Biography
The writer died in Paris from leukemia on February 12. He was buried in the Montparnasse cemetery in Paris.
Creative activity
The first story "The Captured House" was published in the city in a magazine published by Borges, whom Cortazar considered his mentor. Already on initial stage creativity manifested Cortazar's inclination to a peculiar combination of reality with fantasy, orientation to the surprise that strikes the perception. The unremarkable and outwardly stable routine began to loosen under the influence of mysterious, hostile forces, the aggression of irreality gave rise to vague anxiety, a premonition of danger - the novels "Exam" (written in the city, saw the light only in the city), "Winnings" (), collections stories "Bestiary" (), "End of the game" (-). Fantastic fiction made it possible to assume the dubiousness and conditionality of established ideas about the environment, to feel the illusory and fragility of the usual relationships between the elements of reality. Based on the novella The Devil's Drooling, Antonioni directed the sensational art-house film Blow Up (1966).
Over the years, the original Cortazar's way of conveying a fantastic assumption has changed, the irrationality of what is happening was not always due to the intervention of a force "from outside", often the unusual, unexpected was born in the inner space of the person himself. Cortazar is a recognized master of the short story, the author of the collections “The Life of Chronops and Fam” (), “All Fires are Fire” (), “The One Who Roams Here” (), “Someone Lucas” (), “We love Glenda so much” ( ), "Out of Time" (), etc. - treated this genre with great attention, believing that "the novel always wins on points, the story must win by knockout." His stories are detailed metaphors, they are distinguished by a concentrated atmosphere of narration, a tense pulsation of the inner rhythm, and polished verbal material. But Cortazar gained fame mainly as a novelist, acting as one of the creators of the "new Latin American novel."
After writing exclusively on Argentinean material "Exam" and "Winnings" in mature period creativity created by "The game of hopscotch" (), "62. Model to build » (); The heroes of these works were not only Argentines, but also the French, British, Danes. The author focuses on modern social, psychological, moral issues, we are talking about attitudes towards the world and other people, towards power, about independence and freedom, about selfishness and duty, kindness and love, but often this appears in purely metaphorical versions. The novels are distinguished by a new, unusual manner of writing, a kaleidoscopic nature of what is happening, a mixture of styles, complicated allusions, multi-layered symbolism, they are permeated by an experimental and playful spirit - the author's inexhaustible fantasy opens up scope for the imagination and thought of a meticulous reader who becomes an accomplice in the act of creativity. The writer plays with words, images, skillfully uses parody, hyperbole, paradox. The life of its heroes takes place in a purely Cortazar intellectual space- these are groups of people who are close in spirit and way of thinking, who strive by their daily existence to refute the existing world order with its conventions and standards, who do not want to lead a decent lifestyle.
Bibliography
Editions in Russian
- Cortazar X. Another sky. - M.: Artist. lit., 1971. - 272 p.
- Cortazar H. Winnings. Novels and short stories / Comp. V. Kuteishchikova; foreword L. Ospovat. - M.: Progress, 1976. - 462 p. (Masters of modern prose)
- Cortazar J. Selected / Comp. V. Kuteishchikov; foreword L. Ospovat. - M.: Progress, 1979. - 462 p.
- Cortazar H. Little Paradise / translated by R. Rybkin. - M.: Roman-Gazeta 15 (1165), 1991. - p. 2-3. ISSN 0131-6044
- Cortazar H. Persecutor: Stories / Comp., author of Art. and note. V. N. ANDREEV - St. Petersburg: Lenizdat, 1993. - 539 p. ISBN 5-289-01568-X
- Cortazar X. I play seriously ... / Comp. E. Braginskaya. - M.: Academic project, 2002. - 400 p. ISBN 5-8291-0141-6
- Cortazar X. Each ball is a cube/Comp. E. Braginskaya. - St. Petersburg: Crystal, 2002. - ??? With.
- Cortazar H. Menagerie / Comp. D. Veselov. - St. Petersburg, 2004. - 448 p.
- Cortazar H. Epomas and Meops. - St. Petersburg: ABC Classics, 2004. - 224 p.
- Cortazar H. Hopscotch game. - M.: AST: Astrel; Vladimir: VKT, 2011. - 493 p.
