"Casa Tomada" (

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

: "House Taken Over") is a 1946

short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction. It can typically be read in a single 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 old ...

by Argentine writer

Julio Cortázar Julio Florencio Cortázar (26 August 1914 – 12 February 1984; ) was an Argentine and naturalised French novelist, short story writer, poet, essayist, and translator. Known as one of the founders of the Latin American Boom, Cortázar influenc ...

.The House Taken Over, Aix-en-Provence Festival – review
/ref> It was originally published in ''Los anales de Buenos Aires,'' a literary magazine edited by

Jorge Luis Borges Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo ( ; ; 24 August 1899 – 14 June 1986) was an Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator regarded as a key figure in Spanish literature, Spanish-language and international literatur ...

, and later included in his volume of stories '' Bestiario''. It tells the story of a brother and sister living together in their ancestral home which is being "taken over" by unknown entities. It starts in a realist manner, but gradually introduces elements that strain against

verisimilitude In philosophy, verisimilitude (or truthlikeness) is the notion that some propositions are closer to being true than other propositions. The problem of verisimilitude is the problem of articulating what it takes for one false theory to be close ...

. The true nature of the entities is left largely undecided and open to different interpretations that vary depending on the generic conventions one attributes to the story (e.g.

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures. The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...

psychological fiction In literature, psychological fiction (also psychological realism) is a narrative genre that emphasizes interior characterization and motivation to explore the spiritual, emotional, and mental lives of its Character (arts), characters. The mode of ...

magic realism Magical realism, magic realism, or marvelous realism is a style or genre of fiction and art that presents a realistic view of the world while incorporating magical elements, often blurring the lines between speculation and reality. ''Magical re ...

, etc.). The writer based the house on one located in the city of

Chivilcoy Chivilcoy is a city in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina, the head town of the Chivilcoy Partido. It has 64,185 inhabitants according to the . Tourism February Carnivals In the month of February, a three-day carnival is held over an extende ...

in the

Province of Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, officially the Buenos Aires Province, is the largest and most populous Provinces of Argentina, Argentine province. It takes its name from the city of Buenos Aires, the capital of the country, which used to be part of the province an ...

, which can still be found in the streets Suipacha and Necochea.

Plot

A male narrator and his sister are introduced, both in their early-forties. Each has faced difficulties in their adult lives, the narrator having lost his fiancée long ago, and the sister (Irene) having denied two suitors who sought her hand in marriage. Inheriting their parents' house and wealth, they live a quiet, usually mundane, domestic existence. The narrator describes the estate and the siblings' routine in great detail, describing their chores and interests; Irene knits all day, unraveling her work the moment it does not please her, while the narrator collects French literature and buys Irene wool during his visits to the bookstores. Usually, their home is silent, but when one day the narrator suddenly hears something inside another part of the house, the siblings escape to a smaller section, locked behind a solid oak door. In the intervening days, they become frightened and solemn; on the one hand noting that there is less housecleaning, but regretting that the interlopers have prevented them from retrieving many of their personal belongings. All the while, they can occasionally hear noises from the other side. Eventually, the narrator hears "them" take over the section of the house he and Irene have been forced into. Hurriedly, the siblings escape the house and find themselves in the street, empty-handed. The narrator locks the front door and tosses the key into the sewer. The source of the noises is never revealed, leaving the reader to wonder who or what has taken over the house and forced the sister and brother out. The story has been viewed as an anti-

Peronism Peronism, also known as justicialism, is an Argentine ideology and movement based on the ideas, doctrine and legacy of Juan Perón (1895–1974). It has been an influential movement in 20th- and 21st-century Argentine politics. Since 1946, P ...

work, since

had been forced to resign his professorship the same year the story was written.

References

External links

"Casa Tomada" as it first appeared in the December 1946 issue of ''Los Anales de Buenos Aires''
{{Julio Cortázar 1946 short stories Short stories by Julio Cortázar Works originally published in Argentine magazines Works originally published in literary magazines Argentine short stories