Julio Florencio Cortázar (26 August 1914 – 12 February 1984; ) was an Argentine, nationalized French

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others aspire ...

short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest ...

writer, essayist, and translator. Known as one of the founders of the Latin American Boom, Cortázar influenced an entire generation of Spanish-speaking readers and writers in America and Europe. He is considered one of the most innovative and original authors of his time, a master of history, poetic prose and short story in general and a creator of important novels that inaugurated a new way of making literature in the Hispanic world by breaking the classical moulds through narratives that escaped temporal linearity. He lived his childhood and adolescence and incipient maturity in Argentina and, after the 1950s, in Europe. He lived in Italy, Spain, and in Switzerland. In 1951, he settled in France for more than three decades and composed some of his works there.

Early life

Julio Cortázar was born on 26 August 1914, in Ixelles,Cortázar sin barba, by

Eduardo Montes-Bradley Eduardo Montes-Bradley is a documentary filmmaker. His most recent works are ''Daniel Chester French: American Sculptor'' and ''Black Fiddlers''. Life Montes-Bradley first appeared mentioned in Margareta Vinterheden's ''Man maste ju leva', Swe ...

. Random House Mondadori, Editorial Debate, Madrid, 2004 a municipality of

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

, Belgium. According to biographer Miguel Herráez, his parents, Julio José Cortázar and María Herminia Descotte, were Argentine citizens, and his father was attached to the Argentine diplomatic service in Belgium. At the time of Cortázar's birth, Belgium was occupied by the German troops of Kaiser Wilhelm II. After German troops arrived in Belgium, Cortázar and his family moved to

Zürich , neighboring_municipalities = Adliswil, Dübendorf, Fällanden, Kilchberg, Maur, Oberengstringen, Opfikon, Regensdorf, Rümlang, Schlieren, Stallikon, Uitikon, Urdorf, Wallisellen, Zollikon , twintowns = Kunming, San Francisco Z ...

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

, then

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland. Situa ...

, before moving for a short period to

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

. The Cortázars settled outside of

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

by the end of 1919. Cortázar's father left when Julio was six, and the family had no further contact with him. 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 back yard, was a source of inspiration for some of his stories. Despite this, in a letter to Graciela M. de Solá on 4 December 1963, he described 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, who spoke several languages and was a great reader herself, introduced her son 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".

Education and teaching career

Cortázar obtained a qualification as an elementary school teacher at the age of 18. He would later pursue higher education in

philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. ...

and languages at the

University of Buenos Aires The University of Buenos Aires ( es, Universidad de Buenos Aires, UBA) is a public research university in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Established in 1821, it is the premier institution of higher learning in the country and one of the most presti ...

Faculty of Philosophy and Letters, but left for financial reasons without receiving a degree. According to biographer Montes-Bradley, Cortázar taught in at least two high schools in Buenos Aires Province, one in the city of Chivilcoy, the other in Bolivar. In 1938, using the pseudonym of Julio Denis, he self-published a volume of sonnets, ''Presencia,'' which he later repudiated, saying in a 1977 interview for Spanish television that publishing it 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 Mendoza, but owing to political pressure from Peronists, he resigned the position in June 1946. He subsequently worked as a translator and as director of the Cámara Argentina del Libro, a trade organization. In 1949 he published a play, ''Los Reyes'' (''The Kings''), based on the myth of

Theseus Theseus (, ; grc-gre, Θησεύς ) was the mythical king and founder-hero of Athens. The myths surrounding Theseus his journeys, exploits, and friends have provided material for fiction throughout the ages. Theseus is sometimes describ ...

and the Minotaur. In 1980, Cortázar delivered eight lectures at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant un ...

Years in France

In 1951, Cortázar immigrated to France, where he lived and worked for the rest of his life, though he traveled widely. From 1952 onwards, he worked intermittently for

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international coope ...

as a translator. He wrote most of his major works in Paris or in Saignon in the south of France, where he also maintained a home. 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 Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the coun ...

as well as Fidel Castro's Cuban revolution and Salvador Allende's socialist government in Chile. Cortázar had three long-term romantic relationships with women. The first was with Aurora Bernárdez, an Argentine translator, whom he married in 1953. They separated in 1968 when he became involved with the Lithuanian writer, editor, translator, and filmmaker Ugnė Karvelis, whom he never formally married, and who reportedly stimulated Cortázar's interest in politics, although his political sensibilities had already been awakened by a visit to Cuba in 1963, the first of multiple trips that he would make to that country throughout the remainder of his life. In 1981 he married Canadian writer

Carol Dunlop Carol Dunlop (April 2, 1946 – November 2, 1982) was a Canadian writer, translator, activist and photographer. She is best known for being the co-author, with her husband the Argentine writer Julio Cortázar, of the book '' The Autonauts of ...