- Cortazar H. Letters to the publisher / Comp., foreword, trans. E. V. Braginskaya, entry. Art. B. V. Dubina, prepared. ed. M. G. VORSANOVA, YU. G. FRIDSHTEIN - M.: Rudomino Book Centre, 2012. - 320 p. ISBN 978-5-905626-20-3
Selected film adaptations
- Manuel Antin "An Odd Number" (, based on the novel "Mother's Letters")
- Manuel Antin "Circe" (, based on the short story of the same name, in leading role Graciela Borges)
- Manuel Antin "The Continuity of the Parks" (1965, based on the short story of the same name, featuring Francisco Rabal)
- Osias Vilensky "The Pursuer" (, based on the short story of the same name)
- Michelangelo Antonioni "Blow-up" (based on the short story "The Devil's Drooling")
- Jean-Luc Godard "Weekend" (, based on the novel "Southern Highway")
- Renault Walter "The End of the Game" (, based on the short story of the same name)
- Luigi Comencini "Big Traffic Jam" (, based on the novel "Southern Highway")
- Jose Antonio Paramo "Instructions for John Howell" (), based on the short story of the same name, television short)
- Nina Grosse "Another Sky" (based on the short story of the same name, with Helmut Berger)
- Vytautas Palsis "Bus" (, short film, with Ingeborga Dapkunaite)
- Yana Bokova " Diary entries for the story "(, based on the short story of the same name)
- Alexander Azha "Fury" (, based on the novel "Graffiti")
- Diego Sabanes "Divine Lies" (, based on the novel "The Health of the Sick", with the participation of Marilu Marini and Lydia Lamaison)
Write a review on the article "Cortazar, Julio"
Notes
Literature
- Critical essays on Julio Cortázarda / Alazraki, Jaime., 1999
Links
- on the Fantasy Lab website
- Miguel Erraes.
- Mark Amusin. // "Ural". - 2014. - No. 2.
Excerpt characterizing Cortazar, Julio
- What's wrong with you, Masha?“Nothing ... I felt so sad ... sad about Andrei,” she said, wiping her tears on her daughter-in-law's knees. Several times, during the morning, Princess Marya began to prepare her daughter-in-law, and each time she began to cry. These tears, for which the little princess did not understand the reason, alarmed her, no matter how observant she was. She didn't say anything, but looked around uneasily, looking for something. Before dinner, the old prince, whom she had always feared, entered her room, now with a particularly restless, angry face, and, without saying a word, went out. She looked at Princess Marya, then thought with that expression of eyes of inward-turning attention that pregnant women have, and suddenly burst into tears.
Did you get anything from Andrew? - she said.
- No, you know that the news could not come yet, but mon pere is worried, and I'm scared.
- Oh nothing?
“Nothing,” said Princess Marya, looking firmly at her daughter-in-law with radiant eyes. She decided not to tell her and persuaded her father to hide the terrible news from her daughter-in-law until her permission, which was supposed to be the other day. Princess Marya and the old prince, each in his own way, carried and hid their grief. old prince did not want to hope: he decided that Prince Andrei had been killed, and despite the fact that he sent an official to Austria to look for the trace of his son, he ordered a monument to him in Moscow, which he intended to erect in his garden, and told everyone that his son killed. He tried not to change his former way of life, but his strength betrayed him: he walked less, ate less, slept less, and became weaker every day. Princess Mary hoped. She prayed for her brother as if she were alive, and waited every minute for news of his return.
- Ma bonne amie, [My good friend,] - said the little princess on the morning of March 19 after breakfast, and her sponge with a mustache rose from the old habit; but as in all not only smiles, but the sounds of speeches, even gaits in this house, from the day the terrible news was received, there was sadness, now the smile of the little princess, who succumbed to general mood, although not knowing its cause, was such that it even more reminded of the general sadness.
- Ma bonne amie, je crains que le fruschtique (comme dit Foka - cook) de ce matin ne m "aie pas fait du mal. [My friend, I'm afraid that the current frischtik (as Chef Foka calls it) would not make me feel bad. ]
What about you, my soul? You are pale. Oh, you are very pale, said Princess Marya in fright, running up to her daughter-in-law with her heavy, soft steps.
