other StoriesBlow-Up and Other Stories is a collection of short stories, written by Argentinian author Julio Cortázar. It was originally published as End of the Game and Other Stories...
(1968)
- Originally published in Spanish as "Ceremonias" (Barcelona, Seix Barral), title by which is widely known in Spanish literary circles, and in English (translated by Paul Blackburn) as End of the Game and Other Stories
- A compilation of stories translated into English from the books Final del juegoFinal del juegoFinal del juego is a book of 18 short stories written by Julio Cortázar. It is divided in three levels of difficulty, measured by the effort it should take to understand each story.-I:* Continuidad de los Parques* No se culpe nadie* El Río* Los Venenos...
and Las armas secretasLas armas secretasLas armas secretas is a book of 5 short stories written by Julio Cortázar. Four of the stories appear in translation in the volume Blow-up and Other Stories ; one story, "Cartas de Mamá," has never been translated into English.-Stories:*Letters from Mom: a...
- Around the Day in Eighty Worlds (La vuelta al día en ochenta mundos) (1967)Around the Day in Eighty WorldsLa Vuelta al Día en Ochenta Mundos is a book by Julio Cortázar released and published in two separate volumes in 1967 ...
- 62: A Model Kit (62, modelo para armar) (1968)62: A Model Kit62: A Model Kit is a novel by Julio Cortázar published in 1968. The book is a literary experiment that ranks among the most important novels written in Spanish in the 20th century. It was written in Paris between Hopscotch and the release of Around the Day in Eighty Worlds in 1967....
- La noche boca arriba (1968)
- Last Round (Último Round) (1969)Último roundÚltimo round is a book by Julio Cortázar published in 1969 after the release of 62: A Model Kit in 1968. It's the second part to Around the Day in Eighty Worlds, the book that was released in 1967 in conjunction to Hopscotchs winning translation into English...
- Prosa del ObservatorioProsa del Observatorio-Summary:The book is a poetic stanza that evokes the nights of Jai Singh, the observatories of Jaipur and Delhi, Moebius ring and the regions surrounding Sargasso Sea. Prosa del Observatorio also resembles the flowing sequence of metaphorical images within a music composition. Its rhythmical...
(1972) - Libro de ManuelLibro de ManuelLibro de Manuel is a novel by Julio Cortázar published in 1973.-Summary:The novel is a blueprint that synthetizes the controversy of politics and social movements during the 1970s...
(1973) - OctaedroOctaedroOctaedro is a book by Julio Cortázar published in 1974 after the release of Libro de Manuel in 1973. The book pops up before the controversy of Libro de Manuel which synthetizes politics and social narration into a new prodigious genre.-Content:*Liliana llorando*Los pasos en las huellas*Manuscrito...
(1974) - Fantomas contra los vampiros multinacionalesFantomas contra los vampiros multinacionalesFantomas contra los vampiros multinacionales is a novel by Julio Cortázar published in 1975.The book gimmicks film noir-style comic book stories with speculative fiction to expound the evils of multinational corporations. It was inspired in part by the Mexican comic adaptations of Fantômas, a...
(1975) - Alguien anda por ahí (1977)
- Territorios (1978)
- Un tal Lucas (1979)
- Queremos tanto a Glenda (1980)
- Deshoras (1982)
- Autonauts of the Cosmoroute (Los autonautas de la cosmopista) (1983)Los autonautas de la cosmopistaLos autonautas de la cosmopista is a book written by Julio Cortázar in collaboration with Carol Dunlop two years before Julio's death...
- Nicaragua tan violentamente dulce (1983)
- Divertimento (1986)
- Diary of Andrés Fava (Diario de Andrés Fava) (1995)
- Adiós Robinson (1995)
- Save Twilight (1997)
- Cartas (three volumes) (2000)
- Papeles inesperados (2009)
- Cartas a los Jonquieres (2010)
- Around the Day in Eighty Worlds (La vuelta al día en ochenta mundos) (1967)
Further reading
English- Julio Cortázar (Modern Critical Views) / Bloom, Harold., 2005
- Julio Cortázar (Bloom's Major Short Story Writers) / Bloom, Harold., 2004
- Questions of the liminal in the fiction of Julio Cortázar / Moran, Dominic., 2000
- Critical essays on Julio Cortázar / Alazraki, Jaime., 1999
- The politics of style in the fiction of Balzac, Beckett, and Cortázar / Axelrod, Mark., 1992
- Writing at Risk: Interviews in Paris With Uncommon Writers / Weiss, Jason., 1991
Spanish
- Discurso del Oso / children's book illustrated by Emilio Urberuaga, Libros del Zorro Rojo, 2008
- Imagen de Julio Cortázar / Claudio Eduardo Martyniuk., 2004
- Julio Cortázar desde tres perspectivas / Luisa Valenzuela., 2002
- Otra flor amarilla : antología : homenaje a Julio Cortázar / Universidad de Guadalajara., 2002
- Yo y Cortázar / Christina Perri Rossi, 2001
- Julio Cortázar / Cristina Peri Rossi., 2001
- Julio Cortázar / Alberto Cousté., 2001
- La mirada recíproca : estudios sobre los últimos cuentos de Julio Cortázar / Peter Fröhlicher., 1995
- Hacia Cortázar : aproximaciones a su obra / Jaime Alazraki., 1994
- Julio Cortázar : mundos y modos / Saúl Yurkiévich., 1994
- Tiempo sagrado y tiempo profano en Borges y Cortázar / Zheyla Henriksen., 1992
- Cortázar : el romántico en su observatorio / Rosario Ferré., 1991
- Lo neofantástico en Julio Cortázar / Julia G Cruz., 1988
- Los Ochenta mundos de Cortázar : ensayos / Fernando Burgos., 1987
- En busca del unicornio : los cuentos de Julio Cortázar / Jaime Alazraki., 1983
- Teoría y práctica del cuento en los relatos de Cortázar / Carmen de Mora Valcárcel., 1982
- Julio Cortázar / Pedro Lastra., 1981
- Cortázar : metafísica y erotismo / Antonio Planells., 1979
- Es Julio Cortázar un surrealista? / Evelyn Picon Garfield., 1975
- Estudios sobre los cuentos de Julio Cortázar / David Lagmanovich., 1975
- Cortázar y Carpentier / Mercedes Rein., 1974
- Los mundos de Julio Cortázar / Malva E Filer., 1970
Filmography
- Cortázar, 1994. Documentary directed by Tristán Bauer.
- Cortázar, apuntes para un documental, Documentary. Eduardo Montes-BradleyEduardo Montes-Bradley- Filmography :# Waissman Producer, Director. The Heritage Film Project. 2010. Produced by Soledad Liendo. Biographical documentary on the life and works of Argentine artist Andrés Waissman. TV premier November 23, 2010 WPBT Channel 2...
(Director), Soledad Liendo (Producer). Theatrical release 2002. DVD Release 2007. - Graffiti, 2005. Short movie based in Julio Cortázar´s short story "GRAFFITI". Directed by Pako González.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IoYPIvMye4
External links
- Julio Cortázar )http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/cortaz.htm
- Julio Cortázar Collection (Finding Aid) - Princeton University Library Manuscripts Division http://diglib.princeton.edu/ead/getEad?eadid=C0888&kw=American%20literature
- Julio Cortázar: An Argentinean Master of Anti-novel and Experimental Literature
- Group of fans of Julio Cortázar
- Books, texts and written by Julio Cortázar
- A translated excerpt from Prose from the Observatory
- Julio Cortázar interview 1979