. After Dunlop's death in 1982, Aurora Bernárdez accompanied Cortázar during his final illness and, in accordance with his longstanding wishes, inherited the rights to all his works.

Death

Cortázar died in Paris in 1984, and is interred in the cimetière du Montparnasse. The cause of his death was reported to be

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia and pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or ...

, though some sources state that he died from AIDS as a result of receiving a blood transfusion.

Works

Cortázar wrote numerous short stories, collected in such volumes as '' Bestiario'' (1951), '' Final del juego'' (1956), and '' Las armas secretas'' (1959). In 1967, English translations by Paul Blackburn of stories selected from these volumes were published by Pantheon Books as '' End of the Game and Other Stories''; it was later re-titled ''Blow-up and Other Stories''. Cortázar published four novels during his lifetime: '' Los premios'' (''The Winners'', 1960), ''

Hopscotch Hopscotch is a popular playground game in which players toss a small object, called a lagger, into numbered triangles or a pattern of rectangles outlined on the ground and then hop or jump through the spaces and retrieve the object. It is a ch ...

'' (''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, these novels have been translated into English by Gregory Rabassa. Two other novels, ''El examen'' and ''Divertimento,'' though written before 1960, only appeared posthumously. 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 Latin Americans ( es, Latinoamericanos; pt, Latino-americanos; ) are the citizens of Latin American countries (or people with cultural, ancestral or national origins in Latin America). Latin American countries and their diasporas are multi-e ...

writers, including José Lezama Lima, Giannina Braschi, Carlos Fuentes, Gabriel García Márquez, and

Mario Vargas Llosa Jorge Mario Pedro Vargas Llosa, 1st Marquess of Vargas Llosa (born 28 March 1936), more commonly known as Mario Vargas Llosa (, ), is a Peruvian novelist, journalist, essayist and former politician, who also holds Spanish citizenship. Vargas Ll ...

. Cortázar's use of interior monologue and stream of consciousness owes much to

James Joyce James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the Modernism, modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important ...

and other modernists, but his main influences were

Surrealism Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to ...

, the French Nouveau roman and the improvisatory

aesthetic Aesthetics, or esthetics, is a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of beauty and taste, as well as the philosophy of art (its own area of philosophy that comes out of aesthetics). It examines aesthetic values, often expressed t ...

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

. 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 Charles Parker Jr. (August 29, 1920 – March 12, 1955), nicknamed "Bird" or "Yardbird", was an American jazz saxophonist, band leader and composer. Parker was a highly influential soloist and leading figure in the development of bebop, a form ...

. Cortázar also published poetry, drama, and various works of non-fiction. In the 1960s, working with the artist José Silva, he created two almanac-books or ''libros-almanaque,'' ''La vuelta al día en ochenta mundos'' and ''Último Round,'' which combined various texts written by Cortázar with photographs, engravings, and other illustrations, in the manner of the ''almanaques del mensajero'' that had been widely circulated in rural Argentina during his childhood. One of his last works was a collaboration with Carol Dunlop, ''

The Autonauts of the Cosmoroute ("The Autonauts of the Cosmoroute") is a book written by Julio Cortázar in collaboration with Carol Dunlop Carol Dunlop (April 2, 1946 – November 2, 1982) was a Canadian writer, translator, activist and photographer. She is best known ...

'', which relates, partly in mock-heroic style, the couple's extended expedition along the autoroute from Paris to

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Fra ...

in a

Volkswagen Volkswagen (),English: , . abbreviated as VW (), is a German Automotive industry, motor vehicle manufacturer headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1937 by the German Labour Front under the Nazi Party and revived into a ...

camper nicknamed Fafner. As a translator, he completed Spanish-language renderings of '' Robinson Crusoe'',

Marguerite Yourcenar Marguerite Yourcenar (, , ; born Marguerite Antoinette Jeanne Marie Ghislaine Cleenewerck de Crayencour; 8 June 1903 – 17 December 1987) was a Belgian-born French novelist and essayist, who became a US citizen in 1947. Winner of the ''Prix Fem ...

's novel '' Mémoires d'Hadrien'', and the complete prose works of

Edgar Allan Poe Edgar Allan Poe (; Edgar Poe; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic. Poe is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. He is wid ...