“Your Excellency, why not send for Marya Bogdanovna?” - said one of the maids who were here. (Marya Bogdanovna was a midwife from a district town, who had been living in Lysy Gory for another week.)
“And indeed,” Princess Marya picked up, “perhaps, for sure. I will go. Courage, mon ange! [Don't be afraid, my angel.] She kissed Lisa and wanted to leave the room.
- Oh, no, no! - And besides pallor, on the face of the little princess expressed children's fear inevitable physical suffering.
- Non, c "est l" estomac ... dites que c "est l" estomac, dites, Marie, dites ..., [No, this is the stomach ... tell me, Masha, that this is the stomach ...] - and the princess began to cry childishly, suffering, capriciously and even somewhat feignedly, breaking their little hands. The princess ran out of the room after Marya Bogdanovna.
— Mon Dieu! Mon Dieu! [My God! My God!] Oh! she heard behind her.
Rubbing her full, small, white hands, the midwife was already walking towards her, with a considerably calm face.
- Maria Bogdanovna! It seems to have begun, ”said Princess Marya, looking at her grandmother with frightened open eyes.
“Well, thank God, princess,” said Marya Bogdanovna without adding a step. You girls don't need to know about this.
“But why hasn’t the doctor arrived from Moscow yet?” - said the princess. (At the request of Lisa and Prince Andrei, they were sent to Moscow for an obstetrician by the deadline, and they were waiting for him every minute.)
“It’s okay, princess, don’t worry,” said Marya Bogdanovna, “and without a doctor everything will be fine.”
Five minutes later the princess heard from her room that something heavy was being carried. She looked out - for some reason the waiters were carrying into the bedroom a leather sofa that stood in Prince Andrei's office. There was something solemn and quiet on the faces of the carrying people.
Princess Marya sat alone in her room, listening to the sounds of the house, occasionally opening the door when they passed by, and looking closely at what was going on in the corridor. Several women walked to and fro with quiet steps, looked back at the princess and turned away from her. She did not dare to ask, shut the door, returned to her room, and either sat down in her chair, or took up her prayer book, or knelt before the kiot. To her misfortune and surprise, she felt that prayer did not calm her excitement. Suddenly the door of her room quietly opened and on the threshold appeared her old nurse, Praskovya Savishna, tied with a handkerchief, who almost never, due to the prince's prohibition, did not enter her room.
“I came to sit with you, Mashenka,” said the nanny, “yes, she brought the prince’s wedding candles in front of the saint to light, my angel,” she said with a sigh.
“Oh, how glad I am, nanny.
“God is merciful, dove. - Nanny lit candles entwined with gold in front of the icon-case and sat down at the door with a stocking. Princess Mary took the book and began to read. Only when footsteps or voices were heard did the princess look frightened, inquiringly, and the nanny looked at each other reassuringly. At all ends of the house, the same feeling that Princess Mary experienced while sitting in her room was overflowing and possessed everyone. I believe that what less people knows about the sufferings of the puerperal, the less she suffers, everyone tried to pretend to be ignorant; no one talked about it, but in all people, except for the usual degree and respect good manners who reigned in the prince's house, one was visible common concern, softness of the heart and the consciousness of something great, incomprehensible, happening at this moment.
There was no laughter in the big girls' room. In the waiter's room, all the people sat in silence, ready for something. On the courtyard they burned torches and candles and did not sleep. The old prince, stepping on his heel, walked around the study and sent Tikhon to Marya Bogdanovna to ask: what? - Just tell me: the prince ordered to ask what? and come and tell me what she will say.
“Report to the prince that the birth has begun,” said Marya Bogdanovna, looking significantly at the messenger. Tikhon went and reported to the prince.
“Very well,” said the prince, shutting the door behind him, and Tikhon no longer heard the slightest sound in the study. A little later, Tikhon entered the office, as if to fix the candles. Seeing that the prince was lying on the sofa, Tikhon looked at the prince, at his upset face, shook his head, silently approached him and, kissing him on the shoulder, went out without adjusting the candles and without saying why he had come. The most solemn sacrament in the world continued to be performed. The evening passed, the night came. And the feeling of expectation and softening of the heart before the incomprehensible did not fall, but rose. Nobody slept.
