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Julio Cortázar

 

(born Aug. 26, 1914, Brussels, Belg. — died Feb. 12, 1984, Paris, France) Argentine-French novelist and short-story writer. Born to Argentine parents, he was educated in Argentina. His first story collection, Bestiario (1951; "Bestiary"), was published the year he moved to Paris, where he spent much of the rest of his life. His masterpiece, Hopscotch (1963), is an open-ended novel, or antinovel, in which the reader is invited to rearrange the chapters. One of his stories became the basis for Michelangelo Antonioni's film Blow-up (1966).

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Fairy Tale Companion: Julio Cortázar
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Cortázar, Julio (1914–84), Argentinian novelist and, like his compatriot Jorge Luis Borges, one of the best authors of short stories in the Spanish language. His sometimes complex writing techniques and expansive use of intertextuality do not result in depoliticized stories. On the contrary, Cortázar's tales tend to carry a political message that may be more or less overt but is always present, conditioned both by his implacable rejection of bourgeois society and his wish to question anything that has been socially sanctioned. Many of Cortázar's stories are fantastic tales, presenting numerous disturbing continuities between one human being and his or her Doppelgänger, between humans and animals, dream and wakefulness, art and reality. ‘La bruja’ (‘The Witch’, 1944), published in the periodical Correo Literario (Literary Post), was Cortázar's first fantastic tale, and Bestiario (Bestiary, 1951) was the first of his many collections of short stories which include Final del juego (End of the Game, 1956), Todos los fuegos el fuego (All Fires the Fire, 1966), Alguien que anda por ahí (A Change of Light, 1977), and Deshoras (Out of Phase, 1983).

Bibliography

  • Blanco, Mercedes, and Flotow‐Evans, Luise von, ‘Topology of the Fantastic in the Work of Julio Cortázar’, Canadian Fiction Magazine, 61–2 (1987).
  • Noguera, Ruben, ‘The Fantastic in the Stories of Julio Cortázar’, Revista de Estudios Hispánicos, 21 (1994).Review of Contemporary Fiction, spec. issue on Cortázar, 3 (1983).

— Carolina Fernandez

 
Columbia Encyclopedia: Julio Cortázar
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Cortázar, Julio ('lyō kōrtä'zär), 1914-84, Argentine novelist, poet, essayist, and short-story writer, b. Brussels. Moving permanently to France in 1951, Cortázar gradually gained recognition as one of the century's major experimental writers. His works reflect the influence of French surrealism, psychoanalysis, and his love of both photography and jazz, along with his strong commitment to revolutionary Latin American politics. Widely considered his masterpiece, Hopscotch, (1963; tr. 1966) creates a world full of fantasy and satire, where eroticism, humor, and play offer solace for life's cruelty and despair. His other works include End of the Game (1956; tr. 1967), Sixty-two: A Model Kit (1972; tr. 1972), All Fires the Fire and Other Stories (tr. 1973), and A Change of Light and Other Stories (tr. 1980).

Bibliography

See studies by S. Boldy (1980), A. Hernandez del Castillo (1981), T. Peavler (1990), and J. Rodríguez-Luis (1991).

Quotes By: Julio Cortazar
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Quotes:

"Human history is the sad result of each one looking out for himself."

 
 
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Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Fairy Tale Companion. The Oxford Companion to Fairy Tales. Copyright © 2000, 2002, 2005 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.  Read more
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