Influence and legacy

Michelangelo Antonioni Michelangelo Antonioni (, ; 29 September 1912 – 30 July 2007) was an Italian filmmaker. He is best known for directing his "trilogy on modernity and its discontents"—''L'Avventura'' (1960), ''La Notte'' (1961), and ''L'Eclisse'' (1962 ...

's film '' Blowup'' (1966) was inspired by Cortázar's story "Las babas del diablo", which in turn was based on a photograph taken by Chilean photographer Sergio Larraín during a shoot outside of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. Cortázar's story "La autopista del sur" ("The Southern Thruway") influenced another film of the 1960s, Jean-Luc Godard's '' Week End'' (1967). The filmmaker Manuel Antín has directed three films based on Cortázar stories, ''Cartas de mamá'', ''Circe'' and ''Intimidad de los parques''. Chilean novelist

Roberto Bolaño Roberto Bolaño Ávalos (; 28 April 1953 – 15 July 2003) was a Chilean novelist, short-story writer, poet and essayist. In 1999, Bolaño won the Rómulo Gallegos Prize for his novel ''Los detectives salvajes'' (''The Savage Detectives'' ...

cited Cortázar as a key influence on his novel ''

The Savage Detectives ''The Savage Detectives'' ( Spanish: ''Los Detectives Salvajes'') is a novel by the Chilean author Roberto Bolaño published in 1998. Natasha Wimmer's English translation was published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux in 2007. The novel tells the ...

'': "To say that I'm permanently indebted to the work of Borges and Cortázar is obvious." Puerto Rican novelist Giannina Braschi used Cortázar's story "Las babas del diablo" as a springboard for the chapter called "Blow-up" in her bilingual novel '' Yo-Yo Boing!'' (1998), which features scenes with Cortázar's characters La Maga and Rocamadour. Cortázar is mentioned and spoken highly of in

Rabih Alameddine Rabih Alameddine ( ar, ربيع علم الدين; born 1959) is a Lebanese-American painter and writer. His 2021 novel ''The Wrong End of the Telescope'' won the 2022 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction. Early life Alameddine was born in Amman, Jor ...

's 1998 novel, '' Koolaids: The Art of War''. North American novelist Deena Metzger cites Cortázar as co-author of her novel ''Doors: A Fiction for Jazz Horn,'' written twenty years after his death. In

, a school, a public library, and a square in the

Palermo Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital of both the autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The city is noted for its ...

neighborhood carry Cortázar's name.

Bibliography

Novels *''Divertimento'' (1949, first published in 1986) *''El examen'' ''(Final Exam)'' (1950, first published in 1985) *'' Los premios'' ''(The Winners)'' (1960) *'' Rayuela'' ''(Hopscotch)'' (1963) *'' 62/modelo para armar'' ''(62: A Model Kit)'' (1968) *'' Libro de Manuel'' ''(A Manual for Manuel)'' (1973) Short story collections *'' Bestiario'' (1951) *'' Final del juego'' ''(End of the Game)'' (1956) *'' Las armas secretas'' (1959) *'' Historias de cronopios y de famas'' ''(Cronopios and Famas)'' (1962) *'' Todos los fuegos el fuego'' ''(All Fires the Fire)'' (1966) *'' Blow-up and Other Stories'' (1968); a compilation of stories from ''Bestiario'', ''Final del juego'' and ''Las armas secretas'', in an English-language translation. *'' Octaedro'' (1974) *''Alguien que anda por ahí'' (1977) *''Un tal Lucas'' ''(A Certain Lucas)'' (1979) *''Queremos tanto a Glenda'' ''(We Love Glenda So Much)'' (1980) *''Deshoras'' ''(Unreasonable Hours)'' (1982) Poetry *''Presencia'' ''(Presence)'' (1938) *''Los reyes'' ''(The Kings)'' (1949) *''Salvo el crepúsculo'' ''(Save Twilight)'' (1997; expanded edition, City Lights, 2016) Other works *'' La vuelta al día en ochenta mundos'' ''(Around the Day in Eighty Worlds)'' (1967) *'' Último round'' ''(Last Round)'' (1969) *''

Prosa del Observatorio ''From the Observatory'' is the title of the English-language translation of ''Prosa del observatorio,'' a book of text and photographs by Julio Cortázar originally published in Spanish in 1972.Translation by Anne McLean, Archipelago Books. The ...