It was one of those March nights when winter seemed to want to take its toll and pour out its last snows and storms. To meet a German doctor from Moscow, who was expected every minute and for whom a set-up was sent to big road, to turn into a country road, horsemen with lanterns were sent to guide him through potholes and gaps.
Princess Mary had long since left the book: she sat in silence, fixing her radiant eyes on the wrinkled, familiar to the smallest detail, face of the nanny: at the strand of gray hair that had come out from under the scarf, at the hanging bag of skin under the chin.
Nanny Savishna, with a stocking in her hands, in a low voice, without hearing or understanding her own words, told hundreds of times about how the deceased princess in Chisinau gave birth to Princess Marya, with a Moldavian peasant woman, instead of a grandmother.
“God have mercy, you never need a doctor,” she said. Suddenly a gust of wind blew on one of the exposed frames of the room (by the prince’s will, one frame was always set up with larks in each room) and, having beaten off the poorly closed bolt, ruffled the damask curtain, and smelling of cold, snow, blew out the candle. Princess Mary shuddered; the nanny, putting down her stocking, went up to the window, and leaning out began to catch the open frame. A cold wind ruffled the ends of her handkerchief and gray, stray strands of hair.
- Princess, mother, someone is driving along the prefecture! she said, holding the frame and not closing it. - With lanterns, it must be, dokhtur ...
- Oh my god! God bless! - said Princess Mary, - we must go to meet him: he does not know Russian.
Princess Marya threw on her shawl and ran to meet the travelers. When she passed the front hall, she saw through the window that some kind of carriage and lamps were standing at the entrance. She went out onto the stairs. A tallow candle stood on the railing post and flowed from the wind. The waiter Philip, with a frightened face and with another candle in his hand, was standing below, on the first landing of the stairs. Even lower, around the bend, on the stairs, steps could be heard moving in warm boots. And some kind of familiar voice, as it seemed to Princess Mary, was saying something.
- God bless! said the voice. - And the father?
“Go to sleep,” answered the voice of the butler Demyan, who was already downstairs.
Then a voice said something else, Demyan answered something, and steps in warm boots began to approach faster along an invisible turn of the stairs. "This is Andrey! thought Princess Mary. No, it can’t be, it would be too unusual, ”she thought, and at the same moment as she thought this, on the platform on which the waiter was standing with a candle, the face and figure of Prince Andrei in a fur coat with a collar sprinkled with snow. Yes, it was him, but pale and thin, and with a changed, strangely softened, but anxious expression on his face. He entered the stairs and hugged his sister.
(JULIO CORTAZAR, 1914 - 1984)
Argentine prose writer, who combined in his work a deep commitment to European culture and an abiding interest in Argentine reality. His prose is always an experiment and an unexpected author's device, whether it concerns vocabulary, style or the literary form. The writer himself, for lack of another term, called his works fiction, but at the same time believed that "the fantastic is devoid of any literary interest if it did not arise from reality itself." The skillful interweaving of the game of imagination with the real psychological experiences of the characters and everyday details is one of the features of his work.
Born in Brussels in the family of an employee of the Argentinean trade mission, he spent his childhood and youth in Buenos Aires. After graduating from school, he entered the Faculty of Literature and Philosophy of the capital's university, but due to lack of funds, he left his studies after a year and worked as a rural teacher for seven years. In 1944, he began teaching at the University of Mendoza. Participated in anti-dictatorial speeches of the intelligentsia and was forced to leave pedagogical activity. In 1946 he returned to Buenos Aires, became an employee in Book Chamber. Having received a literary scholarship in 1951, he left for Europe, where he lived in Paris until the end of his days, long years worked as a translator at UNESCO. He began to write very early, in 1938 he made his debut as a symbolist poet with the collection of sonnets "Presence". Poetry continued to compose throughout his life, but did not publish them; the lyrical book “Only Twilight” (1984) was published posthumously, which included poems and poems created from the beginning of the 50s. until 1983. The first story, “The Captured House,” was published in 1946 in a magazine published by Borges, whom Cortazar considered his mentor. Already at the initial stage of creativity, Cortazar's inclination to a peculiar combination of reality with fantasy, an orientation towards the surprise that strikes the perception, manifested itself. The unremarkable and outwardly stable everyday life began to loosen under the influence of mysterious, hostile forces, the aggression of irreality gave rise to vague anxiety, a premonition of danger - the novels Exam (written in 1950, published only in 1986), Winnings (I960 ), collections of short stories "The Bestiary" (1951), "The End of the Game" (1956-1964). Fantastic fiction made it possible to assume the dubiousness and conditionality of established ideas about the environment, to feel the illusory and fragility of the usual relationships between the elements of reality.
Cortazar: “What I wrote at the very beginning fit into the framework /…/ of intellectual literature - like, for example, The Menagerie. /.../ During that period, that is, approximately in the fiftieth year, I was drawn to the most refined, most erudite writers, and they were largely oriented towards foreign countries, in other words, they were very closely connected with European literatures, especially with Anglo-Saxon and French. Borges cannot be ignored here, although, fortunately, the influence that Borges had on me was neither thematic nor stylistic. It was above all ethical... Perhaps Borges taught me—and our entire generation—severe demands on myself, taught me to soberly evaluate myself, taught me not to print anything that was not very well done from a professional point of view. It is important to emphasize this, because at that time Argentina in its attitude towards literature remained a very careless or even careless country. They published everything. And even very talented people.
Over the years, the original Cortazar's way of conveying a fantastic assumption has changed, the irrationality of what is happening was not always due to the intervention of a force “from outside”, often the unusual, unexpected was born in the inner space of the person himself. Cortazar is a recognized master of the short story, the author of the collections “Life of Chronops and Fam” (1962), “All Fires are Fire” (1966), “The One Who Roams Here” (1977), “Someone Lucas” (1979), “We are so loved Glenda” (1980), “Out of Time” (1982) and others - treated this genre with great attention, believing that “the novel always wins on points, the story must win by knockout.” His stories are detailed metaphors, they are distinguished by the concentrated atmosphere of the narrative, the intense pulsation of the inner rhythm, and the polished verbal material.
But Cortazar gained fame mainly as a novelist, acting as one of the creators of the "new Latin American novel." After “Exam” and “Winnings” written exclusively on Argentinean material, in the mature period of creativity, “Game of Classics” (1963), “62. Assembly Model” (1968); The heroes of these works were not only Argentines, but also the French, British, Danes. The author focuses on modern social, psychological, moral problems, it is about the attitude to the world and other people, to power, about independence and freedom, about selfishness and duty, kindness and love, but often this appears in purely metaphorized versions. The novels are distinguished by a new, unusual manner of writing, a kaleidoscopic nature of what is happening, a mixture of styles, complicated allusions, multi-layered symbolism, they are permeated by an experimental and playful spirit - the author's inexhaustible fantasy opens up scope for the imagination and thought of a meticulous reader who becomes an accomplice in the act of creativity. The writer plays with words, images, skillfully uses parody, parabola, paradox. The life of his heroes takes place in a purely intellectual space of Cortazar - these are groups of people close in spirit and way of thinking who seek to refute the existing world order with its conventions and standards by their daily existence, who do not want to lead a decent lifestyle. A peculiar variety of the Thelema monastery is designated in the novel “The Hopscotch Game” by the word “territory”, and in “62. Assembly model” is a more precise word - “zone”. But the confrontation turns out to be unequal, attempts to achieve independence from reality, to gain spiritual freedom are doomed to failure. Behind the sparkling novelty and all-pervading irony, the writer's bitter wisdom and hidden sadness emerge. The novel The Book of Manuel (1973) is devoted to Latin American revolutionaries, where the problem of terrorism as a way of fighting for freedom is considered. Hopscotch (Rayuela. 1963) - the most famous novel Cortazar. At its core, this is a series of episodes from the life of the forty-year-old Argentine intellectual Horacio Oliveira in Paris and Buenos Aires. His meetings with friends, their conversations on philosophical, literary, everyday topics, the complicated relationship of the hero with the Frenchwoman Paula and the Uruguayan Maga, the confessional monologues of Oliveira, who is experiencing “longing for vocation and action”, constitute the content of the book. However, there is no plot as such in the novel, the temporal sequence of the narrative is broken, there are no plot connections between the fragments. Constant themes for Cortazar flash by - time, death, chance, childhood, split personality, music, etc. In order to break through the whimsical interweaving of the vicissitudes of action, philosophical meaning and lyrical subtext of the work, the inquisitive reader is offered a special code, certain rules of the game, a complex reading order of the novel. In this perspective, the main conflict is revealed - the spiritual dissatisfaction of the hero, his resolute rejection of the society in which he happened to live, the search for the meaning of his existence. A nonconformist who has deliberately fallen out of the system of social and personal ties and is on the verge of suicide or insanity, strives to find harmony with the world.