'' ''(From the Observatory)'' (1972) *''Territorios'' ''(Territories)'' (1978) *''La Puñalada/ El tango de la vuelta ''(Stab)'' (1979) (with Pat Andrea) *'' Los autonautas de la cosmopista'' ''(Autonauts of the Cosmoroute)'' (1983) *''Nicaragua tan violentamente dulce'' ''(Nicaragua, So Violently Sweet)'' (1983) *''Julio Cortazar: Al Termino del Polvo y el Sudor'' (Biblioteca de Marcha, Montevideo, 1987) – Essays by and about Julio Cortazar. *''Diario de Andrés Fava'' ''(Diary of Andrés Fava)'' (1995), companion book to ''El examen''. *''Adiós Robinson'' ''(Goodbye, Robinson)'' (1995), radio text. *''Imagen de John Keats'' ''(Image of John Keats)'' (1996) *''Cartas'' ''(Letters)'' (Three volumes, 2000; expanded version in five volumes, 2012) *''Papeles inesperados'' ''(Unexpected Papers)'' (2009) *''Cartas a los Jonquières'' ''(Letters to the Jonquières)'' (2010) *''Clases de literatura'' ''(Literature Class)'' (2013) Graphic novel *'' Fantomas contra los vampiros multinacionales'' ''(Fantomas Versus the Multinational Vampires)'' (1975)

Recording from the Library of Congress

Julio Cortazar reading from his own work

Filmography

* ''La Cifra Impar'', 1960. Feature film by Manuel Antín, based on "Letters from Mother". * ''Circe'', 1963. Feature film by Manuel Antín, based on "Circe". Script by Manuel Antin and Julio Cortázar. * ''El Perseguidor'', 1963. Feature film by Osias Wilenski, based on "El perseguidor". * ''Intimidad de los Parques'', 1965. Feature film by Manuel Antín. * ''Blow Up'', 1966. Feature film by Michelangelo Antonioni, based on "Las Babas del diablo". * ''Cortázar'', 1994. Documentary directed by Tristán Bauer. * ''Cortázar, apuntes para un documental'', documentary.

(Director), Soledad Liendo (Producer). Theatrical release 2002. DVD Release 2007. * , 2005. Short movie based on Julio Cortázar's short story "Graffiti". Directed by Pako González. * ''Graffiti'', 2006. Short movie based on Julio Cortázar's short story "Graffiti". Directed by Vano Burdul

http://vimeo.com/25805971]'' * " :es:Mentiras piadosas (película de 2009), Mentiras Piadosas" (released in English as ''Made Up Memories''), 2009. Feature film by Diego Sabanés, based on the short-story "The Health of the Sick" and other short stories by Julio Cortázar. *

References

External links

* * * * *
Julio Cortázar Collection (Finding Aid)
– Princeton University Library Manuscripts Division
Julio Cortázar Literary Manuscripts, 1943-1982
- Benson Latin American Collection
Julio Cortázar: An Argentinean Master of Anti-novel and Experimental LiteratureBooks and texts written by Julio CortázarA translated excerpt from ''Prose from the Observatory''Julio Cortázar Artist bio and exhibitions on ArtDiscover
*

The Library of Julio Cortázar
Virtual visit to his private library.(in English and Spanish)
Julio Cortazar recorded at the Library of Congress for the Hispanic Division’s audio literary archive on November 20, 1975
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cortazar, Julio 1914 births 1984 deaths 20th-century Argentine male writers 20th-century Argentine novelists 20th-century atheists 20th-century essayists 20th-century French male writers 20th-century French non-fiction writers 20th-century French novelists 20th-century French photographers 20th-century memoirists 20th-century non-fiction writers 20th-century novelists 20th-century poets 20th-century short story writers 20th-century translators Architectural photographers Argentine atheists Argentine comics artists Argentine comics writers Argentine emigrants to France Argentine essayists Argentine expatriates in France Argentine male novelists Argentine male poets Argentine male short story writers Argentine people of French descent Argentine people of German descent Argentine people of Spanish descent Argentine photographers Argentine speculative fiction writers Argentine translators Argentine travel writers Argentine writers in French Belgian emigrants to Argentina Burials at Montparnasse Cemetery Citizens of Argentina through descent English–Spanish translators French atheists French autobiographers French comics artists French comics writers French fantasy writers French horror writers French male essayists French male non-fiction writers French male novelists French male poets French male short story writers French memoirists French photographers French–Spanish translators French speculative fiction writers French translators French travel writers Graphic novelists Magic realism writers Members of the Academy of Arts, Berlin Naturalized citizens of France Postmodern writers Prix Médicis étranger winners Surrealist writers Translators of Edgar Allan Poe University of Buenos Aires alumni Weird fiction writers Writers about activism and social change Writers from Paris Writers who illustrated their own writing