Julio Cortazar- Argentine writer and poet, who lived and worked mainly in Paris. He is the author of short stories with elements of everyday fantasy and magical realism, as well as two complexly organized, experimental novels - "The Hopscotch Game" and "62. Assembly model.” Cortazar was born on August 26, 1914 in Brussels, in the family of an employee of the Argentinean trade mission. He spent his childhood and youth in Buenos Aires. After graduating from school, he entered the Faculty of Literature and Philosophy of the capital's university, but due to lack of funds, he left his studies after a year and worked as a rural teacher for seven years. In 1944, he began teaching at the University of Mendoza. Participated in the anti-dictatorial speeches of the intelligentsia and was forced to leave teaching.
In 1946 he returned to Buenos Aires, became an employee in the Book Chamber. Having received a literary scholarship in 1951, he left for Europe, where he lived in Paris until the end of his days, and for many years worked as a translator at UNESCO. He began to write very early, in 1938 he made his debut as a symbolist poet with the collection of sonnets "Presence". Poetry continued to compose throughout his life, but did not publish them; the lyrical book Only Twilight (1984) was published posthumously, which included poems and poems created from the early 1950s to 1983.
The writer died in Paris from leukemia on February 12, 1984. He was buried in the Montparnasse cemetery in Paris.
Creative activity:
The first story, "The Captured House," was published in 1946 in a magazine published by Borges, whom Cortazar considered his mentor. Already at the initial stage of creativity, Cortazar's inclination to a peculiar combination of reality with fantasy, an orientation towards the surprise that strikes the perception, manifested itself. The unremarkable and outwardly stable routine began to loosen under the influence of mysterious, hostile forces, the aggression of irreality gave rise to vague anxiety, a premonition of danger - the novels "Exam" (written in 1950, was published only in 1986), "Winnings" (1960 ), collections of short stories "The Bestiary" (1951), "The End of the Game" (1956-1964). Fantastic fiction made it possible to assume the dubiousness and conditionality of established ideas about the environment, to feel the illusory and fragility of the usual relationships between the elements of reality. Based on the novella The Devil's Drooling, Antonioni directed the sensational art-house film Blow Up (1966).
Over the years, the original Cortazar's way of conveying a fantastic assumption has changed, the irrationality of what is happening was not always due to the intervention of a force "from outside", often the unusual, unexpected was born in the inner space of the person himself. Cortazar is a recognized master of the short story, author of the collections Life of Chronops and Fam (1962), All Fires Are Fire (1966), He Who Wanders Here (1977), Some Lucas (1979), We Are So loved Glenda" (1980), "Out of Time" (1982) and others - treated this genre with great attention, believing that "the novel always wins on points, the story must win by knockout." His stories are detailed metaphors, they are distinguished by a concentrated atmosphere of narration, a tense pulsation of the inner rhythm, and polished verbal material. But Cortazar gained fame mainly as a novelist, acting as one of the creators of the "new Latin American novel."
After writing exclusively on the Argentinean material "Exam" and "Winnings", in the mature period of creativity, the "Playing the Classics" (1963), "62. Model for assembly "(1968); The heroes of these works were not only Argentines, but also the French, British, Danes. The author focuses on modern social, psychological, moral problems, it is about the attitude towards the world and other people, towards power, about independence and freedom, about selfishness and duty, kindness and love, but often this appears in purely metaphorical versions. The novels are distinguished by a new, unusual manner of writing, a kaleidoscopic nature of what is happening, a mixture of styles, complicated allusions, multi-layered symbolism, they are permeated by an experimental and playful spirit - the author's inexhaustible fantasy opens up scope for the imagination and thought of a meticulous reader who becomes an accomplice in the act of creativity. The writer plays with words, images, skillfully uses parody, hyperbole, paradox. The life of his heroes takes place in a purely intellectual space of Cortazar - these are groups of people close in spirit and way of thinking who seek to refute the existing world order with its conventions and standards by their daily existence, who do not want to lead a decent lifestyle.
Julio Cortázar (Spanish Julio Cortázar; real name Jules Florencio Cortázar; August 26, 1914 - February 12, 1984) was an Argentine prose writer and poet who lived and worked mainly in Paris. He is the author of short stories with elements of everyday fantasy and magical realism, as well as two complexly organized, experimental novels - "The Hopscotch Game" and "62. Assembly model.
Biography
Cortazar was born on August 26, 1914 in Brussels, in the family of an employee of the Argentine trade mission. He spent his childhood and youth in Buenos Aires. After graduating from school, he entered the Faculty of Literature and Philosophy of the capital's university, but due to lack of funds, he left his studies after a year and worked as a village teacher for seven years. In 1944 he began teaching at the University of Mendoza. Participated in anti-Peronist speeches of the intelligentsia and was forced to leave teaching.
In 1946 he returned to Buenos Aires, became an employee in the Book Chamber. Having received a literary scholarship in 1951, he left for Europe, where he lived in Paris until the end of his days, and for many years worked as a translator at UNESCO. He began to write very early, in 1938 he made his debut as a symbolist poet with the collection of sonnets "Presence". Poetry continued to compose throughout his life, but did not publish them; the lyrical book Only Twilight (1984) was published posthumously, which included poems and poems created from the early 1950s to 1983.
The writer died in Paris from leukemia on February 12, 1984. He was buried in the Montparnasse cemetery in Paris.
Creative activity
The first story, "The Captured House," was published in 1946 in a magazine published by Borges, whom Cortazar considered his mentor. Already at the initial stage of creativity, Cortazar's inclination to a peculiar combination of reality with fantasy, an orientation towards the surprise that strikes the perception, manifested itself. The unremarkable and outwardly stable everyday life began to loosen under the influence of mysterious, hostile forces, the aggression of irreality gave rise to vague anxiety, a premonition of danger - the novels "Exam" (written in 1945, was published only in 1986), "Winnings" (1960 ), collections of short stories "The Bestiary" (1951), "The End of the Game" (1956-1964). Fantastic fiction made it possible to assume the dubiousness and conditionality of established ideas about the environment, to feel the illusory and fragility of the usual relationships between the elements of reality. Based on the novella The Devil's Drooling, Antonioni directed the sensational art-house film Blow Up (1966).
Over the years, the original Cortazar's way of conveying a fantastic assumption has changed, the irrationality of what is happening was not always due to the intervention of a force "from outside", often the unusual, unexpected was born in the inner space of the person himself. Cortazar is a recognized master of the short story, author of the collections Life of Chronops and Fam (1962), All Fires Are Fire (1966), He Who Wanders Here (1977), Some Lucas (1979), We Are So loved Glenda" (1980), "Out of Time" (1982) and others - treated this genre with great attention, believing that "the novel always wins on points, the story must win by knockout." His stories are detailed metaphors, they are distinguished by a concentrated atmosphere of narration, a tense pulsation of the inner rhythm, and polished verbal material. But Cortazar gained fame mainly as a novelist, acting as one of the creators of the "new Latin American novel."
After writing exclusively on the Argentinean material "Exam" and "Winnings", in the mature period of creativity, the "Playing the Classics" (1963), "62. Model for assembly "(1968); The heroes of these works were not only Argentines, but also the French, British, Danes. The author focuses on modern social, psychological, moral problems, it is about the attitude towards the world and other people, towards power, about independence and freedom, about selfishness and duty, kindness and love, but often this appears in purely metaphorized versions. The novels are distinguished by a new, unusual manner of writing, a kaleidoscopic nature of what is happening, a mixture of styles, complicated allusions, multi-layered symbolism, they are permeated by an experimental and playful spirit - the author's inexhaustible fantasy opens up scope for the imagination and thought of a meticulous reader who becomes an accomplice in the act of creativity. The writer plays with words, images, skillfully uses parody, hyperbole, paradox. The life of his heroes takes place in a purely intellectual space of Cortazar - these are groups of people close in spirit and way of thinking who seek to refute the existing world order with its conventions and standards by their daily existence, who do not want to lead a decent lifestyle.
